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PGA Tour

PGA Tour: Rocket Mortgage Classic

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DETROIT – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The race is on for the PGA Tour’s rank-and-file with only six weeks of tournaments remaining to qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. This week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic presents a great opportunity for the field, with only one top-20 player making the trip to Detroit. The grind is on for those trying to earn — or keep — their spots in the playoffs and trying to get into the top 50 in the world for next year’s signature events.

Our golf experts preview the event starting Thursday at Detroit Golf Club, and provide their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win this week.

ROCKET MORTGAGE CLASSIC
Location: Detroit, June 27-30
Course: Detroit Golf Club, North Course (Par 72, 7,370 Yards)
Purse: $9.2M (Winner: $1.65M)
Defending Champion: Rickie Fowler
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler

HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday: 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday, 6:45 a.m.-6 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @RocketClassic

PROP PICKS
–Stephan Jaeger to Beat Taylor Pendrith (-110 at DraftKings): Jaeger isn’t a household name, but he is playing some really solid golf. In addition to tying for ninth in Detroit last year, the German won the Texas Children’s Houston Open in March and has finished T21 or better in four of his past seven starts. Pendrith also claimed his maiden PGA Tour win in May and is coming off a T16 at the U.S. Open and a T23 at the Travelers.

BEST BETS
–Cameron Young (+1600) is coming off a T9 last week that included a 59 in the third round. He finished runner-up here in his last visit in 2022, when Young tied the 18-hole record with a 63 in the second round. He’s second at the book with 8 percent of the money supporting Young to finally claim his first PGA Tour title this week.
–Min Woo Lee (+2000) is coming off a T21 at the U.S. Open, his 11th made cut in 15 starts this year. The young Australian has also been backed by 8 percent of the money.
–Akshay Bhatia (+2200) finished T5 last week after a T16 at the U.S. Open.
–Stephan Jaeger (+2500) also tied the 18-hole record in the final round last year to finish T9. He has only two top-20s since winning the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

NOTES
–Miles Russell, 15, makes his PGA Tour debut after being the youngest player to make the cut in a Korn Ferry Tour event. He is a +100000 longshot at BetRivers. Other sponsor’s exemptions included Auburn star Jackson Koivun and Neal Shipley, who won low amateur at the Masters and U.S. Open.
–Detroit Golf Club is hosting the event for the sixth time.
–Fowler won a three-man playoff last year to claim his first tour title since 2019.
–Tony Finau set the tournament scoring record of 262 in 2022.
–The North Course is set to undergo a renovation following the completion of next year’s event.

–Field Level Media

World No. 1 Scheffler Wins Again

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CROMWELL – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler won the first playoff hole with a par to capture the Travelers Championship on Sunday at TPC River Highlands, defeating South Korea’s Tom Kim.

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Scheffler and Kim finished at 22-under-par 258, two strokes clear of other contenders.

Scheffler won for the sixth time on the PGA Tour this year, all since the beginning of March. He prevailed for the second time in three weeks, capturing the Memorial Tournament prior to last week’s struggles at the U.S. Open.

Scheffler shot 5-under (65) in the final round, but Kim’s 66 with a 10-foot birdie putt on the last hole forced the extra golf. On the last hole of regulation, Scheffler left his approach on the left fringe and two-putted from there. Kim’s approach shot was within a couple of inches of the hole before rolling back before he converted the must-make putt to extend the tournament.

The duo played No. 18 again in the playoff, with Kim’s approach short and in a bunker. After blasting out, he couldn’t roll in a long par putt.

Tom Hoge (62) and Sungjae Im (66) shared third place at 20 under.

Cameron Young, who shot 59 on Saturday, was off to a brilliant start with birdies on the first four holes in the final round and it looked like he might rise to the top. But he began the back side at 2 over through three holes, with a bogey on No. 10 and a double bogey at No. 12 before ending up with 66.

