Shriners Open Expert Picks
Shriners Hospitals for Children Open Preview
The PGA Tour heads to the TPC Summerlin Course in Las Vegas for the seventh straight season. This is one of the easiest courses on tour as the winning score has been at least 19-under in each of the last six years. TPC Summerlin is a Par-71 measuring 7,255 yards. Many of you may remember this event as the one where Hideki Matsuyama forgot to show up for his early morning tee time. Too much partying in Vegas for the youngster? We’ll likely never know, but I do like him to put up a solid showing which we will get to in a bit.
This is one of those events where it’s hard to rely too much on course history, because it’s going to be a birdie fest and one bad round will almost certainly knock you out of contention. That said, we do have some extensive course history to go on so we will factor that in. Other key stats to use this week are ball striking (always important), strokes gained putting (gotta make putts to make birdies), and par breakers (it helps to be able to go low).
Shriners Open Picks
The picks got off to a blazing start in the new 2014-15 season. All of the picks made the cut with the following finishes: Matt Kuchar (T-21), Brooks Koepka (T-8), Charles Howell III (T-71), Jason Kokrak (T-46), Robert Streb (T-31), Adam Hadwin (T-53). We will look to continue that success this week at the Shriners Open.
Studs
Ryan Moore: $11,600 – Moore is a UNLV graduate that won this event in 2012. He’s also posted three Top-10 finishes in his last four appearances at the event. Moore is coming off of a career season in which he posted 10 Top-10 finishes and he’ll look to start his 2014-15 campaign off with another one. Moore is a solid all-around golfer. Last season he ranked 24th in ball striking, 91st in strokes gained putting, and 20th in par breakers. Moore knows the course well and has all the tools to take home the trophy this week.
Martin Laird: $9,900 – It makes me a little nervous paying this much for a golfer that only made 13 of 20 cuts last season, but a lethal combination of current form and course history has me expecting big things from the Scot. Laird finished T-3rd in last week’s Frys.com Open and finished T-14th and T-6th in his previous two starts. Now to the course history: Laird is 5/5 at this event with a win and a solo 2nd. It also doesn’t hurt that Laird was 39th in ball striking and 70th in par breakers last season.
Charley Hoffman: $9,000 – Hoffman is another local graduate. He is also a UNLV alum with a good track record at this event. The HOFF has three Top-15 finishes in the last six Shiners’ Opens including a T-4th last year. Hoffman is one of those players that takes advantage of weak fields and he should be able to to do that once again. Hoffman has all of the stats in his favor this week as he was 44th in ball striking, 41st in strokes gained putting, and 14th in par breakers last season. Look for him to regain his form this week.
Other Studs to Consider: Hideki Matsuyama: $11,800, Nick Watney: $9,600, Charles Howell III: $8,300
Values
Brendan Steele: $7,400 – Steele will likely fly under the radar this week because that’s what he always does. He’s not a guy that’s going to win a lot of tournaments, but he makes a lot of cuts and should be a good bet to make another one this week. Steele is 3/3 at this event with two Top-20 finishes. He’s a solid all-around player as he was ranked 45th in ball striking, 72nd in strokes gained putting, and 31st in par breakers last season. Look for Steele to make the cut and contend for a Top-30 finish.
George McNeill: $6,900 – McNeill is my “Horse for the Course” this week. He’s made the cut in all six tries at this course with three of those going for Top-15 finishes. I also really like young Tony Finau at this price, but I’m going to favor experience over youth here (in cash games anyway). McNeill finished the season ranked 85th in ball striking, 42nd in strokes gained putting, and 27th in par breakers. I’m expecting McNeill to make the cut which will more than pay off his cheap price tag. Anything else is just icing on the cake.
Justin Thomas: $6,400 – There were lofty expectations placed on Thomas heading into last week’s Frys.com Open. He was atop the Web.com rankings in just about every major category. He got off to a solid 3-under start in Round 1, but then posted a 4-over in Round 2 to miss the cut. He seems to have dropped off of everyone’s radar this week which is more than fine with me. Thomas led the Web.com Tour in birdies last season and should bounce back in a big way this week as this is a course made for birdies.
Other Values to Consider: Ryo Ishikawa: $7,400, Tony Finau: $7,000, Scott Piercy: $6,500
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