Title Shriners Hospital for Children Open
Welcome back readers, it’s been a slow few weeks on the PGA Tour but I hope you guys enjoyed Tyler and I’s last two posts. We feel it's super important to post personal excerpts every now and again because we want you guys to know more about our lives and how golf plays a role in our lives. We also like to use the platform to talk about our golf experiences and let me tell you for a fact Tyler and I have a lot of golf stories. Anyways we are back to talking about professional golf.
Last week we saw an unfamiliar face in the winner’s circle. For the first time since 2017 Sergio Garcia got it done at the Sanderson Farm. With a birdie on the last hole Sergio captured the title. This was not only a huge win for Sergio and his career, but for personal reasons as well. During the Covid-19 pandemic Sergio lost two uncles to the illness. Upon his win Sergio dedicated his spectacular week to his two late uncles. This week for Sergio was bigger than golf, it was a tribute to his family.
Sergio also gave fellow golf fans a little surprise with his new putting routine. This week Sergio decided to putt with his eyes closed. This is probably the most unconventional putting stroke/routine that i’ve ever seen. Now i'm not gonna judge the guy who just won over a million dollars in four days, but come on Sergio, this is some next level stuff. Nonetheless he got the job done and did it for his family. Hats off to you Sergio, can’t wait to watch you putt with your eyes closed again this week at the Shriners Hospital for Children Open.
Now onto the Shriners, The PGA Tour heads to Viva Las Vegas this week for the Shriners Hospital for Children's Open and fellow golf fans you can expect to see some incredible golf this is the first big event of the season, and the first event for many players who took some time off after the FedEx Cup. The Shriners is one of my favorite events of the year because the money raised by this event goes to The Shriners Hospital for Children who does unimaginable work to help save the lives of children fighting all kinds of ailments. This week we will be seeing the U.S. Open Champion Bryson DeChambeau tee it up for the first time since his maiden major victory. Collin Morikowa, Webb Simpson, Jason Day, Patrick Cantlay and Matt Wolfe will all be teeing it up this week as well. Sadly this week we will be missing out on Tony Finau, who recently tested positive for Covid-19. We wish Tony all the best on his road to recovery. While it’s great to see those tour studs returning to the field, I love seeing all the new guys on tour compete. Among those fresh new faces are Will Gordon and Will Zalatoris, and let me tell you these two guys can play. Gordon received PGA Tour Status by earning enough non member FedEx Cup points by racking up a couple top 10’s. Will Zalatoris is a guy you all need to keep your eye on. He has dominated the Korn Ferry Tour this season and has already played in three PGA Tour events this season. Of those events he has two top 10’s, his first top 10 coming in this past U.S. Open at Winged. Nonetheless look for these two guys to have stellar weeks this week. (Mike)
Welcome Back Sergio
After winning The Master’s in 2017, I and many others wondered if Sergio would go on to win a few more events after finally getting his first major win off his back. Sadly, this did not happen, and he never really contended for another win until this last weekend where he won at the Sanderson Farms. There are many different reasons why he had not found himself in contention for so long, but it sounds like the lack of confidence on the greens was a mental hurdle he could not conquer for some time. This past week he was putting with his eyes closed. Mike and I went back and forth with how silly we thought it was and joked about how bad our games would be if we tried that, but we were quickly shut up when Sergio started pouring them in on Thursday. He rode that wave and ended up winning. I still do not think this is a long-term solution for Sergio, but it is hard to argue the results. I have not been a huge Sergio fan, but I do find myself rooting for him if he is up there on the leaderboard (as long as Tiger is not there as well.) It was a welcomed sight to see Sergio back in the winner’s circle, does this jumpstart a late career push to win a few more before he retires? I guess we will see. (Tyler)
The Forgotten Man
If you told me in April of 2019 that Francesco Molinari would be a forgotten guy in the game of golf I would have called you crazy. He was the defending Open champion and should have won The Master’s if it were not for a historic back 9 collapse. But here we are, a year and a half later and the golf world seemingly has forgot about him. He returns to action this week after taking an extended period of time off. He has not had a top 10 since that Master’s and has tumbled down the world golf rankings. There is no denying how great of a player he is when he is on, but it will be interesting to see if he can regain that form this year that made him such a force not so long ago. Mike and I have talked about how we essentially forgot about Molinari too, but a few good finishes for him early in the season will put him back on everyone’s radar where he rightfully belongs. (Tyler)
Pick’s of the Week:
Mike: This week Bryson DeChambeau comes in as the favorite with 7-1 odds to win, however I don't think he gets it done this week. My pick to win this week goes to Scottie Scheffler. Scottie has been playing stellar golf as of late. He played last week at the Sanderson Farms and played okay. Now before that he had to take some time off for testing positive for covid. Now he’s got some reps in and an event under his belt. He is ready for the week and I think his game will be back to where it was just a few short weeks ago. Scottie comes in with 28-1 odds to win this week. For betting purposes he’s a solid bet to take.
This week’s notable to miss the cut goes to Rickie Fowler. I'm a huge Rickie fan and always will be but I can’t let that cloud my judgement. His struggles have been evident and he's playing way too inconsistent to pull off a win over a four day event let alone miss the cut. As always, Rickie proved me wrong.
Last but certainly not least my favorite pick of the week, the sleeper/underdog pick. This week’s sleeper goes to Will Zalatoris. Will comes into the week with two top 10’s in his last three starts this season. He is playing spectacular golf so expect him to compete and make a solid run at the title. This week Will comes in with 55-1 odds to win. For you sports bettors, putting a few bucks on Will can prove to be extremely lucrative if he wins.
Tyler: This is a sneaky good field this week with almost half of the world’s top 30 in action. All of the attention will be on Bryson since this is his first event back after dominating at the US Open. I am excited to see some top golf again and there are a few interesting story lines to follow. Does Patrick Cantlay keep up his unbelievable pace at the Shriners? He has never finished worse than second here. I do not expect him to win, but I fully expect to see him in contention on the weekend. Can Bryson continue his dominance? I sure hope not. How will some of the other top players look as they are back in action for the first time in a few weeks? I find great value at betting on Kevin Na at 60-1. He always seems to find himself in contention at tournaments like this and I expect to see him walking in putts all the way to a win this weekend!