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JULY 15 – 21, 2024

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The PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship, the annual alternate event opposite the WGC FedEx St Jude, will be contested in California at Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood course for the second consecutive edition.

Situated about 20 miles west from its former home at Montrêux Golf & Country Club in Reno, Nevada, across the state line into Truckee (California), Old Greenwood debuted last year as host venue of the Tour’s only Modified Stableford scoring event.

As was Montrêux, Old Greenwood is also a Jack Nicklaus Signature design. The par-71 course, which opened in 2004, features three par 5s and as many short reachable par 4s.

Despite being a secondary tournament, there are a lot of great players here, but we like a few of them just a little more:

10. Pat Perez

Fan favorite has fallen off the radar since his breakthrough season in 2017. But has posted three top-15s in his last five starts… His gambling attitude and strong iron game should be of benefit this week in a points-style scoring system.

Odds : 40-1 World Rank : 203 Field Rank : 27 Last Six : 11, MC, 14, MC, 10, 45

9. Mito Pereira

Won back to back on the Korn Ferry Tour and has immediately made himself known on the big stage… Enters off three straight top-6 finishes. Ranked 178th in the FedExCup race despite just five starts.

Odds : 18-1 World Rank : 103 Field Rank : 38 Last Six : 4, 6, 5, 34, MC, 1

8. Thomas Pieters

The Belgium bomber enters off a T16 at the Olympics and six top-16 finishes in his last 10 starts, worldwide… Can go low and make big numbers so format should benefit.

Odds : 33-1 World Rank : 118 Field Rank : 14 Last Six : 16, 35, 12, 29, MC, MC

7. Ryan Moore

The Vegas native has struggled for much of the year but posted a T2 at the John Deere… Sits 140th in the FedExCup… Posted a T12 here a year ago.

Odds : 33-1 World Rank : 173 Field Rank : 27 Last Six : MC, 2, 54, MC, 54, 39

6. Brandt Snedeker

Not a bomber but accurate and still a great putter… He enters off a T11 and T19… Sits 91st in the FedExCup race so he’s in but could use a top-3 finish to lock in a spot for the BMW. Odds : 33-1 World Rank : 134 Field Rank : 17 Last Six : 11, 19, 38, MC, 60, 50

5. Richy Werenski

The Massachusetts native won here last year but has struggled for most of the second half of the season… Still, he’s a scorer and knows he can win here… T4 at Bay Hill is his best finish of 2021. Odds : 50-1 World Rank : 125 Field Rank : 15 Last Six : MC, MC, MC, 25, MC, MC

4. Maverick McNealy

Enjoying an under the radar breakout season which includes two top-5s and more recently five straight top-30s… Ranks 51st in the FedExCup race… Finished solo seventh here last season. Odds : 18-1 World Rank : 106 Field Rank : 10 Last Six : 16, 18, 21, 30, 20, MC

3. Gary Woodland

Has endured an up and down season but has posted three top-20 finishes in his last eight starts, including a tsolo fifth at the Wells Fargo… Enters off a T11 in Minnesota.

Odds : 22-1 World Rank : 76 Field Rank : 3 Last Six : 11, MC, MC, 50, MC, 14

2. Emiliano Grillo

Argentinian is either atop of the leaderboard or missing a cut… Finished T9 here last year… Ranks 5th in Greens in Regulation among PGA Tour.

Odds : 18-1 World Rank : 71 Field Rank : 2 Last Six : MC, 12, MC, MC, MC, 8

1. Branden Grace

At world No. 65 just missed the field for the WGC-FedEx St Jude event…Forced to WD last year due to COVID at halftime and just two points off the pace… Won the Puerto Rico Open earlier this year and enters off two top 10s in last four starts – both at elite events (T7 – US Open, 4th – Memorial)… Sits 55th in FedExCup race.

Odds : 16-1 World Rank : 65 Field Rank : 1 Last Six : MC, 54, 7, 4, 38, 54

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2022 Barracuda Championship expert picks, betting rankings and fantasy golf tips

The 2022 Barracuda Championship is here, and we're back with our PGA Tour expert picks and betting tips for the PGA Tour event at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland.

Every week, we share our PGA Tour player rankings, and they are agnostic of competition. Whether you're betting on golf, playing in a fantasy golf leagues or competing in a DFS (DraftKings, FanDuel) event, our picks highlight the top players to watch this week.

Here are our 2022 Barracuda Championship rankings and expert picks, as we do each week of the PGA Tour season.

