Recap of Last Week
What a fucking week we had. In one of the most absurd tournaments in recent memory, Cam Smith is your 2022 Players Champion. The tournament, which lasted five days with the first round not ending until Saturday, had one of the hardest days of golf according to most PGA players – and it all ended with the Aussie coming out on top. If you didn’t get to watch it, let me tell you, you missed out on some weird shit. Thursday and Friday were absolute teases as we only saw half the field finish their first rounds with constant rain delays cucking us out of the action. Then came Saturday, where guys had to absolutely duel it out to just to escape the round. JT proved himself as the best shot shaper in golf as he and Bubba were the only ones in the field to finish bogey free. The winds were breaching 40 mph on holes and we saw 29 balls find the water on 17, proving just how difficult these guys had it.
If you haven’t seen much, this video sums up just how painful the day was:
If we’re being completely honest, the guys that had to play on Saturday got completely cucked. To play on Thursday in some rain then get to play Sunday in some solid weather feels pretty unfair to most, but that’s just how the game works. On Sunday we saw some scoring and finally got to the cut line. 17 turned into a birdie fest with a perfect pin placement, where yours truly bet Shane Lowry to hole out in just about the craziest betting moment of my life. Blog below for the story:
Overall, it was an incredible tournament and Cam Smith deserved every bit of that win. He had absolute brass balls through the entire day — it was as if he couldn’t miss a putt. He stepped up in every big situation and took home the largest purse in PGA history. Must be nice to walk away with $3.6 Million after a (rough) weekend of golf….
Now that The Players is over, let’s move on to the next week inthe Road to The Masters. We start with the Valspar Championship.
Recap of Last Year
Last year, Burns got himself the win and the board had some decent names up there. He had the 54 hole lead and finally closed the door after blowing his two previous 54 hole leads to secure his first PGA win. He had to fight off Keegan the entire tournament until the 13th hole when he was able to pull away as Keegan gave it up. Overall, it was a fun tournament with the decent field they had.
Odds for the Weekend
This is a pretty stacked board where I would have expected a lot more withdrawals after such a brutal weekend. This should make for some good play and hopefully we get an exciting finish to keep the streak going following the last few tourneys. Some things I’m looking at:
- JT opens as the favorite and deservingly so. He easily had the most impressive round at The Players and maybe without the horrific weather could have had a chance to win
- Hovland could easily win this and placed third last year. +1100 just feels a bit boring to me
- Keegan Bradley comes in at +4600 despite placing 2nd here last year and having a shot to win over the weekend
- Past tournaments prove that scrambling isn’t as important here so we’re looking primarily at guys that can hit greens more than anything.
THE PICKS
Winner – Tyrell Hatton +2500
Hatton has been playing very well over the last two weeks. He finished in 2nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and 13th at The Players. The courses were both very difficult and to put two strong finishes together is very impressive. This will be another very difficult week and I’m going with the guy with the best odds that’s played through some of the toughest rounds of the year.
Longshot – Russel Knox +7000
Knox fits everything that this course needs. He is 2nd ranked for proximity to the hole and proved his quality of play last weekend. He had an opportunity to win the tournament last week and I think 70-1 is extremely high for someone that fits the course necessities.
Fuck This Guy – Mackenzie Hughes to Get Cut +158
Mackenzie missed the cut last week and hasn’t been playing at the top of his game lately. His best skill is putting, and unfortunately that hasn’t been a big game changer in this tournament. He’s been cut here 2 out of 3 years he’s played, and I foresee it becoming 3/4 this week.
Mortal Lock – Abraham Ancer Top 30 -110
Ancer has a proven track record at this course with 16th and 5thplace finishes over the last three years. He played very well last week and has been high up in the rankings when it comes to approaching the green. I think he definitely has a chance to win this week so a top 30 should be pretty safe here.
THE BOARD PICKS
Three Putt Bogeys 