Rhein

Gibson

The 34-year-old is still trying to play his way back into form and has flashed a few big finishes this season. The most notable was a T13 at The Honda Classic, two starts ago. This pre-tourney WD is a reminder that he’s still not 100 percent and probably never will be. It’s possible that he finds his groove again but in the mean time, gamers should continue to treat him as a high-risk fantasy option.

The 54-year-old would have been making his first appearance at the Valero since a T65 during the 2016 edition. Overall, he owns a 6-for-11 record at the VTO with a pair of top 10s but won’t be changing his resume at all this week. At press time, there is no reason cited for this Kelly WD, but we will update if that changes. This Monday move officially puts Rhein Gibson into the field who has been shuffling in and out of the field due to late field changes and top-10 exemptions for the Corales.

Berger fought through a rib injury last week on his way to a top 10 at TPC Sawgrass. This is a home game for Berger so it allowed him some extra time to recover on his own schedule but he ultimately made the decision to withdraw before the event starts. He started the week as a betting favorite so this will have a waterfall effect on the odds board. He will have a chance to return to action next week at the WGC-Match Play, if his body is up to the task.

The Aussie found just 6-of-14 fairways so he wasn’t able to fully utilized preferred lies. Still, he managed 15 greens in regulation so his drives weren’t too far offline. The result was six birdies and 12 pars, keeping a clean card at day’s end. Making his third appearance at the Farmers, this shatters his previous low round at the event by three shots. It also matches his low round on the season (66 in R2 of the Safeway Open). The 34-year-old will now turn his attention toward the South Course for the remainder of the event.

This was a late decision for the Texas resident. He posted on social media just yesterday, “My last workout before Mayakoba Golf Classic.” There is no word on an injury but it can’t be ruled out. He withdrew with a wrist injury from the U.S. Open two months ago, but he made four starts since then. Lee has had more than his fair share of success at El Camaleon Golf Club so he would have likely been a popular weekly option for DFS gamers. He finished T3 during the 2015 Mayakoba and solo second just two years ago. Gamers should remove Lee from all weekly lineups.

The Texan cracked the field this week on Monday when Brian Gay backed out. Now it’s Hickok who has to remove his name from the field. “Obviously, I am very disappointed that I will not be able to play this week, as I am playing well and love the courses at Sea Island, I look forward to returning to The RSM Classic next year.” Hickok posted a T21 at the Corales and career-best T8 at the Bermuda Championship (two starts ago) so he may have been a popular sleeper in weekly formats.

This is the 34-year-old’s second TOUR season after finishing 199th in the FEC standings in 2016 during his rookie campaign. He played 2017, 2018 and 2019 on the Korn Ferry Tour, making 65 total starts and making 44 cuts (67.6%). The Oklahoma Christian alum broke through with his first win (on any tour) at the BMW Charity Pro-Am in June of 2019 -- rain-shortened to 54 holes. That was one of four top 10s last season in 24 events, three of those top 5s, which got him back on the main stage at 24th in the KFT Priority Rankings. So far this season, he’s 8-for-12 with a best of T27 at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in his last (TOUR) start five weeks ago, while his career best in 33 events is T25 at the opposite-field Barracuda in 2016 in his tourney debut.

The Aussie is making his first appearance here since a 2016 PR Open debut where he missed the cut. Gibson had no troubles getting re-acclimated with the coastal track, bagging birdies on five of the par 4s and circling eight birdies in total. He did have a bogey at the par-3 16th and a three-jack bogey at the par-4 first. The damage wasn’t too bad when you consider that he only landed 10 greens in regulation. Beating the field average by 5.25 shots today, this is the second-best round of his career, relative to the field. Second only for a 4-under 68 in R2 of the Houston Open last fall when he gained 5.3 strokes over the field. Gibson’s career-best finish on the PGA TOUR is a T25 at the 2016 Barracuda Championship.

The Aussie will go into the last 36 holes five shots back from pacesetter Yechun Yuan. Gibson has enjoyed a solid 5-for-7 start on the PGA TOUR this season after winning his card and some of that confidence showed today. Going out, he recovered from an early bogey at 4 with birdies at 5 and 9. On a more adventurous back nine, Gibson went eagle-birdie at 12 and 13, took seven swishes on the par-5 15th and got one of the shots back with birdie-3 at 17. It all added up to a 68 and the World No. 342, who has made the top 25 for each of the last three years at this event, is now in position for a weekend challenge.

The 33-year-old Olklahoma Christian grad claimed his first Korn Ferry Tour victory in June at the BMW Charity Pro-am, an integral part of a campaign that led to his graduation to the PGA Tour. He’s gone 5-for-7 in the 2019-20 PGA Tour season and in the latter of those, the RSM Classic, he was T2 after 18 and 36 holes before drifting to T43. He has followed that up with missed cuts in the New South Wales and Australia Opens. He is 4-for-5 at Royal Pines with his last three starts all top 25s, but he had always flattered to deceive. He has twice been top ten at halfway and has been T21 or better after 36 holes in his last four starts, but he is yet to better T15 in 2016.