St. Jude Recap & PGA Championship Preview

Welcome back everyone, what a week we have had on the PGA Tour at the St.Jude event. Watching Sunday’s round especially, the back 9 was absolutely incredible. Golf fans could not have asked for not only an electric finish, but a fantastic precursor for what is to come this week at TPC Harding Park for our PGA Championship and first major during the “Covid Season.” Personally, I was very happy with the way last week's event ended with my pick Justin Thomas emerging as the winner. The win for JT marks his 3rd win of the year, coming before any major has been played. This win is especially huge for JT because he has now regained the position of #1 in the world and a huge momentum shift coming into the first major of the season. Now before we get into discussions about the PGA Championship, I want to give a quick recap of the back nine at the St. Jude because it was a roller coaster. 

St. Jude Recap:

The roller coaster back 9 started on the 15th hole. By this point Brooks Koepka had the lead and was closely followed by Daniel Berger.  Berger was making a late Sunday charge and ultimately finished with a 65 which put him as the clubhouse leader at -10 for the time being. Next,  Tom Lewis, the young English  phenom, who at one point held the lead going into the back 9, but untimely bogeys set him back.  Lastly, and the most feared of all those players was Justin Thomas, who traded blows with Brooks hole after hole.  Now, onto the real drama. The last four holes determine the winner. The final stretch of holes at TPC Southwind are extremely demanding and without unwavering play, you will suffer.  The 15th at Southwind is a tight dogleg left over water.  JT is on the tee and pulls his 3 wood way left.  JT begs for a lucky bounce and gets just that.  He clears the trees and the water and leaves himself a 50 yard straight up chip shot that ultimately led to a birdie.  Moving on to the 16th is a par 5, which demands a well placed tee shot, if you hope to reach the green in two.  JT again misses his tee shot and receives another lucky bounce that leaves him a perfect opening.  He clips a tree on his recovery shot, but once again evades trouble.  He hits a remarkable pitch shot from 70 yards to a few feet and adds another tap in birdie. Next up, hole 17 plays as one of the tougher holes on the course.  JT played it flawlessly.  He does not get overly aggressive on his second shot, he leaves his ball just in front, which gives him an easy pitch up to the hole which he almost holes out.  He taps in for par and heads to 18, unaware of what is happening behind him with Brooks.  JT, once again has an average drive on 18, that forces him to lay up to the collection area to the right of the green.  Now the 18th is a tough finishing hole; with water on the left, bunkers and thick rough on the right, a spectacular tee shot is demanded.  As JT approaches his third shot he diligently figures out his play and executes it flawlessly leaving himself a tap in for par.  JT, now the clubhouse leader at -13. 

Brooks, on the other hand, did not share that same luck as JT did.  Brooks played 15 well, but left himself a tricky downhill slider that he missed. On the 16th hole, he misses a drive right that luckily kicks out, but leaves him way back.  He decides on the 3 wood which leaves him an awkward chip to a very tucked back pin.  Unlike JT,  Brooks misjudges the roll out and he goes long of the green, which ultimately leads to a bogey.  He gets to 17 and hits yet another bad drive.  However, he manages to get his ball on the green and makes an absolute bomb of a putt from about 40 feet.  By this point, Brooks comes to the 18th one shot back from JT . However, Brooks doesn't know that Thomas isn't in the best of spots on 18. All Brooks needs to do is put his ball in the fairway and give himself a good look at a birdie, unfortunately for Brooks he did not hit his target and pulls his 3 wood left into the water.  Brooks ultimately makes a double putting him in a tie for second and costing him $450,000 and numerous spots in the FedEx Cup standings. This is a clear case of just golf in my opinion. If Justin did not get one of the lucky breaks and Brooks does the whole tournament changes. Golf is a fractional sport, some call it a game of inches, some even call it stupid, I am sure Brooks did Sunday night.  Nonetheless, whatever you call it, golf fans everywhere can agree that it gets your heart pumping and your adrenaline racing!!

PGA Championship

What a way to transition into our first major of the year, the PGA Championship. Out of all the majors this is probably my least favorite.   Due to the current climate I could not be more excited for the tour’s first major.  The last time we have seen TPC Harding Park was at the WGC-Cadillac MatchPlay, which was won by Rory McIlroy. TPC Harding Park is a public gem located in the southwest corner of San Francisco.  This week is going to be a change of pace weather wise for some of these players.  Last week, in Memphis players enjoyed the warm weather of the south, now many of the players who arrived at Harding Park are seen with pullovers, various jackets and thermal gear.  The weather in San Francisco, while many of you know, is typically cooler because it is so close to the water.  Right now it is cloudy, overcast, and 57 degrees, with highs for the week being 70 degrees.  This cold, damp weather will provide added challenges for the players this week.  Even with the weather playing a factor, the golf course is in tip top shape.  Harding Park will provide a 7,200 yard course that plays closer to 7,500 with wind, thick, almost unplayable rough, soft fairways which will force many players to hit driver, and lastly very quick undulated greens.  With the wind, soft fairways, and thick rough being a factor players need to hit fairways to ensure they have good chances to get it close in order to make birdies.  With all of the challenges and the course conditions being difficult, the field is extremely stacked.  The most notable will arrive on property on Sunday around 1pm Eastern Time is the legend himself Tiger Woods.  Tiger Woods has only played one event since the restart.  He played at The Memorial, making the cut on the number and finishing T-40.  Tiger is no stranger to TPC Harding Park, having led the US Team in the President’s Cup back in 2009 and winning the WGC-American Express Championship in 2005.  Tiger knows the course, he likes the course.   I have a good feeling, he has come ready to play. 

As for the rest of the field, we can expect to see the top 50 players in the world, as well as winners from this year.  More specifically among that field is Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson, Jon Rahm and many more. The thing about majors,  it requires a difficult level of concentration, because unlike non-majors, you are playing to be a part of history.  The Wanamaker Trophy is a coveted trophy sought out by every professional golfer across golf, including your very own club pros who are given the opportunity to qualify and compete for the Wanamaker.  As golf fans, prepare to watch the first major of the year and  here some things to look for before making the last minute bets or picks. 

Predictions:

This week I am going to pick two guys to potentially win. I know only one person can win, but between these two players it is just too difficult to pick. To no surprise, my first pick is Justin Thomas. After last week's performance you can expect he is going to bring the heat.  JT is confident right now and the putter is really working for him.  I think he needs to really dial in his game off the tee, and if he can do that before Thursday he's going to be really tough to beat.  My next pick that could bring the Wanamaker home is Webb Simpson. Webb is working on one of his best years on tour.  With two wins already, a T-12 finish last week and 6 top ten finishes on the year, Webb a high quality for the week. 

Next my notable to miss the cut this week at TPC Harding Park goes to Justin Rose. Rose has missed his last three cuts on the PGA and hasn't played since The Memorial. During his last 6 rounds, he has only broken 70 once and even has an 80 in the second round of The Workday Charity Open.  Although he has taken a few weeks off to head home and work on his game, I still believe that Rose just doesn’t have it all together to make the cut this week under difficult course conditions.

Lastly, my sleeper of the week is another one of my favorite players Kevin Kisner. Kisner has played okay since the restart having missed 3 out of the 6 cuts.  However he is coming off a solid T-25 finish at the St. Jude and a final round 65 to bat.  While majors do require next level playing, I believe Kisner is a solid underdog pick.