Alex

Cejka

Walker is just 12-for-25 on the season and currently sits at 163rd in the FedExCup race. He’s landed just two top 25s on the season, a T6 at the Memorial Tournament and a T11 at the 3M Open (his most recent start). That finish at the 3M Open likely provided him a nice confidence boost. His exemption from winning the 2016 PGA Championship will last him one more season in terms of keeping his full status out on the PGA TOUR.

Nimmer has been cruising down on the LOCALiQ Series, winning two of the four events played so far. They are out of action until September 22nd so this week presented a good chance to test his skills on the big stage. At press time, there is no reason cited for this pre-tourney WD, but gamers should remove him from all weekly lineups.

Cejka started the week as the odds-on favorite (around 6-to-1 at most sportsbooks). He lived up to his favorite tag when all was said and done, compiling 19 birdies along the way to offset three bogeys and a double. Cejka played the par 4s at 12-under for the week, two shots better than the next closest (Jeff Nichols) and at least six shots better than everyone else in the field. The German outlasted a charging KK Limbhasut who circled seven birdies in an 11-hole stretch at one point today but Limbhasut settled for par on each of his last four holes. As for Cejka, he’ll rack up $5,000 for this win which is $1,660 less than what he earned in his most recent PGA TOUR start, a T60 at the Puerto Rico Open. The Outlaw Tour will be back in action next week for the Legacy Shootout.

The Cejka steadied 13-for-14 fairways to make his second-shot task rather easy. From there, he pelted 16 greens and took 29 putts to make his way around the newly redesigned Plantation Course. As you’d expect, three of his six birdies were knocked home of the par 5s. His lone blemish came in the form of a three-jack bogey at the par-4 fifth hole. Cejka had lost more than two shots to the field in five of his last nine rounds played so this round was a bit unexpected. This matches his previous best at the RSM (5 other times). That includes three straight 67s during the 2016 edition where he posted a T6, his only top 70 in five tries.

The German is 6-for-20 on the season and ranks 208th in the FedExCup race. His best finish is a T13 at the Zurich Classic team event but owns nothing better than T40 in stroke-play events. The 48-year-old has always battled through injuries so that’s the likely culprit again for this pre-tourney WD as well as the decline in season-long form.

The German had a tough week at the Corales, losing 8.4 strokes to the field to easily miss the cut. That extends his slump to seven straight starts (and 12-of-13) where he’s lost strokes to the field. That does not include his DQ at the Honda. However, it’s clear that something is bothering the 48-year-old so gamers should keep him far from their fantasy lineups until he flashes a bit of form.

Cejka opened his week with birdie-bogey-eagle with the big bird coming on a putt from just 8'6". He would then square bogeys at 7 and 12 then found water at the par-4 14th. That’s where the shot tracking stops and Cejka’s tournament was over with a DQ. Part of the new USGA rules put a restriction on the scale and size limits of a green-reading book. That appears to be the reason for this DQ but we will update if any further details get released. Cejka now has a seven career DQs in 389 starts. That is in addition to a whopping 22 mid-tournament WDs.

After an opening, bogey-free 66 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course, the 48-year-old moved over to the host course and found nine (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation. He lost strokes off-the-tee and around-the-green, but gained 0.385 on approach and 2.188 on-the-green. Beginning off No. 10 tee, the Las Vegas resident squared a lone bogey-5 at 12, outpaced by five circles at 10, 11, 4, 8 and 9, two from between 12 and 31 feet. He also rammed in a par-saver at 6 from 15'8".

The Las Vegas resident is making his 12th appearance at the Desert Classic. Highlights include top 15s in 2011 and 2015 but he’s finished T30 or worse in all other nine trips. Cejka knew this was going to be a special round early in the day when he holed out for birdie at the par-4 first hole. He added a second hole out for birdie just two holes later. Despite the pair of hole outs, Cejka still needed 26 putts to finish his round. Cejka has battled with some injuries over the last few years but he remains a strong fantasy option when healthy.