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Bermuda Review & Sea Island Preview | Stats, Trends & More!

Nov 14, 2023

On Tuesday, I’ll be at the Netflix Cup — a golf match between fours teams comprised of professional golfers (from Full Swing) and F1 drivers (from Drive to Survive).

I’m sure it’ll be a blast but I’m way more interesting in what might come after this for Netflix. The event will be shown LIVE ON NETFLIX, which marks their first steps into live sports.

It could be nothing, but it could be everything. In a world where broadcast rights are detrimentally expensive, streaming networks have a leg up. They are not reliant on simply advertising (commercials) but have a million ways to monetize.

You think Jeff Bezos cares about making money at all on Thursday Night Football? He definitely doesn’t care about breaking even on commercial sales because you’re already paying for Amazon Prime and he has 900 other ways to make money off you.

Imagine a world where golf, both live and past presentations, were available on Netflix. A world where maybe you pay for a “Netflix Sports Package” which protects the integrity of the broadcast from countless commercial breaks.

Peacock paid $1 Billion to the WWE to get exclusive content including PPVs (at no additional cost). They also have an extensive library of matches over the last 20+ years that can be filters (The Rock, Summer Slam, WrestleMania, 2002, etc). I don’t follow wrestling and I find this partnership fascinating.

Now imagine that for golf fans — the most underserviced fanbase in sports.

If you see me in Vegas, say hello!
Rick

🏆 Last Week’s Optimal Lineup 🩴

🕷️ Back-to-Back Breakthroughs

Camilo Villegas had no juice, no momentum and very little good play over the last few years. Well … he certainly ended that trend quickly.

After a close call last week (T2), where he gained 12.23 strokes to the field, he won in Bermuda by gaining 15.09 strokes to the field. That’s 27.31 strokes over eight rounds — a rate that would make Scottie Scheffler blush.

Before this month, Villegas last gained 10+ strokes in a single event way back in February 2020 when he did it in Bogota on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Prior to that — it was the Valero Texas Open in 2017. So after accomplishing that feat twice in 6+ years, he did it in back-to-back weeks.

Golf, man.

➿ Double Your Pleasure

We will finish the 2023 fall with a two-course rotation on the Sea Island Resort. Each golfer will play one round on the Seaside Course and one round on the Plantation Course before the cut. Then the remaining players will all head back to the Seaside Course for the final two rounds.

Last year, the Plantation Course (par-72) played 2.24 strokes under par.
- Keep an eye out for fireworks on:
  - All the par-5s (4, 8, 14, 18) which played as four of the six easiest holes last year.
The Seaside Course (par-70) played 1.01 strokes under par.
- Keep an eye out for fireworks on:
  - #15 (par-5) played to a 4.380 average and was 181-under par. Only 11 bogeys or worse all week.
  - #8 (par-4) played as the second easiest hole, 3.750 — 74-under par.

🧑‍🦰 Will The Real Ca. Young Please Stand Up?

Shoutout to Carson Young, who isn’t even the best Young on TOUR. He’s not even the best C. Young on TOUR and he’s also not the best Ca. Young on TOUR — but it might be closer than you think.

After a 9th place finish in Cabo, Carson has now racked up (8) Top 25 finishes this year. Over the last 50 rounds, a substantial sample size, he’s gained 0.39 strokes per round. His nemesis (not really), Cameron Young, has gained 0.59 strokes per round during that same stretch.

A 0.20/round gap is the same Nate Lashley to Nick Hardy — not much. If Carson keeps this up, he might be able to boast being the best Ca. Young in the world.

🪶 Sea Island Mafia

There are countless players in this field with ties to Sea Island, Georgia, the Northeast, etc etc — but it’s a North Carolina native who went to Wake Forest that leads the tournament in Strokes Gained since 2008 (min 20 rounds)

According to the media guide, here are the players with ties to the area:

🔥 Hadley’s Heater

The ever-entertaining Chesson Hadley is officially on-fire. He’s made seven cuts in a row, which including (3) Top 7 finishes, earning one of each in Las Vegas and Cabo — his two most recent starts.

It’s been a consistent improvement for Hadley which can be illustrated in his rolling ranks:

Last 100 Rounds: 36th
Last 50 Rounds: 15th
Last 24 Rounds: 7th
Last 12 Rounds: 6th

The problem (and there’s always something!) is that he’s made 10 trips to Sea Island without ever cracking the Top 20. Are you being Hadley this week?

🐳 Splash Around With Me

Congrats to ‘fundipdryrips’ who won the Listener Contest last week. He was a staggering 99-under from his six golfers.

This week’s contest is now live. You pick one golfer from each tier, across six tiers and see who can put together the best team.

⛳ Link: https://bit.ly/45PcGyB

🔢 By The Numbers

1.38 — the number of strokes gained per round by Eric Cole, the second most (Henley) of anyone in this field over the last 50 rounds.
17 — the average finish for Aaron Rai in four events this fall — his two most recent were played on the DP World Tour (T10, T9, T21, T28)
9.48 — strokes gained by Tommy Gainey in R4 of the 2012 RSM Classic, the best round at this event in (at least) the last 16 years. He shot a Sunday 60 to pass David Toms, Jim Furyk and win!

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