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With the year’s final major in the books and the FedEx Cup Playoffs still weeks away, the caravan rolls into Motor City for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, at Detroit Golf Club.

We’re in something of a lull in the PGA Tour schedule.

But just because the field is not the season’s strongest doesn’t mean the handicapping has to slow.

At No. 4 in the world, Patrick Cantlay is the highest-ranked player. He is also the odds-on favorite, but red-hot Tony Finau is close behind as he looks to bag his second win in as many weeks.

Other notables include Will Zalatoris, Open Championship runner-up Cameron Young and Rocket Mortgage defending champ Cam Davis.

And let’s not forget Andy Lack, GOLF.com’s expert prognosticator. A data analyst for Odds Checker, and the co-host of The Scramble, a twice-weekly golf handicapping show, Lack does not base his plays on random guesswork. 

Tournaments

And this week, in a change of format, we’re tapping deeper into his expertise by asking him to give us his four favorite wagers. His picks, along with the reasoning behind them, are laid out below. 

Lack is a pro. But if you also want to know where public opinion is leaning, keeping reading. Below his picks, we’re sharing data from Chirp, a free-to-play mobile platform (and GOLF.com affiliate) that allows you to engage with the action through a range of games.

Andy Lack’s Expert Picks:

To win: Sahith Theegala (+4600) 

Odds available on Bet365

I’ve had Theegala earmarked at this event for months, and I am far from deterred by his missed cut last week at the 3M Open. The former Haskins Award winner’s ball-striking remained steady, and he only missed out on the weekend due to a faulty putter. Now, he travels to a golf course that should be a better fit for his game. 

Theegala’s biggest weakness is the occasional big miss with the driver, a flaw that will be exposed often at a course like TPC Twin Cities, but little at Detroit Golf Club. We’ve seen Theegala go head-to-head on Sunday with players such as Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and Schauffele again at the Travelers Championship. Some may view these near misses as scar tissue. I view them as worthy learning experiences for a towering talent who is due to break through.

Top 10: Scott Stallings (+600) 

Odds available on FanDuel

Stallings has quietly been playing some excellent golf this season, and he’s coming off a fourth-place finish at the John Deere Classic where he gained four strokes off the tee, and 3.7 strokes on approach. Before that, he finished eighth at the Travelers on the bent/poa greens, the same type he’ll face this week. 

Stallings checks the rare box of a player coming in with great ball-striking form, who is also an ideal course fit. The three-time PGA Tour winner has above average distance off the tee, is a great wedge player and has shown an ability to catch fire with the flatstick. Most of his best finishes have come in tournaments with easier scoring conditions, and I have little doubt about his ability to keep up in a birdie-fest. 

Top 40: Taylor Pendrith (+110)

Odds available on DraftKings

Pendrith has been on my radar since he contended at the Bermuda Championship during the fall swing. Unfortunately, injuries have derailed his season and he was sidelined for four months between March and July. The Canadian returned to action at the Barbasol Championship with a 13th-place finish and backed it up the following week with an 11th-place finish at the Barracuda Championship. 

Pendrith is known for his elite driving ability, and there’s an argument to be made that he’s currently the longest player on Tour. Detroit Golf Club is a course we’ve seen overpowered before. There’s an interesting parallel between Detroit GC and Winged Foot, as Bryson DeChambeau and Matthew Wolff were able to use the same strategy at both courses of aggressively wailing away with driver to get as close to the green as possible, knowing that even from the rough, they would be able to stop their shorter irons on the back to front sloping greens. 

As a relative unknown, Pendrith gained more than four strokes off the tee at the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot deploying a similar strategy. While I’m worried his spotty iron play could hold him back from contending, I’m confident his dominance off the tee will carry him to a top-40 finish, at the very least. 

Matchup: Rickie Fowler (+100) over Jason Day 

Odds available on DraftKings

It’s hard not categorize both players in this matchup as disappointments this season, but I remain far more bullish on Fowler. The former Players Championship winner quietly gained three strokes off the tee last week en route to a 36th-place-finish at the 3M Open. 

Gear

While swing changes have contributed to Fowler’s spotty recent form, one aspect of his game that has improved is his distance off the tee. Fowler ranks top-30 in this field in driving distance, and we’ve began to finally see his work on distance gains come to fruition. The 3M Open was his best off the tee week since the CJ Cup in October. Now, he returns to a course that he has never missed a cut at in three appearances. 