2022 BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP: Tournament Model | Rankings  |  DFS Picks | One and Done | One and Done | Cheat Sheet | Recent Form | Finish Database | Discord

2022 BARRACUDA CHAMPIONSHIP: Field | Rankings  |  Betting Odds | One and Done | Cheat Sheet

2022 Barracuda Championship preview

The Barracuda Championship is this week, and the Tahoe Mt. Club hosts again with the PGA Tour playing its modified Stableford system. The event is always a fun watch and a great way to end a major championship week.

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2022 Barracuda Championship rankings: Top 10 expert picks

1. Maverick McNealy: McNealy is going to win a PGA Tour event soon. Honestly, I thought he would have by now. But it's coming.

2. Mark Hubbard: Hubbs just continues to show out in these oppo-field events. He's made a bit of a career of it.

3. Vincent Whaley: Whaley shows up out of nowhere in Kentucky after quite a skid, but he's got the game to take on this kind of field.

4. Taylor Pendrith: Pendrith has so much power, and he is one of the few players that could overpower this golf course.

5. Cam Davis: Davis makes boatloads of cuts and regularly finds the top 15, so he's a steady guy this week.

6. Nick Hardy: Hard not to like Hardy given his current form, but he's been jumping between tours all year.

7. Chesson Hadley: Chessie finished T-68 in Kentucky, but the week was weird with bad weather.

8. Alex Noren : Noren has been trying to heat up here for years, and he's had quite a few close calls this year.

9. Greyson Sigg: Sigg had a great start to his week in Kentucky, and he's starting to find form again.

10. Joe Highsmith: Just want to acknowledge this 22-year-old who has finished in the top four in his first two PGA Tour Canada starts and has an opportunity this week.

About the author

Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is currently a +2.6 USGA handicap, and he has covered dozens of major championships and professional golf tournaments. He likes writing about golf and making it more accessible by answering the complex questions fans have about the pro game or who want to understand how to play golf better.

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Expert Picks: Barracuda Championship

Expert Picks

See who our experts think will take home the win in Truckee

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The Barracuda Championship takes place this week from the Tahoe Mountain Club in California. Here are who our experts like to contend this week.

Aside from the experts below, Golfbet Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at the Barracuda Championship in this week's edition of the Power Rankings .

Barracuda Championship Top 10 Power Rankings

By mike randleman | jun 27, 2016.

Can J.J. Henry notch his third win in five years at the Barracuda Championship?

The Barracuda Championship will play third fiddle this week, competing against the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the European Tour’s French Open. Reduced FedEx Cup points (300 to the winner versus 500 for most events) will be on the line, though it’s been announced that a spot in the Open Championship will now be awarded to the highest non-exempt finisher in the top five due to the cancelation of the Greenbrier Classic .

This event is also of significance in that it’s the PGA Tour ‘s lone modified stableford event on the calendar. Instead of traditional stroke play, scoring is as follows: double bogey or worse = -3, bogey = 1, par = 0, birdie = 2, eagle = 5, albatross = 8. Unlike stroke play, the goal here is to have the highest score after four rounds. This type of format typically rewards a player who can stack birdies and is willing to take his fair share of risks.

This format has only been in play since 2012, so there’s not a lot of relevant history to fall back on in picking this week’s fantasy favorites. With that said, I’ve primarily kept my eye on past Barracuda leaderboards, recent performances in 2016, and statistical leaders in birdies made and strokes gained off the tee to help me pick my top 10.

This week’s field lacks top 50 talent, but plenty of familiar faces will make their way to Montreux Golf and Country Club, including all three past champions in the modified stableford era: J.J. Henry (2012, 2014), Gary Woodland (2013) and Geoff Ogilvy (2015).

Let’s take a look at who else is primed to be in the mix come Sunday in Reno.

Next: Gary Woodland

Barracuda Championship: Five things to know

As part of the Strategic Alliance with the PGA TOUR, the Barracuda Championship provides another US-based playing opportunity for DP World Tour members. Here are your five things to know.

Unique scoring format on Tour

Just like last week’s Barbasol Championship, the Barracuda Championship is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR. Since 2012, it has used the Modified Stableford scoring format and is the only event on both Tours to do so. Unlike traditional scoring methods, where the aim is to have the lowest score, the objective is to have the highest score, thereby encouraging aggressive play. Those who make a few bogeys but also make a lot of birdies or eagles stand a stronger likelihood of being atop the leaderboard. The points awarded on each hole are dependent on the players’ score to par, with the player able to pick up their ball if they have taken two strokes more than par, without losing any additional points.

