Houston devastation personal for LPGA star

Click here to read the full article…

It may not feel like it to you, but for most in the field at the Safeway Open, it most definitely feels like a new season on the PGA TOUR. Gone are the worries and concerns over future status for returning members, who are now surrounded by a new class of hopefuls at Silverado Resort and Spa’s North Course. It includes all but one of the 23 PGA TOUR rookies. (Austin Cook is sitting out.) Because so many of the Web.com Tour graduates have thrived early in the wraparound seasons – this is already the fifth such setup – there’s a theory that such recent success hasn’t had time to sink in. The grads as close to living the “it’s just golf” rhetoric as it gets right now. That kind of confidence is necessary as they dig in on the deepest circuit on the planet. Conveniently, with only three editions of the Safeway Open at Silverado, the usual table of winners is comprehensive. TALES OF THE TAPE It’s tough to cram the prerequisite for success as it pertains to every element of execution into 18 holes, but Silverado does it. Hitting greens takes precedent over fairways, but you can see how ball-striking outbalances putting overall. The set of identifiers below reflects this. Because the field is expected to pile up the scoring chances, but putting inside 10 feet is at a premium, bogey avoidance enters the picture as a broader measure for scoring. It’s not a combination that we see often. Finally, Silverado is a par 72 with four par 5s that averaged harder by comparison to other courses last season (T20) than its par 3s (34th) and par 4s (T41). This not only elevates the usual tactic of taking advantage of these holes, but it should yield additional confidence when converting birdies and eagles. NOTE: Golfers inside the top 25 in each statistic on the 2016-17 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete in the Safeway Open. Those who haven’t logged enough rounds to qualify for official rankings are omitted. * – Finished inside the top 10 at the Safeway Open in 2014, 2015 and/or 2016. Ball-Striking Rank Golfer 2 Lucas Glover 5 Keegan Bradley 6 Graham DeLaet 15 Robert Garrigus T18 Tony Finau 21 *Brendan Steele T24 Harold Varner III Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green Rank Golfer 8 *Kevin Na 9 Bud Cauley 14 *Phil Mickelson 18 Chad Campbell 20 *Ryan Moore 21 Webb Simpson 22 Robert Garrigus Putting: Inside 10 Feet Rank Golfer 5 Brian Gay 9 Ryan Blaum 12 *Hunter Mahan 16 Chez Reavie T17 Harris English 20 Steve Wheatcroft 21 Zach Johnson 25 Greg Chalmers Bogey Avoidance Rank Golfer 2 Chad Campbell 5 Chez Reavie 10 Lucas Glover T11 Bill Haas 13 Webb Simpson 16 Zac Blair 20 Martin Flores 22 Tony Finau 23 Seamus Power 24 John Huh 25 Ryan Armour Par-5 Scoring Rank Golfer 2 Luke List T5 *Phil Mickelson T7 Tony Finau T7 Brandon Hagy T12 Seamus Power T12 Rory Sabbatini T12 Kevin Tway T18 Nick Taylor T24 Jamie Lovemark The groupings below illustrate golfers who have recorded a top 10 at Silverado since it first hosted in 2014. Since there are only three editions of the Safeway Open on the books at the course, it makes sense that Building Confidence is easily the most populated. This representation also is a terrific example of the opportunity presented to the rest of the field of 144 at the season-opening tournament of 2017-18. There aren’t many horses in the stable. NOTE: The groups below are comprehensive to assist in data mining. Inclusion doesn’t imply automatic endorsement in every fantasy game as all decisions are specific to your situation. CONFIDENCE MEN Selected golfers with multiple cuts made sorted by rank on the tournament’s money list. BUILDING CONFIDENCE Sorted by best finish, selected golfers who are either finally finding form on the course or are still relatively new to the tournament but have enjoyed some success. OTHER SIGNS OF CONFIDENCE Sorted by most recent top 10s, selected golfers for whom it’s been a few years since their last.

