This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
Once again, all is right in the golf universe. Jupiter has aligned with Mars. The Big 3 is the Big 3 once more. … Good luck figuring it all out, gamers.
With the U.S. Open three weeks away, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy and, now, Jordan Spieth, have all found their winning form. The American emerged at Colonial on Sunday to break a five-month drought, meaning the three top golfers in the world have all won their most recent starts.
Before they get to Oakmont next month, they will tee it up at the Memorial this week in what will be their final joint outing until Spieth defends his U.S. Open title. It surely is an exciting time in golf, but it makes the difficult job of picking winners and successful lineups that much more difficult.
Day is ranked No. 1, and his win two weeks ago at The Players Championship came with his main foes in the field. No. 3 McIlroy then captured his hometown Irish Open for his first win in six months before Spieth won in his native Texas for the first time, but both against decidedly weaker fields than at The Players.
Spieth captured the Dean & Deluca Invitational in Fort Worth by three strokes over Harris English on Sunday, using a back-nine surge we haven't seen from him in almost a year. He closed with an inward 30, birdieing six of the nine holes, including the final three. It will help erase the sting of Spieth's
Once again, all is right in the golf universe. Jupiter has aligned with Mars. The Big 3 is the Big 3 once more. … Good luck figuring it all out, gamers.
With the U.S. Open three weeks away, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy and, now, Jordan Spieth, have all found their winning form. The American emerged at Colonial on Sunday to break a five-month drought, meaning the three top golfers in the world have all won their most recent starts.
Before they get to Oakmont next month, they will tee it up at the Memorial this week in what will be their final joint outing until Spieth defends his U.S. Open title. It surely is an exciting time in golf, but it makes the difficult job of picking winners and successful lineups that much more difficult.
Day is ranked No. 1, and his win two weeks ago at The Players Championship came with his main foes in the field. No. 3 McIlroy then captured his hometown Irish Open for his first win in six months before Spieth won in his native Texas for the first time, but both against decidedly weaker fields than at The Players.
Spieth captured the Dean & Deluca Invitational in Fort Worth by three strokes over Harris English on Sunday, using a back-nine surge we haven't seen from him in almost a year. He closed with an inward 30, birdieing six of the nine holes, including the final three. It will help erase the sting of Spieth's Masters meltdown last month.
Day should and will still be the favorite at Muirfield Village, where he is a member, despite a weak history at the tournament (no top-25s, MC last year). He also will have the highest DraftKings price, but will he be the most owned? Probably not, as it seems gamers have always had more of an affection for McIlroy and, especially, Spieth. Remember, though, Spieth will be playing for the fourth straight week.
The Memorial features a select, 120-man field, and eight of the top-10 in the world will be there (Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose, who pulled out on Monday with a continuing back injury, will miss it). If you opt for one of the Big 3, there's probably not enough of the $50,000 bankroll left to take a second.
Imagine, if you had the option of taking the three of them or the rest of the elite field, that still would be a tough call, so picking just one is quite a chore. None of them has ever won Memorial, though Spieth was third last year. Recent winners Hideki Matsuyama and surging Matt Kuchar will be in the field, along with Rickie Fowler (runner-up in 2010), Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, and on and on.
Jack Nicklaus always brings out the best fields. It's your job to figure out what to do with them. Spieth's victory just made your job harder.
MONDAY TAKEAWAY
Harris English
The leaderboard shows that English finished three strokes behind Spieth. What it doesn't show is that English had the lead on the back nine before Spieth ran away. There's no shame being runner-up to the world No. 2. The former Georgia Bulldog has been on the fringe of stardom for a few years now, and this could be shaping up as his best season yet. English now has a second to go with a third at Phoenix back in February, and his success at Colonial has vaulted him to the top-50 in the world (No. 49). He's skipping the Memorial, but had already qualified for both Opens.
