What’s inside the released LIV Golf rules, regulations and player contracts

DALLAS – A year ago, in its debut as the host venue for the AT&T Byron Nelson, Trinity Forest yielded a winning score of 23 under to then-rookie Aaron Wise. No previous champ in the tournament’s 65-year history had ever reached that level, and only Sam Snead in 1957 made it to 20 under. That was at Glen Lakes Country Club, a defunct course once divided by a freeway. Among all PGA TOUR winners last season, only Michael Kim at the John Deere Classic went lower in relation to par, finishing at 27 under at TPC Deere Run. First impressions, then, is that Trinity Forest – a links-type layout, built on a landfill by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, that drew attention for being different than most TOUR venues — is a pushover, the world’s best golfers lighting up a course most had never previously seen. But Harrison Frazar, the retired PGA TOUR pro who helped bring Trinity Forest to life in 2016, was not surprised. Earlier this week, he was in the midst of explaining why Wise’s score was so low. As if on cue, the wind kicked up into his face. “What you’re feeling right now – this is the normal wind,â€� Frazar said. “This is here almost every day – 12 to 15 mph, just like that. “If you get this, the scores are naturally just going to go up.â€� Trinity Forest obviously didn’t get the wind much last year, an unusually quiet week by Texas standards. Add in course conditions that made the 7,380-yard layout play significantly shorter, and it’s no wonder players went low. “It was firm and fast last year. Tee balls were going a country mile,â€� said PGA TOUR agronomist Mike Crawford. “50, 60, 70 yards of roll – almost unheard of. I think there was at least one drive of 400 yards. “But this year, we’ll see the golf course play differently.â€� Year 2 of Trinity Forest will indeed have a different vibe. Record rainfall last fall – more than 28 inches of rain combined in September and October – along with a wet winter and spring has continued into this month. Last week, 2-1/2 inches of rain fell at Trinity Forest, and Wednesday’s thunderstorm left several areas of the course with standing water. More rain is expected, especially on Friday and Saturday. Related: Origin of arm-lock putting | Featured Groups, tee times | The Flyover | Koepka keeping focus on AT&T Byron Nelson | Tiger receives Medal of Freedom Directly above the landfill is a clay cap of several feet in depth that prevents moisture from infiltrating the landfill. To work as a sealant, the clay cap must stay intact, which means water can only evaporate through the topsoil. Miles of drainage above the clay cap have been installed, but Crawford recognizes that Trinity Forest’s grounds crew must “actively tackleâ€� drainage issues on “an ongoing basis probably forever.â€� So what’s this mean for this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson? Trinity Forest should play longer. Players who used wedges and short irons into some holes last year may find themselves using mid-irons this week. “Instead of a 3-wood and a wedge into a par 5,â€� added Crawford, “hopefully it’ll be driver, iron – and maybe another iron. Would be nice to see some 3-shot par 5s.â€� Also, the par-3 eighth and 12th holes will play longer, thanks to new tee areas. The eighth is now 160 yards; last year at 140 yards, it was the easiest par 3 among the 204 played in the entire 2017-18 PGA TOUR season, playing to a stroke average of 2.646. Players also are expecting some tees to be played back this year. Beau Hossler, a member of Trinity Forest, said after his practice round Tuesday that he hit 6-iron into the 18th green. A year ago, he used 9-iron. “Strategically, they set up the golf a little bit longer,â€� he noted. Of course, the wet weather may also make the greens more attackable, said the defending champ. “I know the scores were still low last year but it was a lot more layups and positioning off the tee,â€� said Wise, whose win at Trinity Forest fueled his Rookie of the Year campaign. “This year might be a lot more drivers being sent around the golf course.â€� But the real difference-maker at Trinity Forest is the wind. You can say that about most courses in Texas, but perhaps none moreso than this one, given that not only is it a flat surface on a landfill, but that few trees exist inside the course boundary to block the wind. “The cool thing with this piece of land – flat with no trees – is that it’s very susceptible to get wind,â€� said Hossler, who shot a final-round 64 last year with birdies on his last five holes. “That changes the golf course entirely. The direction of the wind also could make a big impact. The winds have been coming from the south early this week but are forecast to switch on Thursday to a north wind for the rest of the week. That means players will have to adjust their gameplans. Still, the winds aren’t forecast to be overly severe, outside of gusts to 20 mph during the first two days. While 23 under might not be needed to win this week, the scores could again be low if the winds don’t make their presence known. And maybe that’s OK. “When we were out here building it, Ben talked about how with the greatest links courses, the defense needs to be the wind and the turf,â€� Frazar said. “So if you have no wind and the best players in the world? They’re going to tear it up. “He wanted the golf course to be built that if there was no wind, then give the guys a chance to shoot 61, 62, 63. But if the wind blows? 71, 72 is going to be a good score.â€�

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How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. The first fantasy golf game to utilize live ShotLink data, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf allows you to see scores update live during competition. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s The Genesis Invitational in his edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Watch, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create your team, click the “Leagues” tab and search for “PGA TOUR Experts.” After that? Pick your players and start talking smack. Want to represent the fans against our experts? SEASON SEGMENT

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Here are nine tidbits from the first round of the World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. The Austin Country Club plays 7,108 yards (par 71). Know Thy Enemy These were the top-selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO. Tomorrow, we’ll look at who gamers selected to win the bracket challenge and Friday, as usual, we’ll reveal the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO selections. Inside the Numbers Of the 16 seeded favorites from Pot 1, gamers selected 12 of them to win their respective pools and move on. Obviously we know who the MOST-selected player was but I’ll let you know that Bernd Wiesberger (52) was the least-selected player in the field. It won’t surprise the sharper gamers that he was the lowest-ranked player in Johnson’s group. More on that pairing in a minute. The most surprising margin was Patrick Reed (19) was selected in almost 20 percent more of the brackets than Jordan Spieth (4). They both won their opening matches. Seeded Dark-Horses Bubba Watson (35) was the highest-ranked player selected to advance as he was selected out of Pot 3. … There were two groups, Nos. 2 and 7, where the top two were separated by less than five percent. The most interesting part of the tight race in Group 2 is that No. 54 Zach Johnson was the second choice… In Group 6, Charley Hoffman (22) had the biggest separation of any “underdog” as he was selected in over 24 percent more of the brackets than “favorite” Tyrrell Hatton (12). Hoffman lost his match 1-down while the Englishman cruised 3 and 2 over Alexander Levy (55), People’s Choice: Dustin Johnson (1) For 95.25 percent of us, we couldn’t be happier this format changed to pool play in 2015. In the old days, Johnson would be packing his bags and heading home after falling 3 and 1 to Wiesberger and PLENTY of brackets would be busted. The defending champion gets a reprieve, but no guarantee of advancing. That guarantee belongs to the least-selected player from Austria. If he wins his final two matches, he advances regardless of what No. 1 does as he’s beaten him heads-up. This format > the old format! Living Up to the Hype Johnson and Kuchar made gamers look smart in Round 1 as they battled to the final hole. Kuchar led 4-up with four to play before Johnson closed with four birdies to halve the match. Yuta Ikeda (47) defeated Ross Fisher (27) in the other match to lead the group with three points. … The tight Group 7 has Tony Finau (29) breathing down the neck of Alex Noren (13). Both players lived up to the hype as well as the Swede handled Kevin Na (61) 4 and 2 while the big-hitting Finau out-slugged Thomas Pieters (39) 2 and 1. Steamroller: Biggest Win Gamers knew what they were talking about, at least in the opening match, when they supported Watson. The winner at Riviera last month was seven-under-par on the front nine and was 6-up at the turn. His victim was Branden Grace (23) who played those same nine holes one-under. Watson went on to win 5 and 3 and shares the lead in the group. Bracket Disrupters: Biggest Upsets Using the numbers above, there’s no doubt that Johnson qualifies but he’s not alone. McIlroy (6) tried to rescue his match against Peter Uihlein (57) with a late birdie barrage but lost 2 and 1. … Rahm (3) needed to win the final hole against Keegan Bradley (63) to halve their match. Each player claims a point … The last player in the field, Julian Suri (64), defeated Marc Leishman (11) 3 and 2. He shares the group lead with Watson in Group 14. I debated whether to put Suri in the Steamroller section or Bracket Disrupters. The answer was yes on both! Worry? Who Me? Fantasy guru and all-around great dude Rob Bolton has let me know that this edition of Match Play is similar to this year’s NCAA Basketball Tournament madness. The eventual pool winners over the last three years had 13 first day wins in 2015, 12 in 2016 and 12 in 2017. I’m terrible at math but I can decipher winning on the first day seems to be quite important but isn’t a death sentence. Of those eight players know Johnson was the only player in 2016 to escape pool play after losing the first round. Study Hall For those of you who enjoy numbers, Paul Casey (10) picked up his 24th win in this format defeating Russell Henley (51), 1-up. His only lead was the final margin. … Jason Day (8) grabbed his 22nd victory 4 and 2 over James Hahn (56). … Luke List (60) is one of the newbies this week and he got off to an auspicious start. His putter didn’t see the end of the round after getting bent after eight holes. His wedge filled in but he couldn’t catch Justin Thomas (2) on the final hole. Thomas, who won 2-up, is battling strep throat while List will get a new putter tomorrow.

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