Click here to read the full article…

It was a nail-biter, it pinned all the senses, and it was a lifetime experience for the local fans. How do you follow that?! Oh, and Super Bowl LVI was contested on Sunday, too. In case you missed it, the Los Angeles Rams prevailed in front of a home crowd. A day before, residents of the Valley of Sun will remember where they were when recalling Sam Ryder’s hole-in-one in the third round of the WM Phoenix Open, and it’ll forever be the site of Scottie Scheffler’s breakthrough victory on the PGA TOUR. Exhilaration for all. Both have made the trip west to The Genesis Invitational between L.A. and the coastline. Naturally, a star-studded field is poised to attempt to tame The Riviera Country Club. More on the event, the course and the perks beneath the ranking of projected contenders. Tuesday’s Draws and Fades will include reviews of 2020 champion Adam Scott, WM Phoenix Open winner Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Sam Burns and Sahith Theegala among the notables. Tiger Woods hosts The Genesis Invitational. The timing is fitting given that the Cincinnati Bengals lost the Super Bowl. No, Tiger isn’t Bengal Tiger, he’s just Tiger, but he hasn’t prevailed on the biggest stage in L.A., either. As the focus of sports nationwide soon will be pivoting to March Madness, the label of a mid-major will be populating our consciousness. In that vein, you could say that this week’s PGA TOUR stop is a mini-major. The field is just 120 deep, and the winner is rewarded with 550 FedExCup points (for the second straight year) and a three-year membership exemption (for the third consecutive edition). Of course, there’s also the not-so-insignificant component of a $12-million purse of which $2.16 million is reserved for the champion. Super, indeed. It’s no wonder that all inside the top 11 in the Official World Golf Ranking are committed. Scheffler rose to ninth with his win. His victim in the playoff at TPC Scottsdale, Patrick Cantlay, climbed a spot to third. The Riviera Country Club is everything this field remembers and wants, so it’s the ideal backdrop. With no impactful changes yet again, the par 71 tips at 7,322 yards. It has since 2016. Kikuyagrass blankets all areas except the putting surfaces, and it’s not overseeded. The only layer of rough is just an inch-and-a-half tall, but it still doesn’t prevent the 7,500-square foot greens from defending par. Targets are larger on average primarily due to the subtle (and, in places, not-so-subtle) undulations. The Poa annua greens also are dialed into 12½ feet on the Stimpmeter. With exceptional weather expected all week, Riviera will present its best self. Save the potential for a morning marine layer a mile or so inland, there will be zero complications from the elements. Daytime highs might touch 70 degrees for the finale of the West Coast Swing before a slight cooling for its final round. During the 2020-21 super season that included 51 courses, Riviera ranked inside the five-toughest in percentage of fairways hit (47.24), greens in regulation (54.17), proximity to the hole (42’7”), conversation percentage inside 10 feet (86.14) and average distance of putts holed (68’9”). Max Homa defends the title this week. Before he outlasted Tony Finau in a playoff for which the duo qualified at 12-under 272, Homa concluded regulation slotted inside the top five in fairways hit, GIR, Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, SG: Tee-to-Green and putts per GIR. However, he paid off those prerequisites by co-leading the field in par-5 scoring. Riviera’s trio of par 5s is its weakness. Given the attention devoted to the par-4 10th hole, it might feel like it’s a beast. Quite the opposite, in fact, and that’s what makes it beautiful. The (in)famous 315-yarder was the easiest par 4 at Riviera in each of the last three years. It was inside the easiest 15 percent of 540 pars 4s in the super season. Go back to the previous full season of 2018-19 (pre-pandemic) and you’ll find it inside the easiest five percent. And no, it’s not a place to go eagle-watching. Exactly one eagle was converted in three of the last four editions. (There were four in 2020.) Last year’s field averaged 3.885 on the 10th, which means that anyone who played it in 1-under for four rounds at 3.75 picked up a fraction of a stroke. Homa did exactly that, with two birdies, one par and one bogey. The tournament can’t be won at No. 10, but it sure can make the difference. 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 TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws and Fades SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Ranking * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

Click here to read the full article…