I find Jason Day much harder to trust right now, as it’s difficult to tell if he’s ever fully healthy. He recently withdrew from the John Deere Classic, and while he started out strong last week at the 3M Open, he was one of the worst players in the field over the weekend, fading to a T64. Fowler is simply a safer bet to make the cut and put four rounds together right now, and I will gladly back him at plus money. 

Who the betting public likes to win 

Some 600 users have already made their picks for Chirp’s free-to-play Trifecta game, a healthy sample that gives us a sense where public sentiment stands. As a reminder, the Trifecta game calls for players to make three picks: a favorite, a contender and a long shot, all categories based on the Official World Golf Ranking. Here’s a look at the three top vote getters in each category, along with the percentage of votes they received.

Want to play Chirp yourself? You can download the app here.

Favorites (players ranked 1-20): 

Patrick Cantlay (33.39 percent)
Will Zalatoris (23.04 percent)
Tony Finau (14.19 percent)

Contenders (players ranked 21-60): 

Denny McCarthy (24.21 percent)
Stewart Cink (11.35 percent)
Emiliano Grillo (7.01 percent)

Long Shots (players ranked 61 or higher): 

John Huh (18.86 percent)
Nick Hardy (14.19 percent)
Scott Piercy (7.68 percent)

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The post ‘I’m 30 years old, I should not feel like this:’ Why this pro lost 75 pounds appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘I’m 30 years old, I should not feel like this:’ Why this pro lost 75 pounds appeared first on Golf.

Scott Stallings describes his thought at the time as being “everyone’s idea.” 

“If I play well, I can kind of do whatever I want and kind of deal with it as it comes,” he says. 

Look at pictures of Stallings before 2015, and look at ones in the years since, and if you’re curious of his process of going from as high 252 pounds in weight to as low as 177, this, he says, is its starting point. In 2015, he was playing well. Three wins in his first four seasons on the PGA Tour, all before the age of 30. 

As for what came next? He remembers it well.  

“I just started feeling worse and worse, and you get done, it’s like, man, I’m 30 years old, I should not feel like this,” Stallings said on GOLF’s Subpar podcast this week. “And, you know, started putting the pieces together, and, man, I always kind of worked out a little bit, but there wasn’t ever really any kind of structure as far as diet or nutrition or understanding what caused what.”

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And then there was. Today, Stallings is 36, soon to be 37, and at 200 pounds, he is one of the more fit players on Tour. Still, and he knows the irony in it, he admits it wasn’t until “a time in my life that I don’t necessarily say I enjoyed” to get him invested.  

If you’re familiar at all with the Stallings story, you’ll also know that in 2015, he turned himself in to the Tour after he believed he took a banned performance-enhancing drug, and on Subpar, Stallings talked freely of both the incident and his three-month suspension. It was those months off, he said, that allowed him to focus on his health. 

“I had some good people come around me and kind of lay out some groundwork as far as how to go and, you know, incrementally get better,” he said. “And it all pieced together, but I had the time off to kind of be able to do those kinds of things. 

“Ninety days exactly to be able to kind of figure it out, but to be honest, I don’t know if I would have taken that time. I probably would have just been riding on empty and just smoke and mirrors and trying to figure it out. I got time to step away, and you know, figure it out. I had a lot of really good people help and kind of point me in the right direction to get me to where I am today.” 

Subpar co-host Colt Knost asked if Stallings was ever worried whether losing weight would affect his golf. 

“There’s probably always in the back of your mind, like, man, I’m making some huge changes,” he said. “The heaviest I was was 252 pounds. The lowest I got to was 177. But I mean, that was like, years, like when it all figured out. But the initial drop was like 50 pounds, when I got to about 200. …

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“But I think when you start looking at it, you know, now I kind of feel like I got a second chance. You know, I love my job; I think I have the best job in the world and something I’ve wanted to do my whole life. It probably made the bad days a little bit easier to deal with and the good days more enjoyed. And I think that that’s kind of the perspective that I have. I mean, I don’t like going out there and shooting 75, but the 65s are enjoyed a lot more because you look at it and truly you’re like, how much you do love and appreciate it. For an instant, it felt like it kind of got taken away for a little bit. But however much longer I play on Tour — I mean, I hope it’s a long time — I’m going to enjoy every bit of it.” 

