It will be a mad dash to the finish line on Sunday with all shapes and sizes burning the lead off their pencils.

Pars and bogeys have the week off again as the Coachella Valley will produce another winner with the score of 20-something or better!

Good Luck!

One and Done

Each week I’ll throw in my thoughts on the field and those to back and avoid in this wonderful format.

This Year:

Event	Golfer	Place	$$
Safeway Open	Brendan Steele	T53	14,610
CIMB Classic	Ryan Moore	T66	12,740
CJ CUP @ 9 BRIDGES	Gary Woodland	2nd	1,026,000
WGC-HSBC Champions	Ian Poulter	21st	93,500
Sanderson Farms	Cameron Davis	MC	0
Shriners	Aaron Wise	T15	101,675
Mayakoba Golf Classic	Charles Howell III	MC	0
The RSM Classic	J.J. Spaun	MC	0
Sentry TOC	Jon Rahm	T8	191,000
Sony Open	Marc Leishman	T3	307,200
CareerBuilder Challenge
Farmers Insurance
WMPO
-AT&T Pebble Beach
Genesis Open
Honda Classic
WGC-Mexico
Valspar Championship
Arnold Palmer
WGC-Match Play
Corales Puntacana
Houston Open
Masters
RBC Heritage
Valero Texas Open
Zurich Classic
Wells Fargo Championship
THE PLAYERS
Ft. Worth Invitational
AT&T Byron Nelson
Memorial
FESJC
US Open
FESJC
Quicken Loans National
A Military Tribute
John Deere Classic
British Open
RBC Canadian Open
Barracuda
WGC-Bridgestone Invite
PGA Championship
Wyndham
THE NORTHERN TRUST
Dell Technologies
BMW Championship
TOUR Championship
Total Events: 10	Top 10s: 3	MC: 3	$1,746,725

 

2017-18:

• I hit the winner’s circle three times and the two late victories pushed me into the top 10 of Spotter’s game.
• All four majors’ selections hit the top 10.
• Seven MC were dire but the most punishing one was Francesco Molinari at THE PLAYERS. We know what happened to his season after that.

 

Last Time: Sony Open

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me! OK Kuch, I see you! Gamers have just had another handful of events open up to use the 40-year old down the road. His track record at Augusta, Harbour Town and Memorial should garner eyeballs as we get deeper into the season.

My Choice: Marc Leishman – T3

Hard to argue with a pair of 64s including the final round.

Safety Dance: Gary Woodland – MDF, Bryson DeChambeau – T10, Charles Howell III – T8

Woodland was the complete shocker for the week given his results prior, course form and almost winning the week before. Fantasy golf is hard.

Spicy: Kevin Kisner – T69 nice, Anybody Named Cameron – MC (Davis) MDF (Champ) T22 (Smith), Russell Knox – T43

Well then. That was awful.

Picks for Dreamers: Jimmy Walker – T51, Brandt Snedeker – T16, Emiliano Grillo – T22,

Plenty of decent on the back end but nothing to write another sentence about!

Picks for Noses: Patrick Reed – T13, Hideki Matsuyama – T51

Reed tried to back-door the top 10 with a closing 65. Most of you could have used that LAST Sunday.

 Six Beers In: Abraham Ancer – T29, Brian Harman – MC

Those two should be in your sights again this week.

 

This Week

Read about all the details in The Confidence Factor.

I have no problems with taking a flier this week as the winners in this new rotation have been 23, 29 and 39-years of age (inverse order).

With the easiest courses on TOUR in use and none of them stretching over 7,200 yards at Par-72, may the man with the most par-breakers lift the trophy. There are a few ol’ desert foxes that could sneak in and win as well.

If you need a tie breaker, you might want to see who gets a crack at La Quinta earlier than later. It’s not automatic that the guys who play there last will shoot 64 to make the weekend; that’s a different pressure. The guys who open up quickly and run out usually hang around the first page of the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon.

My Choice: Andrew Putnam

I don’t have to worry about him closing since he did that at Montreux in August. He also had to get absurdly low there to win. His putter was white hot last week and I’m hoping that carries over. I like playing the hot hand when there is no natural landing place for him down the road.

