What the pros are playing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard

Here are nine tidbits from the second round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. PAIN OR GAIN These were the top five picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: No. 1 on this list has withdrawn and No. 5 has missed the cut so the Fowler (T1)-Noren (T37)-Rahm (T8) supporters will be hoping that they can make up ground in the game with big finishes on the weekend. I’m interested to see if Noren gets a hot start early tomorrow and puts pressure on the leaders. Playing for the first time at Torrey Pines last week didn’t seem to bother him! Mea Culpa I couldn’t believe how many of you left Matsuyama out of the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO. I owe you all an apology for fading the two-time defending champ! Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good and gamers who either forgot or fell asleep tasted that feeling this week. As for the rest of you who lined him up, it’s time to sub him out and make up some ground on the weekend. More proof that NOTHING is guaranteed or a sure-thing in fantasy golf! According to reports his wrist is the issue but it was also noted that his shoulder was being worked on this morning as well. Stay tuned. In-and-Out Berger With two top 10s in his last three visits, Floridian Daniel Berger isn’t going “animal-style” just yet but he’s off to an excellent start (68-65). I wouldn’t expect him to slow down as he’s pounding it tee-to-green and has made the second-most birdies after two rounds. His bogey-free 65 (-6) moved him into the top five. Say Chez! Former Arizona State Sun Devil Chez Reavie posted 65 (-6) in one of the final groups of the day and enters the weekend T3. It’s his best round on the new design and the first time in four tries he’ll play the weekend. His best finish is T41 and he’s missed six weekends in nine events at TPC Scottsdale over the years. Sometimes down really is up! Stalling Out? Scott Stallings also threw up 65 this afternoon and moved up over 20 spots into the top 10. His round on Friday tied his lowest since July when he posted 65 at the Barbasol Championship. He finished T3 that week but hasn’t enjoyed a check bigger than T39 in his last 11 events. Please note he hit all 18 greens today after hitting just 10 yesterday. Forks Up There’s nothing better when watching a big tournament than having Phil Mickelson in the action. Well, maybe except having him live on your fantasy roster! He checked in No. 8 on the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO so there are plenty of faithful followers out there. He rewarded them by firing 65 and moving 38 spots into the top 10 after opening with 70 yesterday. The former Arizona State Sun Devil will no doubt be the crowd favorite on the weekend but is looking for his first win on TOUR since the 2013 Open Championship. He’s carded 65 on SATURDAY the last two years and followed both of those rounds with 71 on Sunday. … Desert Fox Canadian Adam Hadwin has finished in the top six the last three years in at the CareerBuilder Challenge. The last two years he’s cashed T17 and T12 at TPC Scottsdale with never breaking par in the first round. This year he opened with 70 and followed it up with 65, his best round from 10 tries. Like Mickelson, he jumped up into the top 10 and his primed for the weekend. Subs Necessary Jordan Spieth missed the cut for the first time since May at the AT&T Byron Nelson. It is time for gamers to narrow down their starts on him to courses he LOVES, not likes, especially in limited use games. … Webb Simpson and Ryan Palmer also carried heavy action this week and rightfully so, but both are heading home early. … Brandon Harkins MC and breaks up a streak of eight in a row. … Just as I was laying the groundwork for the Harris English revival, he heads home early. … The streak is now three for Tony Finau in the MC department at this event. Sometimes you have to trust the numbers! Study Hall Alex Cejka withdrew with an illness prior to Round 2. … Lee Westwood made 11 birdies while posting 62 at the Maybank Malaysian Open. He’s not leading though. … Robert Garrigus almost pulled an “Andrew Magee” in Round 2 on the drivable par-4 No. 17 hole. His tee shot dinged the flag and stopped an inch from an albatross. Andrew Magee, at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, is the only player in the history of the TOUR to make a 1 on a par-4 hole. #TheMoreYouKnow.

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After the first round of The RSM Classic there are 86 players at Even par or better (T65th position). Here is how our live model is projecting Friday’s cutline: Even par: 27 percent 1 under par: 26 percent 1 over par: 17 percent The RSM Classic is played on two courses for the first 36 holes of the tournament: the Seaside course (SS) and Plantation (PL) course at Sea Island Resort. Historically, the Plantation course has played significantly easier than the Seaside course. Thursday’s first round was no different: here are the respective course scoring averages: Seaside: +1.05 Plantation: -0.95 This difference in course difficulty obviously has important implications for estimating finish probabilities. Roughly speaking, we could add 2 strokes to everyone’s score who played the Plantation course in the first round to obtain the “effective� current leaderboard. Here are the current top 10 win probabilities, factoring in the course rotation: Despite just 2 of the top 15 scores on Thursday coming from players on the Seaside course, 7 of the top 15 win probabilities belong to Thursday Seaside players. Of course, implicit in these estimates is the assumption that the scoring discrepancy between the two courses will persist in Friday’s second round. NOTE: These reports are based off the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut�, “Top 20�, “Top 5�, and “Win� probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 10K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of The RSM Classic, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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K.H. Lee won the AT&T Byron Nelson to claim his first title on the PGA TOUR. He won by three with eight birdies in the final round. Check out the clubs he used to get it done. RELATED: Final leaderboard Driver: Callaway Epic Max LS (10.5 degrees @9) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 6 X 3-wood: Titleist TS3 (15 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD GP 7 X Hybrid: Titleist TS3 (19 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD HY 95 X Irons: Titleist U500 (4), Callaway X Forged CB (5-PW) Shafts: Project X LZ 6.5 Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (52, 56, 60) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Toulon Design San Diego Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

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