Subpar co-host Drew Stoltz then asked Stallings about his lowest weight.

“I think a couple guys were like, are you feeling OK? Kind of the other way,” Stallings said. “Trying to feed me when I’m out there. But you learn a system that works and kind of a way to eat and kind of a way to train and that’s all you and then you adapt and continue to get better. But that was the first conversation — why do people keep asking me that? And then I hadn’t seen any pictures lately. I was like, oh, man. All right, let’s change this up a bit.” 

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The post GOLF’s Subpar: Scott Stallings talks the importance of fitness in golf appeared first on Golf.

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Subpar’s Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by 3-time PGA Tour winner Scott Stallings who talks about how important fitness can be to improving your game.

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This week’s episode is presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. If you’ve never tried FanDuel Sportsbook, what are you waiting for? Go to https://www.fanduel.com/subpar or download the FanDuel Sportsbook app to get started. Be sure to sign up with promo code SUBPAR so they know we sent you.

Disclaimer: must be 21+ and present in AZ, CT, NJ, or NY. First online real money wager only. Refund issued as non-withdrawable site credit that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-(888)-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), or 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), or 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY(467369) (NY).

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The post GOLF’s Subpar: Why Scott Stallings changed his body to get healthy appeared first on Golf.

Subpar’s Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by 3-time PGA Tour winner Scott Stallings who shares why he focused on personal fitness to change his body and get healthier.

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This week’s episode is presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. If you’ve never tried FanDuel Sportsbook, what are you waiting for? Go to https://www.fanduel.com/subpar or download the FanDuel Sportsbook app to get started. Be sure to sign up with promo code SUBPAR so they know we sent you.

Disclaimer: must be 21+ and present in AZ, CT, NJ, or NY. First online real money wager only. Refund issued as non-withdrawable site credit that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-(888)-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), or 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), or 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY(467369) (NY).

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The post ‘Most impressive thing I’ve seen on Tour’: Pro recalls epic Tiger Woods prediction appeared first on Golf.

Tiger Woods’ magnetism is well documented. When he steps on property, the vibe is just different. All eyeballs gravitate toward the 15-time major champion, and it’s been that way since before he was a pro.

Even his fellow competitors sometimes have trouble not being sucked in by Woods’ aura. Those who have been around for a while get (somewhat) used to it, but for rookies and other younger players, it’s hard not to get awestruck.

Three-time PGA Tour winner Scott Stallings remembers his first pairing with Woods (see video above). It was at the 2012 Memorial Tournament, and Stallings, a lifelong Tiger fan, used his introduction to thank the superstar for inspiring him to pursue the game.

“You made some kid from Tennessee want to come out here and chase it,” Stallings said on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar. “I just wanted to tell him thank you.”

The rest of the round was largely unremarkable for the twosome, each shooting 73, until they were walking up the 18th fairway. That’s when Woods did, what Stallings called, the “most impressive” thing he’s seen on Tour.

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“He said, ’67 and I’ll see you in a playoff,'” Stallings said. “I said, ‘Bro, we’re in like 18th.’ He said, ‘The wind is switching. We’re gonna go out a little bit earlier — I think 67 gets into a playoff. I think that’ll be good enough with how the course is gonna play.'”

Stallings was baffled. But sure enough, the following day Woods went out and shot 66 to win the tournament by two.

“He knew,” Stallings said. “It was awesome.”

Check out the entire interview below as Stallings shares why he changed his body, his take on golf fitness and more.

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The post GOLF’s Subpar: Scott Stallings recalls his first Tiger Woods pairing appeared first on Golf.

The post GOLF’s Subpar: Scott Stallings recalls his first Tiger Woods pairing appeared first on Golf.

Subpar’s Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by 3-time PGA Tour Winner Scott Stallings who talks what it was like being paired with Tiger Woods for the first time.

—

This week’s episode is presented by FanDuel Sportsbook. If you’ve never tried FanDuel Sportsbook, what are you waiting for? Go to https://www.fanduel.com/subpar or download the FanDuel Sportsbook app to get started. Be sure to sign up with promo code SUBPAR so they know we sent you.

Disclaimer: must be 21+ and present in AZ, CT, NJ, or NY. First online real money wager only. Refund issued as non-withdrawable site credit that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-(888)-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), or 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), or 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY(467369) (NY).