Points structure

• Albatross: 8 points
• Eagle: 5 points
• Birdie: 2 points
• Par: 0 points
• Bogey: -1 point
• Double bogey or more: -3 points

How the event unfolds

The leading 45 available DP World Tour members are taking their place in the 156-strong field. Despite not using the strokeplay format, the tournament remains a 72-hole event over four days. In a similar fashion to most week-by-week events, players compete in the same threesomes in each of the first two rounds, with one round starting on the first tee and the other round from the tenth tee across morning and afternoon waves on both days. The cut falls after 36 holes, to the top 65 players and ties, with pairings and tee times for the third and fourth rounds dependent on each player's total points after the second and third rounds, respectively. Players with the lowest total points go first, up until the two players with the highest total points in the final group. The player with the highest total points at the end of the fourth round is the winner. Exemptions will be on offer for the winner, including through to the end of 2025 on the DP World Tour, whether they are a member or not.

Inside the field

Nathan Kimsey arrives in Truckee, California aiming to go one better than his runner-up finish last week in Kentucky. The European Challenge Tour graduate missed out on his maiden DP World Tour and PGA TOUR title, losing out to Swede Vincent Norrman in a play-off. Joining him in the pursuit of stateside success are French trio Adrien Saddier, Alexander Levy and David Ravetto after they all recorded top-ten finishes at Keene Trace.

Among those in the field are 31 players who competed at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, including DP World Tour-winning pair Sean Crocker and Callum Hill, who both finished in the top 25 last week at the Renaissance Club. Recent Tour winners Dale Whitnell and Simon Forsström have also made the transatlantic journey, while European Ryder Cup vice-captain Edoardo Molinari is another from the DP World Tour contingent. PGA TOUR star Keith Mitchell, winner of the Honda Classic in 2019, is the highest-ranked player in the field, while Justin Suh will look to continue what has been a consistent campaign since topping the Korn Ferry Tour Points List last season. Jimmy Walker and Geoff Ogilvy provide major-winning experience to the field.

Last time around

Chez Reavie won his third PGA TOUR title this time last year, capturing the 2022 Barracuda Championship by one point. The American held off a final-day charge by Ryder Cup star Alex Noren, who made a late decision to travel to California earlier in the week after being first reserve for The 150th Open at St Andrews, by one point at the Tahoe Mountain Club. Reavie is looking to become the first player to successfully defend his title since the tournament started using the Modified Stableford Scoring system in 2012. He has two top-ten finishes this season, highlighted by a tie for fourth at last month’s Travelers Championship. The victory for Reavie ended the event’s run of first-time PGA TOUR winners, who have included Collin Morikawa, Andrew Putnam and Erik Van Rooyen.

Old Greenwood is one of two 18-hole courses at Tahoe Mountain Club and has staged the Barracuda Championship since 2020, after it moved from Montreux Golf & Country Club in Reno, Nevada. The 7,480-yard par 71 course – set 6,000 feet above sea level 6,000 feet above sea level – has an exciting mix of holes, including the potentially driveable par fours, the 357-yard eighth and 345-yard 11th, and two long par threes in the closing stretch both measuring over 220 yards. The 631-yard par five second is one of several risk-reward holes that is likely to prove key in determining the winner this week.

Hole 17: What players are saying about the new addition to Royal Liverpool

The much talked about 17th hole is garnering plenty of early attention ahead of The 151th Open.

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PGA Tour Power Rankings Revealed Ahead Of Rocket Mortgage Classic

T he PGA Tour will continue through the weekend, with the Rocket Mortgage Classic beginning on June 27th. Ahead of the tournament, the players involved in the match were recently ranked in the PGA Tour Power Rankings. 

South Korean native Tom Kim headlined the rankings as the No. 1 prospect. Following him at No. 2 and No. 3 are Cameron Young and Stephan Jaeger, respectively.

The 22-year-old Kim, who recently went shot-for-shot with Scottie Scheffler, gets the nod as the No. 16 prospect in the worldwide rankings.

Kim's most recent outing was at the Travelers Championship shot 22-under, with Scheffler defeating him by one stroke in the playoff. 

Other names in the power rankings, graded by Rob Bolton, are Taylor Prendith and Alex Noran. Kim will look to add to his accolades, already having three career wins and two top-ten-player finishes. 

