The AT&T Byron Nelson
He’s done it again! Fan favorite Max Homa has captured his fourth PGA Tour victory. Last week at The Wells Fargo Championship Homa put on a spectacular week of golf. Through all the delays, the weather and a soaking wet golf course, he held on to win. However for Max, it wasn’t always like this. Max first came on the PGA Tour in 2014 but quickly lost his card, the following year he regained his card and returned to the PGA Tour. In 2017 he only made two cuts and lost his card yet again. Third time the charm in Max’s case. He regained his PGA Tour card for the third time in 2018 and quickly made a splash capturing his first tour victory, at none other than The Wells Fargo Championship. Since that victory Max has racked up three more. This is why max is so likeable. Hard work, and dedication like that usually pays off in the long run. So incredibly awesome to watch that guy win, and he’s just getting started.
In International news LIV Golf commonly referred to as the “Saudi-League'' have received over 150 entries into their first event. However only 19 of the world's top 100 players have committed. Although 19 is larger than expected the field still won’t be as strong as a PGA Tour. However as of May 10th the PGA Tour will not be granting waivers for players wanting to play in the LIV Golf events.The PGA Tour now sees the LIV Golf league as a rival tour. In this case the PGA Tour wants to protect their image and their product for that matter. If the PGA Tour grants these waivers it will ultimately hurt themselves down the road. It should be very interesting to see how players across the world react this recent denial of waivers. (Mike)
Mike touched on the LIV golf news, but I think this goes far beyond protecting the PGA Tour. I think it speaks to a larger societal issue; the greed in the world is out of control. It is absolutely embarrassing that there are players that have made millions and millions and millions of dollars over the last 10 to 20 years on tour that get up there and think they are mistreated. In a world where there are many people struggling to put a roof over their head or a meal on their table, it seems so out of touch to have multi millionaires complaining about being treated poorly. The NBA and MLB are already dead to me because all they have are large contracts and a bunch of whining babies. The NFL is not far away from being obsolete to me as well if they continue on their trajectory. The bottom line is that people watch sports to get away from the day to day bs we all have to deal with. I know personally I will always love to watch golf, but if these players do not quit being the face of insane greed I will simply go watch The Korn Ferry, Collegiate golf or the LPGA Tour. Hopefully the Tour standing firm in their stance against the Saudi Golf league will deter some of these clowns from acting so entitled, looking at you Sergio. (Tyler)
Pick’s of the Week:
Mike: Just like that the PGA Tour heads back to Texas for the At&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch. This week many of the players are using it as a prep for next week's PGA Championship, the second major of the year. This week will prove to be completely different than the last. Players can expect firm, dry, quick greens which will provide some really fun golf. This week world #1 Scottie Scheffler returns after taking a few weeks off after The Zurich Classic. This will also be his first individual start since his win at Augusta. While Scottie odds are strong this week I wouldn’t expect a win out of Scottie. However another Texas native will take home the trophy this week. Jordan Spieth came in with 18-1 odds. As of late his swing hasn’t looked as pretty as it once was, it has proven to be very effective. He already has one strong win this year at The RBC Heritage and is poised to put on a show in front of his home crowd. Another player on my watchlist this week is Taylor Gooch. Gooch has been having a very solid year so far and nobody has seemed to notice. He already has won once this season and has notched 4 top 10’s in only 17 events. On top of that he’s moved all the way up down to 34th in the world. Gooch’s stats are solid across the board, I’d expect him to make a huge run this week. (Mike)
Tyler: My pick for this week is Sam Burns. Even though he has already won on tour this year, I feel like he still flies under the radar for being a fringe top 10 player in the world. He just is a very complete player and the last few years he has continued to improve the weaker parts of his game. I think he needs to win a few more times to be considered a big dog on tour, but this win would go a long ways in helping him get there.
My dark horse for this week is Keith Mitchell. He is a great driver of the golf ball and he has the experience of being in contention on a Sunday. This is one of the better fields of the PGA tour season and I expect a big name to win, but if there was to be somebody lesser known to win this week my money is on Keith Mitchell.
I also think the Jordan Spieth hype train is out of control again. Yes, he had a nice win a few weeks ago, but to me he is still way too much of a wild card. I do not think he misses the cut or anything this week, but people seem to be acting like the Spieth of a few years ago will be back very soon. I do not think we will ever see Spieth get to that level consistently again. There is no shame in that and I think he will win 5-10 more times in his career, but people need to slow the brakes a little bit. (Tyler)