🌞 Sunshine State of Mind
Riviera Review & Honda Preview | Stats, Trends & More!
We are spoiled. Absolutely spoiled. The golf that we’ve seen in the last two weeks and will continue to see as we head to Major Championship season is just special.
With the scheduling madness, this week’s Honda field will struggle to draw big names and will stoke the discussion around a “BYE” week being built into the schedule. It’s actually a bit insulting to the fans, sponsors and everyone to stick PGA National in the middle of a five week stretch as the only non-elevated event.
Either way, golf will be played this week. They’ll be a winner. They’ll be an optimal lineup. The money that gets paid out to your account will be just as green. We’ll treat it like any other week.
- Rick
🏆 Last Week’s Optimal Lineup
🍿 Dominance, More Like Rahminance
Over his last ten events, Rahm’s average finish is 2.9 — an absurd figure. During that period, he’s cashed every single Top 10 wager available on him and has paid out five different outright tickets.
Genesis Invitational: +800 🏆
American Express: +750🏆
Tournament of Champions: +700🏆
DP World Tour Dubai: +450🏆
Open de Espana: +350🏆
🔥 Homa’s Hot Start
Max Homa is a national treasure who should be protected at all costs. It was a very pro-Homa crowd in L.A. and he had them foaming at the mouth, especially over the first two days.
Homa got off to one of the best putting starts we’ve seen recently. His flatstick gained him 7.12 strokes in rounds 1 and 2. That’s the third most strokes gained putting by any golfer this season over the first two rounds.
It’s the 11th most dating back to the start of the 2022 season and 16th most dating back to the start of the 2021 season.
Fun Fact: of those 16 “hot starts” only four went on to win.
💡 Spotlight On Sahith
It’s clear that Sahith Theegala’s game is maturing right before our eyes. He still skews towards the volatile end of the spectrum, compared to his peers, but he’s starting to shed that trait.
He’s played 11 times this season, making all but one cut and earning (5) Top 10 finishes. The only flaw in his game is his driving accuracy, where he ranks 186th on TOUR.
He’s going to continue to find success at courses where missing the fairway by a little and missing the fairway by a lot are treated somewhat equally.
Over the last 40 rounds on the PGA TOUR, Sahith has gained strokes in 65% of those rounds and gained 5+ strokes in 7.5% of those rounds. Those rates are identical to Collin Morikawa.
🐅 Prowling Around The Riv
Unless you are living under a rock (how are you getting this email?), you know that Tiger Woods played the Genesis Invitational last week. He played … surprisingly well. I was fortunate enough to walk with his group for the majority of the week and he certainly showed signs of rust — but was still capable of pulling off world-class shots. Here are a few nuggets about his week:
He gained 0.65 strokes to the field over four rounds, his best full tournament since the 2020 PGA Championship.
The 2.28 strokes he gained tee-to-green on Saturday was his best in a single round since R2 of the 2020 ZOZO Championship.
Nine times throughout the week he lost at least 0.5 strokes putting on a single hole. For comparison, Collin Morikawa had ten such instances.
Eight times throughout the week he gained at least 0.5 strokes on approach in a single hole. For comparison, Collin Morikawa had 5 such instances.
❓ Trivia!
There is only one golfer in this field who has made the cut each of the last four years at the Honda Classic. His best finish is a T16. Who is it?
Hint: He played last week in Los Angeles and has played the Honda Classic ten times.
(Answer at bottom of the email)
👍 Elevate Your Game
We’ve now played three “Elevated” events on the PGA TOUR schedule, an attempt to get the best players to all play the same events. Here are the best of the best, the golfers who have gained the most strokes in the three big ones of the year.
🚗 The CAReer Slam
As much as I hate corporate sponsors in the title of golf tournaments, some of these puns are too easy to pass up. With Genesis hosting an event last week and Honda attached to the title this week, here are the best players in this field in events sponsored by Car Manufacturers over the last 5 years — I excluded John Deere for this.
🌞 Sunshine State of Mind
Golf in Florida is really different than golf on the West Coast. Generally these courses are going to be flatter, with bermudagrass greens and water lurking everywhere. Florida is a different vibe! Here are the best players in the field in the Sunshine State over the last five years.
💯 The Fazio Whisperers
Tom Fazio has designed more than 200 courses with 46 of them ranking inside the Golf Digest Greatest 200 Courses List. It’s no surprise that much of his work is used on the PGA TOUR schedule. Here are the best players in the field on Fazio designs:
Trivia Answer: Jhonny Vegas
