Another busy week here in Las Vegas, Team, so I have not had the time I like to spend really crunching the golf match ups as I normally do. Monday and Tuesday were basically shot doing quite a few radio spots recapping The Masters and recovering from that hangover.. and now here we are on Wednesday.. or rather Thursday as I post this piece!
First of all, yes, it was a Masters hangover experienced after we took a pretty good hit with nearly every player I fashioned to have a successful tournament either coming up short or even missing the cut entirely. I am sorry that it did not work out for us last week and thank you all very much for the excellent support, including the correspondence both here in the forum and on twitter. That was some great enthusiasm and conversation and made our losses at least a bit more tolerable for me. In light of all of this, I am putting this out there for Free this week and will not be posting a Premium Package. I owe you some better results.
So onto the traditional post Masters gathering at Hilton Head for The RBC Heritage. Let me get right to the basics.. This is Pete Dye design and relatively coastal location.. as is The Players Championship.. so look for players that do well at The Players to also have some success here this week. This is NOT The Masters, a wide open, undulated park like setting but rather this is a winding, dog-legged, tighter test with the most signature characteristic being some of the smallest greens on Tour. So, let's look at Driving Accuracy, Putting, Scrambling, Long Putting, and Greens In Regulation. Keeping it in the fairway and hitting greens will be at a premium and when one misses these very small greens, they will need to scramble to get up and down, and because the greens are small, difficult targets to get close, often putts will come from longer distances - 15 to 20 feet.
In addition to the stats and the Players Championship comparison, also consider one's performance last week at The Masters as often a player who had a positive week at Augusta will carry some momentum into Harbour Town.
Take a look at who flourishes in all of these areas when making both full tournament match up plays and also individual round match ups. Here are a few full tournament head to heads that made sense to me..
Stewart Cink (-140) over Steven Bowditch
Rory Sabbatini (+115) over Brandon De Jonge
Graeme McDowell (-125) over Brandt Snedeker
Kevin Na (-150) over Matt Every
Russell Henley (+105) over Charley Hoffman
Carl Pettersson (-135) over Stephen Gallacher
If I had to make one pick to win the tournament, I would say Jim Furyk. Very suited for this style of course and The Players. Has good history here, has had a good year, and really played an excellent Masters despite that type of track not really being his forte.
As I see how the tournament unfolds, I may get back on here and post some individual round match ups if I see any that catch my eye.
Thank you and Have fun!
Brady Kannon
@lasvegasgolfer
www.LVTeeTimes.com