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The PGA Tour will test for the coronavirus multiple times during tournament weeks, house players in a single hotel, and comply with social distancing, as it looks to resume play in a month, according to the Tour’s new “Health and Safety Plan.”

The report from Golf Channel says that the Tour’s chief operations officer Tyler Dennis sent a memo to players this week outlining the plans for when play resumes June 11 at Colonial.

The memo comes on the heels of Memorial Tournament director Dan Sullivan sharing some of the protocols that his tournament will utilize this summer, such as limited spectator capacity, spectator tracking through RFID in tournament badges, and the absence of grandstands.

“At any time we can know, around the golf course, how many people are collecting in a certain area,” Sullivan said. “We’re considering every venue to be very much like a restaurant or bar … We’re going to manage as the state has mandated at that time.”

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Although Memorial is slated to be one of the first tournaments scheduled to allow fans, the insight he shared is sure to be somewhat uniform across the Tour as play resumes.

Last month, the Tour indicated they were exploring options for social distancing during competing that would include players being required to putt with the flagstick in, playing without rakes in sand traps, and pulling their own clubs to minimize contact with caddies. However, the report from Golf Channel did not indicate how many, if any, of these speculative changes will be implemented.

Some players have been vocal in their opposition to these suggested social distancing guidelines. Adam Hadwin and Scott Stallings were particularly opposed to the changes, with Stallings suggesting that some players would choose to abstain from competition rather than play under modified conditions.

“I just don’t think there’s any way guys are going to do that,” he said. “Guys are not going to play for their livelihood with no rakes in the bunker and no caddies. That’s just not going to happen.”

It remains to be seen how golf will differ from what we are used to, but it will almost certainly be different from what we saw when the Tour hit pause at the Players Championship in March.

Editor’s Picks

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Like all of his peers, three-time PGA Tour winner Scott Stallings misses golf. And like all of his peers, he’s also waiting anxiously to know his next start.

“I’ve played professional golf for 13 years and I’ve never seen a schedule that has maybes on it, not even in the mini-tours,” he said with a laugh. “My four-year-old daughter is asking if I’m ever going to play golf again.”

When the Players Championship was canceled in the middle of March, Stallings posted up in his home outside of Knoxville, Tenn. That’s where he’s been ever since, waiting out the PGA Tour layoff. But even with a return in sight, he’s skeptical.

“I think there’s a lot of things that need to be put into perspective before we return,” Stallings told GOLF.com. “My feelings across all sports are the same. There’s a lot of people that have to get back to work before me.”

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Last week, the PGA Tour announced its restructured schedule for the 2020 season, beginning June 8 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and continuing through to the Tour Championship in the first week of September. At least four events will be played with no fans in attendance under the revised schedule, and the Tour will conduct extensive testing to ensure safe conditions. On Thursday, the Tour told GOLF.com that it is considering going even further to protect players by “exploring how to best incorporate social distancing guidelines into the field of play.”

These changes could see players putting with the flagstick in, playing without rakes in bunkers and pulling their own clubs to minimize contact with caddies, among other adjustments. While the proposed guidelines could allow golf to be played in the near future, Stallings doubts players would get on board with the changes.

“I just don’t think there’s any way guys are going to do that,” he said. “Guys are not going to play for their livelihood with no rakes in the bunker and no caddies. That’s just not going to happen.

“I’m fully confident that there are going to be guys who choose not to play.”

Those same players, Stallings said, might be willing to compete in unofficial made-for-TV exhibitions but to protect “the integrity of the game,” he thinks they’ll “put their foot down and say, ‘No, we have to wait.'”

Other complications off the course might also give players pause about returning to competition, Stallings said.

“There are a lot of variables that go into what we do for a living,” he said. “Someone just sees the caddie and the player in the middle of the fairway. They don’t think about the clubhouse, the locker room, traveling to an event, all these other different things. How they’re going to test the players, how they’re going to manage [the event].”

Still, Stallings expressed confidence in the PGA Tour and in commissioner Jay Monahan to act in the best interest of the players and said that he would abide by social distancing measures if they were enacted, adding that he “could care less” about the absence of fans.

“They truly have our best interests at heart,” Stallings said. “Our commissioner has been very outspoken about how he’s not going to put us in a spot where we feel like we’re forced to be out there.”

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The post LIVE BLOG: Follow the conclusion of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am appeared first on Golf.