Related: Scottie Scheffler's Wife Sent Simple Message To Tom Kim After Travelers Championship

Related: Tiger Woods' Brand New Golf League Gets Bonkers Valuation

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'we don't want pga tour rejects:' is 50 still the right age of eligibility for pga tour champions opinions are sharp and divided, share this article.

(Editor’s note: This is the second part of a two-part series examining the PGA Tour Champions and its eligibility age from Golfweek’s PGA Tour senior writer Adam Schupak. The first part of the series, on Tiger Woods and his potential involvement in the PGA Tour Champions, is linked here. )

Carl Pettersson is stuck in what many PGA Tour professionals over the age of 40 refer to as no man’s land.

Pettersson, 46, aka the Swedish Pancake, has made 443 career Tour starts, won five times, reached as high as No. 23 in the world in 2006 and earned more than $22 million on the PGA Tour, but injured a wrist in 2016 and has cashed a check just once since October 2017. He’s made just 10 starts in the last six years since turning 40 and underwent surgery on both hips a year ago – three months apart – to repair torn labrums that had limited his mobility.

“I’m just getting back into the swing of things,” he said during a recent phone interview with Golfweek . “I’d like to make a run on the Champions Tour in a few years.”

That is a common refrain of pro golfers as they approach the half-century mark. In no other profession do workers welcome turning 50 more than PGA Tour pros, who blow out all those candles and instantly become eligible for golf’s great mulligan, PGA Tour Champions, the 50-and-older circuit. But getting to an age that often sets off a mid-life crisis in others and transitioning to a life of (mostly) no cuts and suddenly being one of the longer players again can be tricky business. As the Tour becomes younger and deeper, it’s become harder than ever to keep a card and remain relevant after age 40, demoting some pros to eke out a living on the Korn Ferry Tour, others to become talking heads on TV or, in Pettersson’s case, Uber Dad around town.

Is 50 still the right age for eligibility to PGA Tour Champions? It’s a question that has surfaced every few years since the senior circuit came into fruition in 1980. Opinions are sharp and divided.

Jeff Sluman tees off the second hole during the first round of the 2024 Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Club. (Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

“It could possibly help both tours,” Jeff Sluman, 66, said. “Get some more youth in there, more access for the Korn Ferry Tour pros on the PGA Tour.”

“Every record out here started at 50,” Scott McCarron, 58, said. “They should never lower it. That’s what it is and what it should always be.”

When Golfweek asked PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan if he felt age 50 still is the right criteria to become eligible for the PGA Tour Champions and has there been any consideration of lowering that number, he essentially brushed the question aside for another day.

“The only way I would respond to that is that 50 has worked very well, and when you look at the impact you can have by lowering the age level and thinking about who is going to start playing on PGA Tour Champions versus continuing to play here competitively and thinking about those that are on PGA Tour Champions today and the records that are there, it’s complicated,” Monahan said. “But we’re dealing with a lot of complexity, so that’s something that we’ll continue to look at.”

Four years ago, before COVID-19 or LIV Golf emerged to focus their attention, members of the PGA Tour policy board pushed for PGA Tour Champions to evaluate if the time was right to lower the age of eligibility. One suggestion was to staircase the age down one year at a time until it would be lowered to 45 to avoid the shock and make it more palatable for current members of the senior circuit. The reality is there’s no equitable way to do it – someone is going to feel as if he’s been screwed.

Justin Ray, head of content at Twenty-first Group, provided several stats that confirm what seems obvious by now: the PGA Tour is getting younger. From 2000 through the 2012-13 season, 18.2 percent of PGA Tour winners were age 40 or older. Since 2013-14, that number is significantly lower — 8.4 percent.

From 2000 through 2011, there were nine different seasons where 15 percent or more of the wins on Tour went to players age 40 or older. There has not been a single season where 15 percent or more were age 40 or older since.

In the 2021-22 season, there was only one player in his 40s all season to win — Chez Reavie at the Barracuda Championship, and he was 40 years old. Since 1990, there have been four seasons where there were two or fewer winners on the Tour age 40-plus — wait for it — two of them are 2020 (2 wins) and 2022 (1 win) and this season could be headed to a third. Camilo Villegas, 41 at the time, Justin Rose, 42, and Lucas Glover, who won twice at age 43, were the only 40-somethings to lift a trophy last season. Just one player 40 or older has tasted victory so far this season: Brice Garnett, 40, at the Puerto Rico Open , an opposite-field event with a diluted field.