Safety Dance: Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay, Charles Howell III

Spicy: Adam Hadwin, Brian Harman, Ryan Palmer

Picks for Dreamers: Abraham Ancer, Bud Cauley, Luke List

Picks for Noses: Justin Rose – can I see ONE tournament with the new 10-club set up first?

 Six Beers In: Bill Haas, Peter Uihlein

 

History Channeled:

2017-18 Thermometer: FINAL

Event	Golfer	Place	$$
Safeway Open	Tony Finau	2nd	669,600
CIMB Classic	Paul Casey	T7	218,166
CJ CUP @ 9 BRIDGES	Keegan Bradley	T47	23,759
WGC-HSBC Champions	Hideki Matsuyama	T50	51,875
Sanderson Farms	Chesson Hadley	T2	464,400
Shriners	Patrick Cantlay	WIN	1,224,000
OHL Classic	Kevin Chappell	MC	0
The RSM Classic	Charles Howell III	MC	0
Sentry TOC	Kevin Kisner	T17	99,333
Sony Open	Brian Harman	T4	256,266
CareerBuilder Challenge	Jason Dufner	T36	27,189
Farmers Insurance	Jon Rahm	T29	43,872
WMPO	Alex Noren	T21	80,040
-AT&T Pebble Beach	Phil Mickelson	T2	488,400
Genesis Open	Dustin Johnson	T16	111,600
Honda Classic	Graeme McDowell	MC	0
WGC-Mexico	Tommy Fleetwood	T14	126,500
Valspar Championship	Ryan Moore	MC	0
Arnold Palmer	Tyrell Hatton	T69	18,067
WGC-Match Play	Patrick Reed	T9	163,000
Corales Puntacana	Patrick Rodgers	T22	27,850
Houston Open	Luke List	T24	54,162
Masters	Jordan Spieth	3rd	748,000
RBC Heritage	Cameron Smith	T32	35,510
Valero Texas Open	Billy Horschel	T11	136,400
Zurich Classic	Bud Cauley	MC	0
Wells Fargo Championship	Bryson DeChambeau	4th	369,600
THE PLAYERS	Francesco Molinari	MC	0
Ft. Worth Invitational	Adam Scott	T52	16,472
AT&T Byron Nelson	Jimmy Walker	T6	257,950
Memorial	Tiger Woods	T23	76,985
FESJC	Henrik Stenson	T26	50,820
US Open	Justin Rose	T10	270,151
FESJC	Xander Schauffele	MC	0
Quicken Loans National	Kyle Stanley	T32	36,841
A Military Tribute	Bubba Watson	T13	121,632
John Deere Classic	Zach Johnson	T16	81,366
British Open	Rory McIlroy	T2	694,250
RBC Canadian Open	Charley Hoffman	T29	37,743
Barracuda	Martin Laird	T15	51,000
WGC-Bridgestone Invite	Rickie Fowler	T17	104,250
PGA Championship	Brooks Koepka	WIN	1,980,000
Wyndham	Brandt Snedeker	WIN	1,080,000
THE NORTHERN TRUST	Jason Day	T20	101,160
Dell Technologies	Marc Leishman	T21	100,800
BMW Championship	Gary Woodland	T12	189,000
TOUR Championship	Justin Thomas	T7	279,900
Total Events: 47	Top 10s: 15	MC: 7	$10,967,909

 

2015-16 Season total: $5,978,929; 47 events

• Wins: 2 (Matsuyama, Hoffman)
• Seconds: 0
• Thirds: 1
• Top 10s: 9
• Top 25s: 18
• MC: 8 (Mickelson, FIO; Oosthuizen, SHO; Chappell, Colonial; Casey, Memorial; Woodland, FESJC; Hearn, RBC Canadian; McGirt, Wyndham; Justin Thomas, DBC)

2016-17 Season total: $6,533,509 45 events

• Wins: 1
• Seconds: 1
• Thirds: 1
• Top 10s: 12
• Top 25s: 20
• MCs (10): Grayson Murray (Safeway Open); Patton Kizzire (SFC); Jamie Lovemark (CB Challenge); Jimmy Walker (FIO); Charl Schwartzel (Genesis); Russell Knox (Honda); Henrik Stenson (API); Thomas Pieters (Zurich); Kevin Kisner (WFC).

 

Thanks for reading!