The American Express
Well in my opinion, The Sony Open was a nightmare this week. Well, the creation of the field was. Every year the Korn Ferry Tour graduates a certain number of players. At this graduation Korn Ferry Members earn their tour card. This is an amazing feat, however being a PGAT Rookie is extremely difficult, and recently the PGAT has made it even tougher. In years past with the wraparound season, the tour had a series of fall events that the top ranked players rarely played in. This gave the rookies the opportunity to burst on the scene and either grab an early win, or gain enough points to be exempt into future events. However this year the PGAT changed its schedule, and altered many events that require a very low ranking. This is where the Sony Open comes in. Due to many players being outside the top 70 (that is the specific ranking players need to get into specific events) they opted to tee it up in The Sony Open. Now to preference at graduation many players were promised they’d be in the field. Therefore when the time came these players booked travel plans for friends and family so they could be a part of their maiden event. This year unfortunately that didn't happen for many rookies. 14 out of the top 30 were in the field, the rest had to Monday qualify. Now many might think this isn’t that difficult, well traveling to Hawaii is no small task. Despite everything, there will always be the “Play Better Crowd,” but this next Sony field snub is the cherry on top. Every year the Korn Ferry hosts Qualifying School and the top finishers get their Korn ferry Card. This year however the top five finishers would go directly to the PGAT. This year's Qualifying School winner, Harrison Endycott won by four shots and was not exempt into the field. At the end of the day it is what it is,but I will say it should be interesting to see how the rest of the season shakes out. Although the beginning was problematic, this past week’s Sony Open winner was a good one.
Grayson Murray has been through it this past year. Between his meltdown in the U.S. Open, to Rory McIlroy speaking down on him to now becoming a winner on tour again. On top of this Murray has faced other issues off the course. Despite all these things he found a way. I’m not saying a win gives you a pass for poor behavior, but it does however shine a light on the possibility of change. Murray changed for the better and it resulted in a big win. This win couldn’t have happened at a better time either. Prior to this win he was 176 in the FedEx Fall. This win however catapulted him to third in the overall FedEx Cup race. Should be interesting if he can continue this strong play throughout the season, starting this week at the American Express.
This has always been such a cool event, like always, this event is played on three different courses. Since it's on three different courses the field is huge and there is a cut after the third round. Among the field this year, fan favorite Michael Block will be in the field. The “Block Party” took the golf world by storm this past year. It will be very curious to see if his play is up to the level of the PGAT. Another fan favorite, and super star in the field this week is Tony Finau. Tony had a rather exciting off season. There were many rumors circling Tony of whether or not he would make the jump to LIV after his superstar pal Jon Rahm made the jump in the fall. Tony quieted these rumors on Instagram, simultaneously committing to the American Express. I think Tony is going to have another top of the line. He’s emerging as a top star and this year could hold a future championship for him. This week however I think an underdog will, maybe even a PGAT rookie. Regardless, it's going to be an action pack week. (Mike)
Pick’s of the week:
My pick for this week is Patrick Cantlay. In a rather strong field this week it is hard to pick against a big name. Coming off a T12 at The Sentry, I think he keeps the momentum rolling and captures a win. He is easy to dislike, but there are times he looks like the best player in the world and I think we see glimpses of that this weekend.
My sleeper for this week is Taylor Montgomery. Another guy that finished T12 in his last outing, He has all of the tools to break out on Tour this year and he has been pretty steady over the last few years, but he needs a win like this to take the next step. I think it is an uphill battle with a pretty strong field, but it would not surprise me one bit to see him have a late tee time on Sunday.
Final thought for the week- when the inevitable happens, the golf world will be better than the state the game is currently in. Another week, another top player in the world rumored to be leaving for LIV. As mentioned here years ago when this all started to happen, the only loser in all of this are the fans. We are not getting to see the best in the world compete against the best except for a few tournaments per year now. The sooner there is a merger or an agreement to let these guys play on both tours, the better it will be for us fans. I wish there was a way that LIV could just go away, but that does not seem likely in the slightest anymore. It is hard to tune in weekly when you know you are not seeing the best. (Tyler)