Brice Garnett celebrates making his putt for birdie on the fourth playoff hole to beat Erik Barnes at the 2024 Puerto Rico Open at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. (Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

In fact, since Phil Mickelson’s win at the 2021 PGA Championship at age 50, only seven events have been won by players 40 or older – a ratio of just 4.8 percent. Nobody older than 43 has won during that span. Stewart Cink won at 47 (Sept. 2020 and April 2021) and Brian Gay at 48 (Nov. 2020) but they have been the exception to the rule.

This season, there were eight players age 45 or older that were fully exempt on the Tour, including Matt Kuchar (46), Zach Johnson (48) and Scott Gutschewski (47) and only one of them, Charley Hoffman at No. 82, is currently in the top 125. The trend of younger winners and 40-somethings trying to hold on to status for dear life as they count the days to 50 has been hard to ignore and was the impetus for the PGA Tour policy board approaching the Champions Tour policy board to investigate the issue. A study was conducted that found that neither sponsors nor players were in favor of it.

So, the idea of lowering the eligibility age died on the vine.

James Hahn, 42, one of the policy board members at the time, recalled this being the final verdict: “They said, ‘We don’t want PGA Tour rejects. If you’re still competitive on the PGA Tour (in your late 40s) and have status, why would you want to play on the Champions Tour?’ ”

Indeed, the players who do move the needle tend to stay competitive longer and try to delay their transition to the senior circuit as long as possible for a simple reason: Nearly all of the Champions Tour’s regular-season purses are approximately $3 million, or less than first prize at a PGA Tour Signature event. It’s a case of simple economics why a player such as Cink continues to spend the majority of his time on the PGA Tour despite having turned 51. But Hahn, for one, questioned how much the members of the Champions Tour policy board – at the time David Toms, Paul Goydos and Joe Durant, who had each earned more than $7 million since turning 50 – were able to separate their own self-interest with what’s best for the future of the senior circuit.

“We’re in a room full of hypocrites,” Hahn said. “Joe Durant lost his card and then went on the Champions Tour. Now he’s on the board. You don’t want a PGA Tour reject but you were a Tour reject.”

Joe Durant reacts after winning the 2024 Cologuard Classic at La Paloma Country Club in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Hahn said he supports seeing the eligibility age reduced to 47 or 48 – calling 45 “too young” – but claimed that Durant, Goydos and Toms didn’t want younger competition fearing they’d have instant success “and take money out of their pockets.”

“They don’t want that to happen,” Hahn said. “They are looking out for themselves and their friends more than for their business. There wasn’t a chance to pass the regulation of lowering the age because the people on their board are irrational and don’t see the benefit, or if they do see the benefit, it’s at the expense of them and their friends and affecting their personal income. After this conversation, it was put quickly on the sideburner because we didn’t want to have conflict between our boards.”

Kevin Kisner, 40, who served on the board at the time and supported lowering the eligibility age, agreed with Hahn’s assessment saying, “It’s dead in the water for now.”

To those on the Champions Tour, the attitude can best be summed up by the expression if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

“We looked at it extensively as an organization and we looked at it in concert with the player directors on the regular tour. We were open to it because to be honest with you there’s been some push to lower it,” PGA Tour Champions President Miller Brady said. “My response to that after looking at it, the guys that are going to move the needle out here, when they’re 48 the big names are still competitive on the regular tour, and they’re not going to come out here. At 48 I think Jim Furyk was still ranked in the top 10 in the world. I don’t need to lower the age for other journeymen, that doesn’t help us sell our product and it may have pushed out a Tom Kite or Ben Crenshaw. While Kite may not have been competitive anymore, he was fantastic in the pro-am and he’s a Hall of Famer. So I don’t need to bring in a 48-year-old who’s going to push out a big name. Now I may be told I have to do that at some point. But at least right now, everyone appreciates that it’s not something we should do.”

But the problem remains that being sentenced to “no man’s land” is happening a lot earlier for pros than ever before. More and more players are biding time in their 40s.

Woody Austin watches his tee shot on the 16th hole during the first round of the 2020 SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club. (Photo: Chris Keane/Getty Images)

For Woody Austin, 60, who has banked more than $9 million on the senior circuit, the question is rather simple: “Do you get to collect anything else at any other endeavor at 45? I think not. It doesn’t need to get younger,” he said.

Austin blames equipment and the emphasis on the power game for dumbing down the ability to make a living on the Tour.

