Winner’s Bag: Mackenzie Hughes, Sanderson Farms Championship

PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO If you ever wanted a litmus test for course history, you got one. Even though Daniel Berger is an accomplished and dynamic two-time PGA TOUR winner, he’s a first-timer at the John Deere Classic. Yet, he’s as clear-cut the most-owned in any tournament in recent memory. Chosen by 64.9 percent of gamers who set lineups, that’s 18 percent greater than runner up Charley Hoffman, who himself hasn’t made the trip to TPC Deere Run since missing the cut in 2013. The attention and love overlooks the fact that Berger is just 24 years of age. More powerful and poised than polished, he embodies exciting possibilities for gamers in every format every time he laces up the spikes. And while investors are no doubt hoping for a continuation of form that yielded a playoff loss in his last start at the Travelers Championship, the chip on his shoulder placed there by Jordan Spieth doesn’t hurt. Rounding out the top five, recent winners Kyle Stanley (Quicken Loans National) and Brian Harman (Wells Fargo Championship) flank JDC defending champion Ryan Moore, who’s returning from a strained tendon in his left shoulder. You need to lower your focus to sixth and 10th to see tournament heroes Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker, respectively. Them changes. Notables not shown below include Bubba Watson (12th, 12.4 percent), Nick Watney (16th, 9.0 percent), William McGirt (18th, 7.6 percent) and Robert Streb (21st, 6.3 percent). NOTE: Rob’s Rating refers to where our Fantasy Insider slotted a golfer in his Power Rankings. Golfers in the Power Rankings and outside the top 10 in most owned PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO Once upon a time, well, actually several times not long ago, Steve Stricker and Zach Johnson were the 1 and 1a at the John Deere Classic. Theirs was (still is?) a combination of talent and timing as the majority of one-and-done worthies prepped elsewhere for The Open Championship. That both are relative locals is forever convenient, but their success at TPC Deere Run was never guaranteed, either. It’s 2017, however, and One & Dones don’t wait for anyone. Brian Harman prevailed both here in 2014 and two months ago at the Wells Fargo Championship. He loves to go low and you’re not going to find another in the field who’s as confident with a putter in his left-handed grip. So, he represents the No. 1 slot properly. Tournament debutant Daniel Berger ranks second. As conveyed above for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, it’s a sign of confidence from gamers, but it also can’t go overlooked that he may not value as strongly the rest of the way, or at least as obviously. Now, and finally, we arrive at ZJ in third and Stricker in fourth. It’s more impressive that the all-time earnings leader of the tournament was selected by 8.9 percent of you because he’s 50 years old. He’s owned by nearly three times as many gamers who plucked Charles Howell III at 10th. CH3 opened with a bogey-free, 8-under 63, two strokes lower than anyone else in Thursday’s morning wave. Notables outside the top 10 include Kevin Kisner (11th, 2.8 percent), Kevin Na (12th, 1.4 percent), Bubba Watson (15th, 0.8 percent), Daniel Summerhays (16th, 0.7 percent) and William McGirt (T20, 0.4 percent). Danny Lee, who slots sixth, withdrew after a first-round 74. PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO If the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship opened the season, would there be any doubt that Bernhard Langer would either threaten or even establish the record for highest ownership percentage in the history of fantasy gaming at PGATOUR.com? He’s the three-time defending champion (on different courses to boot) and the tournament ranks T2 among all events in total prize money. Instead, this is the 13th event contributing to the One & Done and the U.S. Senior Open Championship contested two weeks ago boasted the largest purse. So, Langer is way down – way down! – at sixth in ownership percentage at just 6.1. I can’t confirm it, but I wouldn’t rule out that gamers’ commitment at Caves Valley Golf Club equals all of the remaining gamers who have submitted a pick every week and have yet to burn Langer. In my preseason primer in January, I angled at using him this week. While tempted to deviate at Salem Country Club (where he placed T18), he paid off my patience in the opening round of the SENIOR PLAYERS. Langer carded a bogey-free, 7-under 65. Larry Mize leads after a nine-birdie 64, but he was not chosen by any gamer this week. Notables outside the top 10 include Kevin Sutherland (12th, 2.5 percent), local favorite Fred Funk (14th, 2.0 percent), Joe Durant (T16, 1.5 percent) and Colin Montgomerie (T16, 1.5 percent). Preston McClellan, the digital communications manager for the PGA TOUR and member of the Experts panel for PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO was the only gamer who selected Wes Short, Jr.

