Fortinet Championship
New season new us golf fans. Before we get into the nitty gritty, the putters decided to make some changes. This year we will be rebranding and revamping Zero Putts Given. First things first we are rebranding our logo and website. We’ve felt that it was time to make a change and switch things up. On top of the cosmetic changes we will boost our product as well. Throughout the season we will be posting more pieces, including pictures of our personal travels, anecdotes from our own personal lives, and lastly providing the best possible product that incubuses professional golf across all levels including but not limited to The PGA Tour, The Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Canada and Latin America and lastly we will be touching on the mini tour circuit as well. We will be providing scores and updates across all these tours. Golf is much more than just the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour is the goal for all professionals but Tyler and I feel that the path there is not only noteworthy but it's the most important piece of the puzzle. Tyler and I want to be instrumental in growing the game of golf and this is the best way we know how, so gear up golf fans and get ready for an incredible season. With all that being said, welcome golf fans to the 2022-2023 PGA Tour season.
As I said this time around we will be covering golf on all levels, this week will be starting with PGA Tour Canada, one of the developmental tours of the PGA Tour. This week PGA Tour Canada caps off an incredible season with their tour championship, The Fortinet Cup Championship. The top 60 players in the Fortinet Cup points ranking are gearing up for their final event at Deer Ridge Golf Course in Kitchener, Canada. This year I followed the Canada season very closely, there are a multitude of players that have performed extremely well throughout the season. It was also personally fun for me to watch throughout the season because I have a lot of friends that were competing this summer as well. Currently, Jake Knapp, UCLA grad, leads the points race, but he is closely followed by Wil Bateman, and Noah Goodwin. Each of the three top points holders each have a win this season. Another name fans should keep an eye on is Eric Lilleboe. I’ve watched Eric all season and he’s due for his big win. Eric has been putting together three good rounds every event and one round that isn’t bad just not to his potential. I think Eric is poised for a strong week and he will most definitely make a run at the Fortinet Championship this week.
Moving right along as we head to the Korn Ferry Tour. Now this time of the year the Korn Ferry Tour has no seasonal events, however the next 6-8 weeks are huge for many players. It’s Qualifying, otherwise known as Q-School season. For those who don’t know how Q-School works, it is the culmination of four stages over the course of three months to obtain your tour card. The very first stage is Pre-Q. Once you make it through Pre-Q you head to the first stage, then second stage, then finally final stage. Pre-Q is three rounds of golf and all the other stages are four rounds of golf. In my opinion this is probably the hardest thing a professional golfer will go through. Q-School is grueling, you have to travel all over the country and play your best possible golf, without mistakes. PGA Tour pros such as Max Homa often speak about how trying and difficult Q-School is, even going as far as saying it's the most miserable time in golf. While extremely grueling, the reward on the other side is insurmountable. Getting your Korn Ferry Tour card gets you one step closer to the PGA Tour, the ultimate golf for all professionals. I myself have begun going through Q-school and unfortunately this year I did not make it through Pre-Q, however it was my first time in this specific Q-School so I'm not concerned I'll have my shot again next year and ill be more than ready next time around. However, we are not here to talk about my journey, we are here to bring light to Q-School. The golf world only pays attention to the guys at the top, but at one time or another those players were not at the top. They were going through the ranks, such as Q-School, Monday qualifiers and developmental tours. One player who instantly comes to mind as a career grinder is Tony Finau. Tony started on the mini-tour circuit and made his way to the top. Golf fans you will find the next Tony Finau or the next Justin Thomas on the Korn Ferry Tour right now. For any golf fan that wants to follow the game’s young stars you can either search Korn Ferry Tour Q-School or download the Blue Golf Pro Golf app and that will directly link you to the leaderboards for all stages. Last but not least we are heading back to the PGA Tour for the first event of the 2022-2023 season.
This week the PGA Tour heads to Napa, California for the Fortinet Championship. I really love the fall season on the PGA Tour because it gives the rookies and young guys a good chance to show what they are made of. These first few months of the fall are extremely crucial for rookies, giving them a chance to lock up some much needed FedEx Cup points before the majors and invitationals in the second half of the season. Plus you don’t see the top players that much in the fall which really opens the field wide open. Last year fan favorite Max Homa jump started his year with a timely win which allowed him to make it all the way to east lake where he ultimately came in T-5. He’s a perfect example of taking advantage of the early season events to get a jump on the year. With that being said, get ready golf fans, we are about to see a career changing win for somebody this weekend. (Mike)
I did pretty solid last year with my picks. I was able to select a handful of winners and came close to multiple other winners. There were also plenty of weeks where my pick to win missed the cut, so who knows. Maybe it was a lucky year, but looking forward to proving last year was not a fluke with the picks. The first event of the year is always one of the harder ones to predict because you do not know how players have spent the last month preparing or what kind of form they are in can you do in the middle of the tour season. I think this week we will see someone that has been on the tour for multiple years come away with a win. I do not necessarily think experience matters as much as it used to, but for the first event of the year I think it matters to some degree. For that reason I think Corey Conners will come away with a win. I also think Alex Noren and Stewart Cink are great dark horse picks. After a long offseason (lol) looking forward to having the Tour back on TV.
Non-tour related, I was fortunate enough to be able to play the new King Collins golf course design. Landmand Golf Club up in Homer, Nebraska is a place you have to be at to truly understand the scale of the property. It definitely can make you forget that you are in Nebraska. It is one of the most unique and expansive courses that I have ever played. It has the single biggest green in North America as well as the largest average green complex in North America. There are no shared greens out there so the amount of choices they have when it comes to pin placement is on a different level. Even just between the two times that I played the course, they played very differently because of different pin locations.. There are some incredibly deceiving shots, there are plenty of blind shots and course knowledge is the only way you will play well here. Out of all of the courses I have seen around the world, I have not seen one quite like Landmand. It is firmly within my top 10 and probably closer to five than it is to ten. There will be a handful of pictures posted on our Instagram this weekend from my trips up there. I am excited to see what king Collins does in the next couple years as far as golf course design goes, but in the meantime I highly encourage everybody to get up there to Landmand because that place is special and the people are as kind as it gets. (Tyler)