“I get that because the game has changed and these guys are better at 20 because the game is so frigging easy now you want to make it easier for the guys who get kicked out at 40, but no. You’re not a senior at 40 or 45,” he said. “Pretty soon the high school kids are going to be professionals if they keep making the game so easy. These guys aren’t any better at 19 than they were back in the day; you don’t have to know golf anymore. All they know is clubhead speed and go hit it. We had to know everything, they have to know nothing. Stop making it so easy and you wouldn’t have so many good 20-year-olds.”

Interestingly enough, Steve Stricker, 57, who led the Champions Tour money list with nearly $4 million in earnings last season and thus with the most to lose with an age change, has been one of the leading proponents of lowering the age. Stricker, who hosts the American Family Insurance Championship in his native Wisconsin, recalled being in the equipment trailer during a rain delay at his event in Madison in 2022 with Brady and discussing lowering the eligibility age.

“Wouldn’t 47 be a great time with Tiger about to turn 47 shortly?” he asked at the time. “It would boost this tour. We’re losing Lee Westwood and some other LIV guys. So I texted Tiger and he responds right away. No chance. When he comes out here he wants to compare his time out here to the greats – to Bernhard Langer and Hale Irwin. That’s him, right? Taking those records and having them in a spot where he can try to erase those records.”

But Stricker remains resolute that lowering the age would only strengthen the senior circuit.

“I still think we can change it to 48,” Stricker continued. “That doesn’t mean Tiger has to start at 48. But let Carl Pettersson come out and play and stay relevant. I support that concept, I really do. A couple years younger, somewhere in that range 45-50, 45 is a little aggressive but I’m thinking the 47-48 age would be a good boost for us. I think it is even more important now with some LIV guys going away. If we lower the age, there will be 10 more Steven Alkers that are 48 and hungry to play.”

Ernie Els embraces Steve Stricker after winning the 2024 American Family Insurance Championship. (Photo: Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

That touches on another future concern: Will players be motivated to play into their 50s?

While Alker is the model for the journeyman making good from the fountain of youth — he earned $841,849 for his career on the PGA Tour and more than $8 million and counting since joining the Champions Tour — Hunter Mahan, 42, could be the archetype of the modern star player. He won six times and earned more than $30 million in prize money before walking away from the game in 2021 to spend more time at home with his family and began coaching high school golf.

When he joined the Tour, Kenny Perry, Vijay Singh and Jay Haas experienced some of their best years after 40. Before them, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Raymond Floyd all won majors in their 40s.

“I don’t see that happening again,” Mahan predicted. “The idea of a 40-year-old being the Player of the Year seems impossible. Guys are going to be like ‘I have so much money, do I want to grind at this at 45 and travel all the time?’ Some guys will, but it’s not going to be the game where guys play into their 60s.”

Davis Love III hits a tee shot on the third hole during the first round of the 2023 SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club. (Photo: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)

Davis Love III concurred that careers are trending shorter and the eligibility age may need to be lowered down the road.

“You might get to a point where guys have made so much money that they don’t care about playing at 50,” he said. “If someone had my career starting now, they’d make $620 million. If a guy does that by their 40s, why would he want to come out here and play? Our purses are staying the same.”

But that hasn’t stopped Pettersson from counting the days until he’s eligible for one of the two exemptions for players aged 48-49 into Korn Ferry Tour fields every week based on his position on the career money list and likely at least a year of exempt status on PGA Tour Champions when he turns 50. Does Pettersson think 45 is the right age?

“I see both sides, where 45 makes a lot of sense but everyone else has had to wait to 50 so keep it at 50,” he said.

It seems inevitable that the data supporting lowering the age will become so convincing that the powers-that-be will have a hard time sticking their head in the sand for too long. Does being two months away from turning 47 and unlikely to benefit from an age reduction color his opinion? Pettersson chuckled and said …

“Selfishly for me, yes.”

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Golf Rocket Mortgage Classic Recap

• Sentry Tournament of Champions
• Sony Open in Hawaii
• The American Express
• Farmers Insurance Open
• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
• WM Phoenix Open
• The Genesis Invitational
• Mexico Open at Vidanta
• The Classic in The Palm Beaches
• Puerto Rico Open
• Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard
• THE PLAYERS Championship
• Valspar Championship
• Texas Children's Houston Open
• Valero Texas Open
• Masters Tournament
• Corales Puntacana Championship
• RBC Heritage
• Zurich Classic of New Orleans
• The CJ Cup Byron Nelson
• Myrtle Beach Classic
• Wells Fargo Championship
• PGA Championship
• Charles Schwab Challenge
• RBC Canadian Open
• the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday
• Travelers Championship
• Rocket Mortgage Classic
• John Deere Classic
• Genesis Scottish Open
• Kentucky Championship
• Barracuda Championship
• The Open Championship
• Wyndham Championship
• FedEx St. Jude Championship
• BMW Championship
• TOUR Championship
• The Presidents Cup
• Leaderboard

Bhatia, Rai share lead after Round 2 at Rocket Mortgage

Bensel makes two straight aces at u.s. senior open, korda withdraws from england event due to dog bite, akshay bhatia shares the lead in detroit after his golf ball finds a fairway drain on the 17th.