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MAMARONECK, N.Y. (AP) — Mike Davis spent the last decade running the USGA, where he set up golf courses to provide an extreme test for elite players and searched for solutions to increasing distance. Now he wants to build golf courses, a lifelong passion. Davis announced Tuesday he will retire as CEO at the end of 2021, ending a 32-year career with the USGA that began with him overseeing ticket sales and transportation. He became the seventh executive director in 2011 and the USGA’s first CEO after an organizational shakeup in 2016. Davis, whose love of golf course architecture dates to when he was a junior golfer and would doodle holes on a piece of paper, said he will join Tom Fazio II in a new golf architecture firm called Fazio & Davis Golf Design. “One of the wonderful things these 32 years afforded me was I’ve gone out of my way to see most of the world’s great courses,” Davis said. “I’ve played them, studied them, read about them, taken pictures of them. I’ve read all the architecture books. I get as giddy with some architects as I do being around Jack, Arnold, Byron Nelson and Mickey Wright.” The announcement comes two days after Bryson DeChambeau crushed the notion that accuracy is tantamount to U.S. Open success. DeChambeau said he would hit driver as often as he could, even if it went into Winged Foot’s notorious rough, and he won by six shots by becoming the only player at par or better all four rounds of a U.S. Open at Winged Foot. The retirement, however, was in the works for several years. Davis had planned to announce it in September when the 2020 USGA championship season was over, so a successor could be found. Instead, the coronavirus pandemic forced the U.S. Open to be postponed from June until last week, with the U.S. Women’s Open in Houston still to come in December. Davis said he told his wife when he was appointed executive director in 2011 that he would do the job for 10 years. He told the USGA board more than three years ago that he would work through 2021 so he could try his hand at building courses. “I knew I would regret it if I didn’t try,” he said. His one regret was not seeing through the conclusion of the “Distance Insights Project.” A summary in February suggested it was time to stop increases in distance at all levels, highlighting an average gain of 25 yards over the last 30 years for elite players. The feedback process and next step have been delayed by the pandemic. “I think something is going to happen,” Davis said. “When is it going to be done? How is it going to be done? How will we introduce it? It’s a multiyear process. I’d have to stay many years to see this thing through. I’m just happy that for the first in over 100 years, we’re finally doing something. I pushed at it with the R&A, I pushed it with our own group. “I will look back saying that is one thing I am very proud of, because I just know it’s in the best interest in the game.” His last U.S. Open will be at Torrey Pines next summer. Meanwhile, Davis stays on to guide the USGA through the COVID-19 pandemic, setting up what amounts to a satellite office and a new testing center in Pinehurst, North Carolina, advancing the distance project and working with his successor. USGA President Stu Francis said a search would begin immediately, with hopes of having the next CEO hired by the U.S. Open next summer. Davis first took over setting up U.S. Open courses at Winged Foot in 2006, and he introduced the concept of graduated rough that grew longer the farther away from the fairway. That was from his first U.S. Open experience at Baltusrol in 1980, which he attended with his father. Davis recalls thinking it was unfair that someone who missed the fairway by a little was punished more than someone who missed by a lot. He has been criticized for some setup decisions, most recently at Shinnecock Hills, though that was to be expected. His predecessor, Tom Meeks, predicted in 2009 that Davis would make a mistake at some point. “It doesn’t happen by design. It happens because it’s the U.S. Open,” Meeks said. There was so much more to the job, especially as CEO. Davis was part of the most significant overhaul of the Rules of Golf that took effect in 2019, and he signed off on a decision to ban the anchored stroke used for long putters a few years earlier. He also was executive director when the USGA signed a 12-year broadcast deal with Fox worth about $1 billion, a deal that NBC took over again earlier this year. Part of Davis already is looking ahead. He doesn’t want to design golf courses on paper. He wants to build them, and he said he would spend time on the construction crews of architects Bill Coore and Gil Hanse to learn that end of it. “I can’t wait to get my hands dirty,” Davis said, chuckling like someone who has been wanting to do this for a long time.

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South Florida native T.J. Vogel was the medalist in Monday’s qualifier for The Honda Classic. Vogel, who was born in Pembroke Pines, shot 64 at Mayacoo Lakes Country Club to qualify for his second event of the season. Andrew Novak and PGA TOUR rookie Nate Lashley shot 65 to earn their starts in The Honda, while Jhared Hack grabbed the final spot in a playoff. Vogel and Novak both qualified for this season’s The RSM Classic, as well. Both missed the cut. Vogel, 27, finished 10th on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada Order of Merit last year. As an amateur, he won the 2012 U.S. Amateur Public Links and attended American Heritage High School in Plantation, about an hour from PGA National. Lashley, 35, is 166th in this season’s FedExCup standings, making the cut in three of nine starts. He earned his first PGA TOUR card by finishing 11th on the Web.com Tour’s Regular Season money list in 2017, winning the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship. He won three times on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica in 2016 to win the money list. Novak, 22, turned pro last year out of Wofford College. He started his career on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, making the cut in five of 11 starts. He shot 71-73 in his PGA TOUR debut at The RSM Classic. Last year, Hack finished 18th on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada’s Order of Merit. He had two third-place finishes in 12 starts. Hack, 28, has made one of four cuts on the Web.com Tour this year. The Florida native won the 2007 Western Amateur as a 17-year-old. Hack beat Ben Polland and Web.com Tour player Adam Svensson in a playoff Tuesday morning. Svensson is No. 2 on the Web.com Tour money list after winning The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club. He was the medalist in the 2015 Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament at PGA National.  

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