Young tied for ninth at 17 under with Shane Lowry of Ireland (67), Brian Harman (62) and Wyndham Clark (63).

Austria’s Sepp Straka had the day’s best score at 61, putting him at 12 under and tied for 23rd.

–Field Level Media

TL’s Sunday Sports Notes | June 23

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While We’re Young (Ideas) with a Hodgepodge of Notes

By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk

CROMWELL – Summer was ushered into New England with a Rolling Rally for the 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics, a “Signature” PGA Tour event in the Greater Hartford area, high 90s heat wave temperatures throughout the region and – off in the distance – a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.

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In case you haven’t been paying attention as the NHL skaters have been navigating their way from South Florida (USA) to the Province of Alberta (Canada) via the 2996.25 mile trip that would equate to a 44 hour drive. The Oilers were down 0-3 in the series and have now battled their way back to force a Game 7 in Sunrise, Florida on Monday night.

Closer to home (as in Boston, Massachusetts to Cromwell, Connecticut), we have The Travelers Championship – the 28th of 36 PGA Tour events on the regular season schedule – aka the road to the FedEx Cup Playoffs. If you put aside the dodging of T-Storms and start of summer heat wave, tucked in the ‘burbs of the insurance capital of the world is the best run, player-friendly, birdie festival known as The Travelers ☔️ (pretend the umbrella is red, please).

Although the golf tournament comes a short week after the U.S. Open and is sometimes in a difficult travel situation (Pinehurst, NC to Hartford, CT), the lone New England based golf tournament has endeared itself to the players with basic hospitality second to none, as well as the TPC River Highlands course that brings reward over risk, as long as you keep your golfball in the fairways. The decision-makers for the TOUR did their part as well, elevating The Travelers to Signature level, meaning there’s $20m in the purse and a cool $3.8m and 700 FedEx Cup points awaiting the winner. Aside from the obvious No. 1 in the world lock, Scottie Scheffler, FedEx Cup points will determine who makes the cut for the Top 70 players on Tour and eventually strokes at hand for the top players competing in the TOUR Championship (at East Lake GC in Atlanta) come August 29-September 1st. The current Top 10 (before points are awarded from The Travelers).

CURRENT FEDEX CUP POINTS LEADERS

  1. Scottie Scheffler – 5,068
  2. Xander Schauffele – 3,117
  3. Rory McIlroy – 2,445
  4. Collin Morikawa – 2,101
  5. Ludvig Åberg – 1,935
  6. Wyndham Clark – 1,915
  7. Sahith Theegala – 1,833
  8. Hideki Matsuyama – 1,815
  9. Byeong Hun An – 1,620
  10. Patrick Cantlay – 1,455

An withdrew from the Travelers on Thursday, citing illness. McIlroy withdrew earlier in the week after a disastrous U.S. Open outing where he blew two putts inside five feet and lost out to eventual champion Bryson DeChambeau.

The sports seasons are ‘a changin’ as we adjust from the winter sports calendar of ice hockey and basketball to the summer sport of baseball which is accompanied by WNBA basketball, soccer and tennis. The last time there wasn’t a scheduled game on the weekly calendar for the NHL, NBA or college basketball was Thursday, September 21, 2023. That’s 278 days on the annual sports calendar.

Monday will mark the 198th Game 7 in Stanley Cup Playoffs history and 18th in the Stanley Cup Final. It’s the first since the visiting St. Louis Blues defeated the hometown Boston Bruins when the Blues took their first and only NHL championship in 2019.

Of course, this summer we’ll all have the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Games of the XXXIII Olympiad which will take place from July 26 to August 11.

For the full weekly column of sports notes, please consider subscribing to While We’re Young (Ideas) via Substack – (link)

Tom Kim Holds Lead at Travelers

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CROMWELL – Tom Kim (62-65) at (-13) leads a group of players on the star-studded leaderboard by two strokes at the 2024 Travelers Championship in the suburbs of Hartford, Connecticut. The event is the last of the PGA Tour’s elevated “Signature” tournaments and pays out a purse of $20 million with $3.6m going to the winner. It is the 28th of 36 tournaments of the FedEx Cup regular season.