DETROIT (AP) Akshay Bhatia walked down a fairway at Detroit Golf Club, looking for his ball after a long, straight tee shot, and found it in an improbable spot - underground, after it fell into a drain.

Bhatia said he and the PGA Tour rules official, who granted a free drop, had never seen anything like it.

“It was kind of one-in-a-million chance that ball goes in that small hole in that drain,” he said.

Bhatia went on to shoot a 5-under 67, good enough for a share of the 36-hole lead with Aaron Rai at 13-under 131 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Friday.

Bhatia's drive on the par-5 17th hole managed to drop into one of five holes in a metal drain cap that were just big enough to accommodate a golf ball. He ended up making par in his second straight bogey-free round.

“It’s going to be pretty viral, I think,” he said.

Rai shot 65 to match Bhatia on a course that consistently yields low scores. The Englishman made seven birdies, including four in a five-hole stretch midway through the round, and capped his day with a 21-foot birdie putt on the 18th.

Taylor Montgomery (68), Troy Merritt (64), Erik van Rooyen (64) and Cameron Young (66) were two strokes behind the co-leaders.

Eric Cole (68), Cam Davis (66) and Joel Dahmen (64) were another shot back.

Neal Shipley, the low amateur at the Masters and U.S. Open, gave himself a chance to contend in his first PGA Tour event as a pro. He was four shots back after a 68.

“With my experience with the majors, I don’t feel like there’s a big learning curve for me,” he said.

Amateur Luke Clanton (68) was 7 under, flashing the talent he showed last season at Florida State, where he set a school record with a 69.3 scoring average.

The 22-year-old Bhatia chose to skip college and turned pro at age 17.

“I’ve got a long time to go before I can say, you know, this is the right decision, but so far I’ve made progress every year I’ve been a pro," he said.

He picked up his second PGA Tour victory at the Texas Open in April and is coming off a fifth-place finish at the Travelers Championship, where he was in the final group that was disrupted by climate protesters storming the 18th green.

Rai, Montgomery and Young are each seeking their first PGA Tour victory. Merritt and van Rooyen have each won twice.

Tom Kim, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 16, followed up a first-round 73 with a 68 and missed the cut by a stroke at 3 under. After losing to Scottie Scheffler in a playoff last week in Connecticut, he may have run out of gas in the Motor City in his ninth straight tournament.

Miles Russell, a 15-year-old amateur from Florida, shot 70 on Friday and missed the cut in his PGA Tour debut at even-par 144.

The 5-foot-7, 120-pound Russell was a fan favorite, drawing relatively large galleries and hearing a lot of encouragement.

“You got it, kid!” one spectator shouted.

After signing his card and fielding questions from reporters, he hugged family members, posed for photos and signed autographs.

“It’s been surreal,” his mother, Keli Russell, said, holding back tears. “The support from everyone has just been incredible.”

Russell, the youngest player to make a cut on the Korn Ferry Tour, will return to the Motor City next month for the U.S. Junior Amateur at Oakland Hills, where Tiger Woods' son, Charlie, will also be in the field.

“(Charlie Woods) was at actually at my charity event I put on, the Florida Sunshine Cup, I played with him there,” Russell said. “I haven’t played with him in a while and it’ll be good to see him.”

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Power Rankings: Barbasol Championship

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The Champions Trace Course at Keene Trace Golf Club south of Lexington promises to yield lower numbers than its counterpart, The Renaissance Club, so the approach is different for the blended field for which about one-third are DP World Tour members. Details on what they can expect, what’s at stake (with what’s not) and more are chronicled beneath the projected contenders and others to consider.

OTHERS TO CONSIDER

• Jim Herman … As his fully exempt status for winning the Wyndham Championship in 2020 is nearing an end, the 45-year-old has perfected exceptionally timely performances. It includes at Keene Trace in 2019 where and when he qualified via Past Champion status. Positive results have eluded him of late, but he did light up TPC Deere Run last week for an eight-under 63 in the second round. Not only did he answer his victory here with a T20 in his title defense (in 2021), but this is as close to a home game as it gets for the Cincinnati native whose beloved Reds are, gulp, atop the National League Central at the All-Star break. Not that he lacks for confidence, but that’s the kind of bonus mojo that he hasn’t felt in a long time.

