Wyatt Worthington II living the dream after SHIPPEN win

NORTON, Mass. – Those giant LED boards are all over the TPC Boston layout, the bright lights projecting everything from hometowns to the length of the putt a player is about to attempt. But Jonas Blixt doesn’t need to watch the FedExCup projections roll across the screen to know what he must do this week at the Dell Technologies Championship. The affable Swede came into the second Playoffs event ranked 84th with only the top 70 moving on to the BMW Championship in two weeks. So Blixt needs to play well to advance – and that’s exactly what he did in Friday’s first round. Blixt’s 3-under 68 left him in a tie for sixth and just two strokes off the lead held by Dustin Johnson. He likely needs to finish 24th or better to get to the BMW Championship for just the second time in his career. He currently projects to 49th. Solo second on Monday would probably get Blixt safely inside the top 30 so he could make his TOUR Championship debut. What about a win on Labor Day? “Then everything takes care of itself,� Blixt said. “But you’ve got to put yourself in that situation first. Coming down the stretch, you’ve got two things to play for. “You got the championship and (the FedExCup rank) and depending on where you are, you’ll play for one of them. The three-time PGA TOUR champ knows better than to get ahead of himself. “My back’s against the wall a little bit and I’m just trying to play good golf,� Blixt said. “I wouldn’t say push it a little bit but play aggressive and we’ll see what happens. “You never know. Golf is such a hard sport to predict.� Blixt, who teamed with Cameron Smith to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans earlier this year, had a solid round on Friday that included two birdies, one bogey and a 36-footer for eagle on the 18th hole. The round of 3 under was his lowest in relation to par since the second round of the Travelers Championship in June. Blixt, who has missed five straight cuts since that tournament in Hartford, brought his coach, Richard Lindberg, to Massachusetts this week. They’ve been working together at TPC Boston since last Saturday – it’s their second session in the last month. “We worked on a couple of things, small things, that could potentially help me a little bit,� Blixt said. “You never know. I had a good day today. It could be a worse day tomorrow. “But I’m swinging it well and a lot more confident today than I have been the last couple of weeks.� BUBBLE WATCH Here are the players who are projected to move inside and outside the top 70 that will advance to the third leg of the FedExCup Playoffs, the BMW Championship. QUOTE OF THE DAY I’m not trying to think about it, but yeah, it is there. It’s always nice to make a hole-in-one. They don’t come very often. TOP 5 WATCH The Top 5 players entering the TOUR Championship will control their own destiny at East Lake. Here’s a look at how the current top 5 fared Friday at the Dell Technologies Championship. 1. Dustin Johnson (66). Last week’s winner maintained his hot hand by grabbing the first-round lead. Projected to first. 2. Jordan Spieth (72). It wasn’t a great putting day, as Spieth missed four putts inside 10 feet. Projected to second. 3. Justin Thomas (71). Just one birdie and one bogey on a day that Thomas said he “fought for every stroke.� Projected to fourth. 4. Hideki Matsuyama (72). Had a double bogey early in his round and an eagle from 6 feet to finish it off. Projected to fifth. 5. Jon Rahm (67). Finished with a flourish – four birdies in his last five holes to move within one shot of Johnson. Projected to third. FEDEXCUP NOTES Ryan Moore and Kelly Kraft withdrew on Friday; Moore after his round and Kraft on his back nine after suffering a foot injury. Moore started the tournament ranked 61st and Kraft was 64th, so both are in jeopardy of falling outside the top 70. The projected total needed to make the BMW Championship is 723 points, and both players are below that number. But they will have to wait until the completion of play Monday for their fates to become official. For now, Moore is projected to stay inside the top 70 while Kraft is projected out. … Adam Scott fell outside the top 70 after not playing last week following the birth of his second child. His even-par 71 projects him back inside the top 70 after the first round. … This week’s bubble boy, Grayson Murray, started strong with a 3-under 68. But he’s downplaying the pressure of maintaining his position. “If my season ends right now, I’ve had a great year,� said Murray, who won the Barbasol Championship earlier this season. “I don’t put any pressure on me. But obviously the goal is to get to East Lake.� Murray currently projects to 44th.