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Kim celebrated his 22nd birthday by posting his career low 36-hole score on the PGA TOUR (127) and holds his second 36-hole lead/colead on TOUR. He is 1-for-1 to date converting the halfway-point lead to victory (2022 Wyndham Championship).

Kim is seeking his fourth PGA TOUR win in his 63rd start (2022 Wyndham Championship, 2022 Shriners Children’s Open, 2023 Shriners Children’s Open) and owns two Asian Tour wins (2019 Panasonic Open India, 2022 Singapore International).

He finished T38 in 2023 in his one prior appearance at the Travelers Championship.

World No. 1 and FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler (T2/-11) pulled within two strokes of the lead following a 6-under (64). Scheffler has improved in each of his four prior starts at the Travelers Championship (MC/2020; T47/2021; T13/2022; T4/2023) and is in search of his sixth win of the season and fourth in a Signature Event (Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, RBC Heritage, the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday). Of course, wins at The Masters and PLAYERS were his “other” two wins this year.

Collin Morikawa (T2/-11) cards 36-hole total of (129), which is second only to the 125 he posted at the 2023 TOUR Championship when he went on to finish T6 (FedExCup Starting Strokes). He is making fourth appearance at this event (T36/2019; MC/2020; MC/2023).

In his tournament debut, Akshay Bhatia (T2/-11) posted a career-best 36-hole score on the PGA TOUR (129). His previous best: (131) 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship/T20).

The Travelers | Leaderboard After 36 Holes

1 Tom Kim 62 65 127 (-13)

T2 Collin Morikawa 66 63 129 (-11)

T2 Akshay Bhatia 64 65 129 (-11)

T2 Scottie Scheffler 65 64 129 (-11)

5 Xander Schauffele 65 65 130 (-10)

Tom Kim Leads Travelers After 18

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CROMWELL – Tom Kim carded his lowest 18-hole score this season and holds his first 18-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR. Kim is celebrating his 22nd birthday today, June 21.

At his one prior appearance at the Travelers Championship last year, Kim shot rounds of 69-64-72-65 and finished T38.

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Kim is seeking his fourth PGA TOUR win in his 63rd start. Wins came at: (2022 Wyndham Championship, 2022 Shriners Children’s Open, 2023 Shriners Children’s Open). He owns two Asian Tour victories (2019 Panasonic Open India, 2022 Singapore International).

Making his tournament debut, Akshay Bhatia (T2/-6) posted his fourth round of (64) or better this season. In prior Travelers tournaments, two lefthanders have won the event in the last 25 years: Phil Mickelson (2001, 2002), Bubba Watson (2010, 2015, 2018). Both are on the LIV circuit now.

Rickie Fowler (T2/-6) carded his lowest opening round on TOUR since the 2023 U.S. Open (62). It marked his second opening round in the 60s in 17 starts this season (67/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am). In six prior appearances at this event he owns three T13 finishes (2010, 2013, 2023) and three missed cuts (2009, 2021, 2022).

Kurt Kitayama (T2/-6) seeks his second Top-10 result this season (T8/WM Phoenix Open); makes second appearance at this event (MC/2023). Kitayama leads in Stokes Gained: Around The Green (2.580).

Making his tournament debut, Will Zalatoris (T2/-6) leads the field in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green (3.905). He recorded eight birdies, including seven in a nine-hole stretch on hole Nos. 7-15.

World No. 1 and FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler (T6/-5) hits 17 of 18 greens in regulation en route to a 5-under (65) to snap his streak of five consecutive over-par rounds. Scheffler is celebrating his 28th birthday.