• MJ Daffue … On a racetrack like Keene Trace, it wouldn’t hurt for him to think of it as a 72-hole open qualifier. That was his mode of entry du jour five times in 2020-21. Now a first-time PGA TOUR member this season (although not eligible for Rookie of the Year votes because he exceeded seven starts two seasons back), he’s performed best on approach and on the par 5s. With piling up scoring opportunities and taking advantage of four par 5s serve as priorities 1 and 1a this week, he’s positioned to cash for a fourth consecutive start.

• Satoshi Kodaira … Limited to 11 starts this season due to conditional status and commitments abroad in the last quarter of 2022, the 33-year-old from Japan is clinging to glimmers of hope to regain fully exempt status on the PGA TOUR. Currently second in fairways hit, 41st in greens in regulation and T18 in proximity to the hole, those present reasons to be confident even with a reduced sample size. Of his 39 rounds this season, 23 have beaten par, as well as 11 of his 12 at Keene Trace where his best of three paydays in as many tries is a T20 two years ago.

• Julien Guerrier … The Frenchman just turned 38 and he’s a non-winner in 192 starts on the DP World Tour as a professional, but he currently is enjoying his best season. Thanks to a pair of podium finishes in his last six starts, he’s 29th in the Race to Dubai, second-best among fellow members at Keene Trace.

The physical space between The Renaissance Club and Keene Trace also can define the challenge inside the ropes on both tracks. While the stop in Scotland was the hardest par 70 of all non-majors in its debut as a PGA TOUR host a year ago, Keene Trace has been a perennial pushover among the par 72s since it was introduced in 2018. Last year’s scoring average of 69.817 was the bull’s eye, and it should be again this week.

Inclement weather is all but a certainty in any or all of the first three rounds. Intermittent puffs of air will lift a little of the heavy air with daytime highs in the mid-80s, but it’s not going to blow like its distant cousin on the Firth of Forth, so the soft, 7,328-yard stage in central Kentucky will be there for the taking.

The tallest rough is down an inch to 2½ inches and the bentgrass greens essentially are average in size at 6,000 square feet, but they’re prepped to run no longer than 11½ feet on the Stimpmeter, so scoring will resemble the sensory overload of a pinball machine. Even though Keene Trace turns in one of the lowest averages in distance of putts converted – 67 feet, 5 inches last year was the second-shortest among all courses – the sheer volume of attempts fulfills the inverse relationship. The field will sink about a third of its average of 12½ greens in regulation per round.

The last three cuts on the PGA TOUR fell at 4-under par, and that includes the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club, which was the only par 72 among them, but this week’s floor to play on might be 5-under 139. It was here last year when a whopping 83 survived. In fact, using the current standard of low 65 and ties, only once in its first four editions would the cut been higher than 5-under, in 2021 when it still would have been 4-under. (The 2020 contest was canceled due to the pandemic.)

Winning paces have ranged from Jim Herman’s 26-under in 2019 to Seamus Power’s 21-under in 2021. All champions have received 300 FedExCup points and a membership exemption in the winners category two seasons beyond the current, and that’ll be the case again this week if the winner is a PGA TOUR member upon arrival. Should a non-member prevail, he’ll be eligible for a membership exemption through only 2024. A DP World Tour member would earn the standard exemption on his circuit for taking the title.

An agreement between the PGA TOUR and the DP World Tour is that top 10s among non-members at the Barbasol Championship will not pay forward as a top-10 exemption into next week’s Barracuda Championship. Likewise, top 10s among non-members at the Barracuda will not apply for the same exemption into the 3M Open that follows.

Defending champion Trey Mullinax has opted not to compete in advance of his second appearance in The Open Championship .

ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE

PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled.

MONDAY: Power Rankings (Scottish) TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (Barbasol), Sleepers (Scottish) WEDNESDAY: Golfbet Insider SUNDAY: Payouts and Points (Scottish), Payouts and Points (Barbasol), Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle

* - Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

Rob Bolton is a Golfbet columnist for the PGA TOUR. The Chicagoland native has been playing fantasy golf since 1994, so he was just waiting for the Internet to catch up with him. Follow Rob Bolton on Twitter .