Phil Mickelson leads the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am after a weather-delay Sunday round in Pebble Beach, Calif.

Mickelson started the final round three shots behind playing partner and 54-hole leader Paul Casey, but Mickelson made back-to-back birdies on 9 and 10 and again on 13 and 14 to surge ahead. Play was eventually suspended due to darkness, although Mickelson, who wanted to continue, wasn’t pleased. Mickelson was six under on the day when play was suspended, and Casey was even par.

Play resumes at 8 a.m. local (11 a.m. ET) on Monday with Mickelson leading at 18 under through 16 holes. Casey is at 15 under and has to clean up a 3-foot par putt on the 16th. The 17th is a par-3 and the 18th is a par-5.

Scott Stallings has the clubhouse lead at 15 under.

Tournaments

The awesome story behind Phil Mickelson’s ball marker he only uses at Pebble Beach

If Mickelson wins, it will be his 44th career PGA Tour victory and fifth career win at Pebble Beach, tying him for the tournament record. His last victory came at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship last year.

You can follow the final round with our live blog below. It will start shortly before 11 a.m. ET when the players take their spots on the course.

AT&T PEBBLE BEACH PRO-AM LIVE BLOG

All times ET / Refresh this page for updates

11:36 a.m.: That’s it for this event, folks. Check back on our social channels and homepage today as we’ll have lots of other goodies coming in.

11:34 a.m.: “It’s nothing like the course we will see [for the U.S. Open in June],” Mickelson tells Peter Kostis.

11:34 a.m.: Mickelson at 48 is the event’s oldest winner in tournament history. He’s now won this tournament FIVE times in his career.

11:33 a.m.: And Mickelson finishes it off in style, making his birdie putt from about eight feet to jump to 19 under and win by three. That’s a final-round seven-under 65 for Lefty.

11:30 a.m.: Casey still out, and he rolls in his birdie putt to get to 16 under and take solo second away from Scott Stallings, who was in the clubhouse at 15 under.

11:29 a.m.: Casey actually ended up in a tricky spot and had to putt, but he ran it about eight feet by.

11:27 a.m.: Phil will win in the U.S. for the first time in six years. Last two victories were the 2018 WGC-Mexico and the 2013 British at Muirfield. 2013 Waste Management Phoenix Open was his last U.S. victory.

11:23 a.m.: Mickelson with 140 left to the green. He’s hitting a nine-iron and sticks it pin high and to about 12 feet. There is your 2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am champion, everyone.

11:22 a.m.: Casey with an iron… and he comes up short and left of the green. Should be a pretty easy up and down for birdie, but birdie isn’t gonna win this thing….

11:20 a.m.: Casey has 245 yards to a back pin here. Will need to fade it in.

11:18 a.m.: Mickelson lays up and it’s safe. Casey up next.

11:15 a.m.: Casey needs to play this hole much differently than Mickelson. He needs to get home in two and make eagle. He blasts it out there and looks good. Might have trickled into the rough. Big shot for Casey coming up.

11:14 a.m.: We’ll finish this off with the 531-yard par-5 18th. Mickelson leads by three, and no surprise here (OK, some surprise, since it is Phil) that he hits iron off the tee. Finds the fairway.

11:12 a.m.: Mickelson from about the same distance for his birdie…. misses on the short side. He taps in for par and we’ll head to 18 with Mickelson leading Casey by three.

11:11 a.m.: Casey from 7 feet, 5 inches… pushes it out left and it never moves. Misread the whole way.

11:09 a.m.: Phil and Casey just getting to the green on 17 now. Two outstanding shots there. Birdie putts coming.

11:07 a.m.: Nice little crowd out on the course today. Tickets were free. Cold morning but hey Phil is closing in on PGA Tour victory No. 44 here!

11:06 a.m.: Casey with a 7-iron on 17. He drops it close too, inside Mickelson’s ball. He needs to pick up a stroke on Phil here though. Birdie putts coming.

11:04 a.m.: Par-3 17th up next. Playing 181 yards and Mickelson, with his first shot of the day, drops it pin high and about 12 feet left of the pin. That might have sealed this thing.

11:03 a.m.: I’m glad Casey made that putt cause man that would have been a rough start to the day. Would have been over just like that!

11 a.m.: And good start for Casey, slides his par putt in on the right side and we’re off to 17. Phil leads by three.

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