The Travelers | Leaderboard After 18 Holes

1 Tom Kim 62

T2 Akshay Bhatia 64

T2 Rickie Fowler 64

T2 Kurt Kitayama 64

T2 Will Zalatoris 64

Home Sweet Home for Bradley

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CROMWELL – Back close to home, Keegan Bradley looks to defend his Travelers Championship title when he tees off this week at TPC River Highlands in the suburbs of Hartford, Connecticut.

The Woodstock, Vermont and Hopkinson, Massachusetts native carded an event-record 23-under finish to earn his sixth and most recent PGA Tour win here in 2023.

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“I have great memories of here throughout my whole entire life, so it’s fun to come back as a winner of the tournament,” said Bradley, returning to his favorite golf course.

“I can think of when I was a 12-, 13-year-old kid coming here to watch David Duval play. And then now getting to come as defending champion is pretty cool.”

Bradley has had an up-and-down 2024.

He missed the cut at three of four events across February and March, but he has posted a pair of T2 finishes, including last month’s Charles Schwab Challenge.

“It’s been a weird season,” Bradley said, adding that he has felt “really strong” over the last few months.

Bradley, though, has shot over par in each of his last two events. He followed his season-worst 9-over-par finish at the Memorial by shooting 7-over at last week’s U.S. Open.

Putting has been a struggle, Bradley said, but he feels like his short game is coming along as of late and returning to TPC River Highlands may give Bradley’s putter another boost.

“Sometimes coming to a course like this that you’ve had some success at is just what you need to maybe hopefully contend,” he said.

Asked if he had re-watched his victory from last year, Bradley said he was selective about it.

“I can watch up until about 13 or 14, and then I started whacking balls in the water and making bogeys, so we fast forwarded through that part,” he said.

Bradley said he’s proud to have the Travelers Championship represent his “home event” and relishes the nostalgia it delivers aside from last year’s win.

“This tournament really, it means a lot to me before I had won. I mean, like I say every week, this is a very important tournament to the Northeast and New England golfers,” Bradley said. “And a kid like me, this is the only chance I would get to come up here and watch professional golfers play. So this is an important week for the game of golf in this area.”

–Field Level Media

DeChambeau Earns U.S. Open Win

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PINEHURST – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Bryson DeChambeau parred the final three holes to complete a 1-over-par 71, and that was enough for a one-shot victory at the U.S. Open in North Carolina, winning the championship for the second time in five years.

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DeChambeau, who began the day with a three-shot lead, finished at 6-under 274, benefitting from Rory McIlroy’s late putting failures.

McIlroy, who gained the lead on the back side, bogeyed the last hole by missing a par putt from about 4 feet. Then DeChambeau, playing in the last group, clinched it with a par putt after blasting out of a greenside bunker on his third shot.

DeChambeau became the second former Southern Methodist University golfer to win a U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, with this title coming 25 years after Payne Stewart’s memorable championship.

McIlroy’s 69 was tainted by bogeys on three of the last four holes, and he finished as the U.S. Open runner-up for the second year in a row. McIlroy, who won the 2011 U.S. Open, was trying to secure his fifth major championship and his first since 2014.

Scheffler Dominating the TOUR

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DUBLIN, Ohio – The Memorial, presented by Workday was Scottie Scheffler’s 11th career PGA TOUR title and fifth this season. He joined four different players (on six instances) who have won the Memorial Tournament and THE PLAYERS Championship or a major championship in the same season as Scheffler now captured the 2024 Memorial, the 2024 PLAYERS Championship, and 2024 Masters Tournament. The other players to accomplish the feat are Raymond Floyd (1982), Curtis Strange (1988), Paul Azinger (1993) and Tiger Woods (1999, 2000, 2001).

Scheffler became the seventh player (16th instance) with five or more TOUR wins in a season since 1983 and first since Justin Thomas in 2016-17 (5). Scheffler has won five of his last eight starts on TOUR and has finished outside the Top 10 only once in 13 starts this season (T17/The American Express).

He became the second player since 1950 with five TOUR victories including a major, before the U.S. Open (Arnold Palmer/1960, 1962) which is this week at Pinehurst.