Click here to read the full article…

The PGA TOUR will feature its second no-cut event in a row this week at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina. This event has been held in Las Vegas in each of the past two seasons but will move to South Carolina this year and host venue Congaree Golf Club. The field this week is limited to 78 players and this is a no-cut event, with all players getting in four rounds of play. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $300K Pitch + Putt [$100K to 1st] STRATEGY While Congaree will be hosting this event for the first time, it’s not the first time we’ve seen it on the PGA TOUR. It acted as the host club in 2021 for the one-off Palmetto Championship, an event that was added to the PGA TOUR schedule that year due to pandemic scheduling issues. Congaree is a long par 71 that measures in at 7,655 yards and features pure Bermudagrass on the greens. The designer is Tom Fazio, who has had a hand in designing other prominent venues like Conway Farms, Caves Valley and last year’s host venue, the Summit Club in Las Vegas. Congaree doesn’t challenge players much off the tee. Driving distance and driving accuracy numbers for the week were well above the PGA TOUR averages when the Palmetto was played at Congaree in 2021, and the leaderboard had plenty of shorter hitters in the mix that year. The course does get more difficult as the players get closer to the hole though and the greens at Congaree were difficult to play on and yielded an average three-putt percentage about 10% higher than an average PGA TOUR stop. Scrambling was also difficult here as players converted saves, on average, around 56% of the time when off the green. That was enough to ensure that the winning score that year was just 11-under par, with only seven players total reaching 10-under par or better. We could see the fall scheduling this year make the greens more receptive and with an improved field, expect a few more birdies. While you don’t want to discount what players are doing off the tee entirely, Congaree will certainly put more pressure on iron games and short games, so don’t be afraid to roster the shorter hitters if they are trending well in longer approach stats (>175 yards) and around the green. In 2021, both eventual winner Garrick Higgo and runner-up Doc Redman (tied with five other players) finished outside the top 30 in driving distance for the week, while gaining over 4.0 strokes on approach. GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Scottie Scheffler ($10,400) The venue this week certainly calls for a more all-around approach, so who better to go with at the top than the No. 1 player in the world in Scottie Scheffler? Scheffler has proven that he can handle any track, and his mastery of Augusta at such an early age speaks to the idea that he’ll be able to handle the tricky setup of Congaree on his first attempt just fine, too. With such easy-to-hit fairways, he shouldn’t lose out much off the tee to the bombers in the field this week and his approach game and short game have him ranked first in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green stats over the last 50 rounds. At the Palmetto in 2021, five of the top seven finishers on the week gained over 8.0 strokes tee-to-green alone. Over his last nine starts, Scheffler has gained 7.0 strokes or more tee-to-green on five occasions, so if his putter shows up in any way this week, he’ll almost certainly be in the mix. As just the third most expensive player on DraftKings, taking the discount and starting with Scheffler is a perfect way to begin lineups. Russell Henley ($7,300) The field this week is even deeper than we saw in Japan, so diving down into the lower $7K range still offers us plenty of upside for our fantasy golf lineups. Russell Henley comes into this event ranked first in Strokes Gained: Approach stats and 12th in around the green stats over the last 50 rounds. While the course is longer, Congaree’s easy to hit fairways won’t put a lot of stress on Henley’s off-the-tee game and will feature plenty of mid-iron approaches which is where he excels. Rest is also something to consider here too. Henley didn’t make the trip over to Japan last week and has played a light schedule, with just a missed cut at the Sanderson Farms to show on his record for the fall. He’s finished T25 and T3 at this event the last two seasons though and the switch to the South East (which is where he hails from) and Bermuda greens should both be positive moves for the 33-year-old. Davis Riley ($6,900) For our cheaper value, I don’t have any concerns about going back to Davis Riley this week. He never adjusted to the time or course in Japan, ultimately finishing the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in T67. Somewhat lost in his terrible start to the week though was the fact he ended with rounds of 67-68 on the weekend, which is only a shot worse than what winner Keegan Bradley produced. Riley is another player who hails from this portion of the United States and should be excited to be playing on Bermuda greens again. He finished a strong T19 at the Sanderson Farms just three weeks ago and the large fairways here should mask his accuracy issues off-the-tee. Considering this is a no-cut event and we won’t be hampered too much by a blowup round, Riley has lots of appeal at under $7K on DraftKings this week. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $300K Pitch + Putt [$100K to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. Place your golf bets at DraftKings Sportsbook and bet online by downloading the DraftKings Sportsbook app. I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is wavegoodbye) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.

Click here to read the full article…

Click here to read the full article…