PGA and golf fans, it is good to be back! With a week off after the ZOZO Championship, we were able to put our focus on other sports and capitalize there! We have a fantastic field this weekend, with the same fall crew that has been battling each weekend.
We will be missing most of the star power, but there are plenty of good golfers in this field and I am excited to see how this unfolds. We should see a high-scoring affair as the top scores reached -25 last year, BUCKLE UP, it's birdie time!
El Cardonal at Diamante, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, is a Tiger Woods-designed course that is beautiful as can be, without much danger. This is the 2nd time for this event to be held on this course and last season we saw a winner finish with -25. This course has very little terrain and very minimal rough.
The greens on tour are said to be the largest on the PGA tour schedule, allowing players to often miss shots and still find scoring opportunities.
This course also features Paspalum grass, which has been a big talking point. This type of grass, when on a green allows a lot of give to players shots and they can attack without worry of runoffs or missed shots.
Harry Hall has been a cash cow for us, so why stop now? Hall has finished inside the top 35 in seven of his last 8 tour events. Hall over the last 35 rounds, for all players in this field, is ranked #1 in strokes gained and I do not see him slowing down on such an easy course.
He is coming off a T13, T9, T35, MC, T24, 1, T12, T3, with 4 finishes inside the top 15. Stevens has been playing very well also, but with Harry’s current form, I give him the advantage to find a higher finish.
Both golfers missed the cut in this event last season, so I do expect both to have a better showing this time around.
Just like Hall, Doug Ghim has been playing very good golf lately, ranking 8th in this current field in strokes gained over the last 35 rounds, where Kieth Mitchell sits 20th. Over the last 16 rounds, Ghim sits 12h overall in strokes gained, with his approach and off-the-tee game in much sharper form than Mitchell.
Ghim has the advantage in strokes gained total, approach to green, and putting. Ghim has also had more success putting on Paspalum greens.
Mitchell has a difference of -0.6 putting differential when putting on these types of greens vs others while Ghim's drop off is not that drastic. I love how Ghim has been striking the ball and I think he gets it done here.
Richard Hoey has been playing fantastic golf as well along with these other two. He is ranked #10 in this field over the last 35 rounds in strokes gained, 6th highest over the last 16.
He is very strong off the tee, ranking 9th in strokes gained, and has been very good approaching the green, and around the green. Hoey has finishes of T22, T3, and T21 in his last 3 and if he can keep his form going, he should outperform Taylor Moore.
Moore has not been particularly great in any one area over his last 16-35 rounds, but he has been finding a decent finishing position. The odds are even between these two and I give the recent form edge to Hoey.
Best Bets (3):
Hall over Stevens (-120) Bet365
Ghim over Mitchell (-125) DraftKings
Hoey over Moore (-110) Bet365