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The last five instances of a player winning five times in a calendar year on the PGA TOUR before June 10:

  • Scottie Scheffler, 2024
  • Tom Watson, 1980
  • Johnny Miller, 1974
  • Arnold Palmer, 1962
  • Arnold Palmer, 1960

Collin Morikawa recorded his third Top-5 finish in as many starts (T4/PGA Championship, 4th/Charles Schwab Challenge). He was seeking a fourth victory on a Jack Nicklaus-designed venue – 2019 Barracuda Championship (Montreux G&CC), 2020 Workday Charity Open (Muirfield Village), 2021 WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession.

The Memorial 2024 | Final Leaderboard

1 Scottie Scheffler 67 68 71 74 280 (-8)

2 Collin Morikawa 68 74 68 71 281 (-7)

3 Adam Hadwin 66 72 72 74 284 (-4)

4 Christiaan Bezuidenhout 72 67 74 72 285 (-3)

Final Leaderboard (link)

Morikawa Gets Second Chance at Jack’s

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DUBLIN, Ohio – (Staff and Wire Service Report – Collin Morikawa recalled that he was nearly moved to tears when he had to withdraw from the 2023 Memorial Tournament on the morning of the final round because of a back injury.

But Morikawa has returned for this year’s edition of the Memorial, which starts on Thursday at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio.

Morikawa will be trying to capture the victory that eluded him a year ago while also going for a handshake from the event’s longtime host, golf legend Jack Nicklaus, on the 18th green.

“I felt gutted last year,” said Morikawa, who was tied for ninth at 4-under par and two shots behind the leaders after three rounds when he suffered back spasms during a workout that Sunday morning.

“I hurt myself on Sunday and I felt like I had a chance,” Morikawa said Wednesday. “I went in there and I was nearly sobbing because I had to go tell (Nicklaus) that I had to withdraw. It sucks because you show up to certain events and you just, you have this thing about an event that you just love, and I love this golf course.”

Morikawa, 27, is a two-time major champion since turning pro in 2019, having won the PGA Championship in 2020 and The Open in 2021. Among his six victories on the PGA Tour is his win at the Workday Charity Open held at Muirfield Village in 2020, but that didn’t come with a handshake from Nicklaus.

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Another shot to win the Memorial came in 2021, when Morikawa lost to Patrick Cantlay in a playoff.

“Oh, it would be so special,” Morikawa said of getting a handshake from the 84-year-old Nicklaus, an 18-time major champion. “Look, what Jack has done for this game, what his voice does, what he represents, it’s a lot. You can’t replace history, you can’t replace someone like that, so to have that chance hopefully come Sunday, it would mean the world. …

PGA Tour: The Memorial

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THE MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT
Location: Dublin, Ohio, June 6-9
Course: Muirfield Village Golf Club (Par 72, 7,571 Yards)
Purse: $20M (Winner: $4M)
Defending Champion: Viktor Hovland
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler

HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday: 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday: 12:30-2:30 p.m. (GC), 2:30-6 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @MemorialGolf

PROPS
–Collin Morikawa to beat Xander Schauffele (+105 at DraftKings): Schauffele claimed his first major title in his most recent start and has been a top-10 machine with nine through 11 2024 events. But Morikawa has also rediscovered elite form, posting consecutive fourths and five top-10s over his past five starts. It has been a whirlwind few weeks for Schauffele since his breakthrough major victory, while Morikawa hunts for his first win since October.

–Viktor Hovland as top Scandanavian (+140 at BetMGM): After a rough start to 2024, Hovland reconnected with his previous swing coach and immediately contended until the 72nd hole at the PGA Championship. He also won at Muirfield in a playoff last year, but does have to fend off stiff competition in this prop. Ludvig Aberg (+150) has skyrocketed to sixth in the world with five top-10s already this year, while Alex Noren (+275) has displayed strong recent form that includes six top-20s in his past nine starts.