Ryan Palmer
Remarkably, Palmer has yet to qualify for any of the remaining majors or WGCs. But his showing at his home club Colonial, where he tied for third, went a long way toward getting him into Oakmont. The Texan moved up to No. 63 in the world, and the top-60 on June 13 get in. Palmer is sitting out the Memorial, but he has committed to play in Memphis, where he'll need another good showing to crack the Open field. (Palmer has also registered for Open qualifying, to be held at various sites, next Monday.)
Webb Simpson
Simpson tied Palmer for third. He's already in the Open, but not based on any success of late, as his showing at Colonial moved him from 95th to 79th in the world rankings. Yes, this recent major champion (2012 U.S. Open) was in danger of falling outside the top 100. He was around No. 30 a year ago. Simpson was one of the noteworthy victims of the anchored-putting ban, but his tee-to-green game is so strong, he can contend based on that alone. But winning without putting is another story.
Kyle Reifers
In his third full season on tour, Reifers is amid his best season on tour. The Wake Forest product used four sub-par rounds for a solo fifth at Colonial, his second straight top-10 and fourth on the year. Reifers is 117th in the world and will be in the field at Memorial this week. If he doesn't surge into the top-60, there's always Open qualifying tournaments next Monday.
Kevin Kisner
There's been a Kevin Kisner sighting! Another former Georgia Bulldog, Kisner entered the Witness Relocation Program after his maiden PGA win last fall but showed his face at Colonial, exiting with a T10, his first top-10 in more than four months. Kisner was eighth at Memorial last year, so his owners (including me) can always hope this reignites his 2016, can't we?
Steven Bowditch
This guy has been in the 80s more than Miami Beach in the summer, so his Colonial result was quite a surprise. Bowditch tied for 22nd, his first top-25 since January and only the second of the season. Heck, he's made only nine of 17 cuts and wouldn't even be in the FedEx Cup playoffs if they started today. The Aussie is already exempt into the two Opens and is in the field at Memorial, but it will take a lot more before we jump on the bandwagon.
Tony Finau
The big-hitting Finau tied for 34th, but he makes Monday Takeaway for one of his worst shots of the week. He hit a spectator in the head on Saturday, and she needed to have stitches. But Finau more than made up for it, as her Instagram account details:
Despite his noble deeds, Finau sits 80th in the world rankings and has not yet qualified for the U.S. Open. He's in the field this week at Memorial, where he tied for eighth last year in his debut. Another such showing just might get him to Oakmont without having to qualify.
Jason Bohn
Bohn also tied for 34th, and this was his best showing since he suffered a heart attack at the Honda in late February. Bohn, who has since turned 43, tied for 69th in his first tournament back, RBC Heritage, back in April, but missed three straight cuts before his fine tournament at Colonial. He was, and still is, amid a second straight good season, so perhaps Bohn is ready to challenge in tournaments again. He'll be at Memorial but, at No. 89 in the world, has yet to qualify for the Open.
Matt Jones
Back in November, Jones edged Spieth and Adam Scott to win the prestigious Australian Open. Since then he's played 15 PGA Tour events and made only six cuts. He MCed at Colonial. Jones, the 2014 Houston Open winner, is 145th in the point standings and 83rd in the world heading to his start at the Memorial. What in the world has happened to Matt Jones?
Zac Blair
Blair hasn't done much since finishing third at the Sony way back in January. He missed the cut at Colonial by one shot a week after missing the cut at the Byron Nelson, also by one stroke. If we ever needed a reminder how slim the difference between success and failure is on tour, Blair supplied one via Twitter:
Missing cuts sucks... Missing them by one is tough! It's amazing how important one shot is every week. Games close, I'll get it going soon!
— Zac Blair (@z_blair) May 28, 2016
The good news for Blair is he's still 80th in the point standings, and in the select Memorial field this week. He placed 61st there a year ago.
Stewart Cink
Cink returned to golf for the first time since announcing his wife has breast cancer. He missed the cut at Colonial, but was simply trying to restore some normalcy to his family's life as Lisa Cink undergoes treatment for what the golfer called "advanced cancer." Cink is in the field at Memorial, and if it helps his family even a little bit at this difficult time, good for them.
