SnoTap Golf: Previewing the Tour Championship

I have to start with the bad news. What has been one hell of a 2013 PGA Tour season is coming to an end this weekend. We find ourselves on the doorstep of the 2013 Coca-Cola Tour Championship and the expectations could not be any greater.

Last week, we had somewhat of a disappointing finish. Not because of the players, but due to Mother Nature once again delaying a tournament and forcing a Monday finish. This was good for some and terrible for others. Zach Johnson fought his way to the second best final round, and his first victory of his 2013 campaign. I have never found myself as a huge Johnson fan but the clutch performance he displayed in his BMW win earned him a whole hell of a lot of respect in my book.

He was paired up with last year’s FedEx Champ and the first round leader, Brandt Snedeker. He took a page out of Brandt’s book on Monday, and putted his brains out. With that victory, Zach shot himself to fourth place in the FedEx Cup standings and gave himself a chance to control his own destiny this week at the Tour Championship.

When Zach was asked about East Lake he said, “It is a beast. It is awesome”. If that does not explain to you the magnitude of this week’s event, I do not know what will. Tiger Woods, Henrk Stenson, Adam Scott, Zach Johnson, and Matt Kuchar all have earned enough points to control their fate come Sunday. The other 25 men competing this week will need some help to get atop the podium but everyone has a fighting chance. To open your eyes to the field a bit more, here are my three favorites to win the tournament, one from each tier of competitors.

The ‘last’ tier contains the players ranked 21-30 in FedEx Points. Their odds of winning the championship may be slim but that does not mean they cannot win this tournament. I like Luke Donald here. Luke is coming off a final round 66 last week, where everything seemed to be coming together for the Englishman. Donald has shown well here the last three years, carding three Top 3 performances in as many years. If he can keep that putter hot and avoid those blow up holes, Luke should find himself right in contention of getting his first victory on the season.

The middle tier of players holds a decent chance at winning the season-long crown if they can get the all-important victory here. Hunter Mahan seems to fit the bill. Hunter is the only man to play in every tournament of the FedEx playoffs since its conception in 2009. That kind of consistency is what it takes to win in these types of settings. Mahan is coming off a fourth place finish last week, where he also gathered a coveted hole in one. He has found himself in the final pairing in big tournaments this year but he is going to have to fight those yips to get a 2013 victory under his belt and contend this weekend.

My favorite to win from the top tier is the face of the top tier and the definition of success in 2013; Tiger Woods. The stage is set for Tiger to blast ahead of the pack and show that he cannot be beat when he is right. Tiger fought adversary last week to bring home a respectable T-11 finish. With a victory here, he would total an impressive 6th on the year and his 3rd career FedEx Cup Trophy. Tiger does not really have to do anything extra special to win; he just has to avoid doing something stupid to lose.

Enjoy the final leg of the PGA Tour season and stayed tuned next week for the first rendition of our SnoTap golf grades and other thoughts from the team.

Bryan. 

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The Aussie Strikes Again; Deutsche Bank Championship Preview

Adam Scott not only puts himself in contention, he wins again. This feels like a year where I have been repeating myself when it comes to big names winning these tournaments but the opposite could not be any truer. 2013 has been a year where many unknown names have risen to the top but the big guns are doing a fine job of reminding us why they are the best in the world. Scott’s victory in New York is his second of the year and maybe his luckier of the two.

If it were not for a Justin Rose three putt on the 18th, Scott would have played Rose and possibly others in a playoff scenario, but that was not the case. Adam’s clutch putter delivered down stretch and he showed us why he may now be the favorite for 2013 PGA Tour Player of the Year.

With three weeks left in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, the remaining field of 100 will head to Boston for the Deutsche Back Championship. As per tradition, the top three in the FedEx Cup standing will be paired together for both the first and second round. The way this tournament is structured is a bit different, seeing as it is played on a Friday-Monday schedule rather than the typical Thursday-Sunday setup given the Labor Day holiday. With this in mind, we will get to start our weekend watching drama unfold between Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, and Tiger Woods. Ironically enough, The Tiger Woods Foundation actually manages this tournament which is put on at The Players Club in Boston.

The biggest story of this lead group will of course be surrounding the points leader, Woods. Midway through his final 18 last week, Woods fell to his knees from a severe back pain, which he stated was caused by his hotel bed. Tiger is looking to win this tournament again, as he in back in 2006, and extend his points lead going into the last two legs of the FedEx Cup. Mickelson and Scott both had impressive showings in their final rounds at The Barclays and look to keep that momentum rolling into this week.

Last year’s champion, Rory McIlroy, showed signs of turning his season around last week, where he finished T-19th despite only one round under par. Rory has noy broken through for a victory yet this season but if he were to win here, he would be the only multi-time champion besides Vijay Singh. I have read multiple interviews of tour players starting that length off the tee gives you a huge advantage on the course this week. We know Rory has the length, and I believe he will keep it in the middle to contend this week.

Since his U.S. open victory in 2012, Webb Simpson has yet to find his way to the winner’s circle, although he came close with a loss in a playoff at the RBC Heritage. Webb won here two years ago, in a second hole playoff victory over Chez Reavie. Simpson is in the top 10 in scoring average and will look to capitalize on his consistent play to lead him to his first victory of 2013.

As the tournaments continue to get smaller, the competition will continue to get more and more elite. Following the Deutsche Bank Championship, we will only see the top 70 in FedEx points advance forward. I gave you a handful of names to keep an eye on this week, but don’t limit your attention to just them. Anyone can win.

-Bryan 

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The Barclays Championship Launches the PGA Playoffs

It begins. The FedEx Cup playoffs are upon us. Although most fans do not realize, the season has been all

leading up to this. Brandt Snedeker will attempt to be the first player to win back to back FedEx cups since the format began in 2007. Brandt currently ranks third, behind Tiger Woods, but he within striking distance, needing only 841 points to catch him. Over the next four weeks, we will get to watch the best in the world compete for the season-long title declaring them the best, and most consistent golfer of 2013.

The winner of The Barclays Championship has only gone on to win the Tour Championship once, occurring in 2008 when Vijay Singh took out Sergio Garcia in a playoff. This goes to show that the players obviously want to win each of these tournaments but ultimately, they are playing for points. As was discussed on the blog last week, there will be only 100 men advancing to the Duetsche Bank Championship, and for those on that ‘cut’ line, there will be some scoreboard watching unlike the previous months making Sunday's round more exciting than usual..

With this in mind, it is hard for me to look at this week’s tournament and pick a winner or a group of favorites. The Tour has once again flexed its muscles with the pairings and threw the top three in the FedEx cup race in a Thursday group. Matt Kuchar, Snedeker, and Tiger Woods will definitely be three of the top men to watch this week, and the week’s coming up. Kuchar is no stranger to victory at the Barclays, seeing that he won this tournament in a playoff over Martin Laird back in 2010.

I do not know if it is even worth the words but Woods is the favorite here this week, obviously. When played here in 2009, Tiger finished in a close tie for second highlighted by a Sunday round of -4. Tiger has been lights out this year, winning the five of the seven stroke play tournaments he has teed it up in. Although he has yet to win a Barclays’, I would not be surprised if he takes the trophy home this week.

Although I don't really like the momentum he brings into the week, I think Nick Watney could be a guy to watch here. He is the 2012 Barclays champion and has performed well in the past. In 2009, he finished a stroke behind Tiger, in a tie for third place. Watney has proving to be extremely inconsistent, especially this season, but I hope the pendulum swings in his favor this week.

I do not know if he can be considered a sleeper pick, but Dustin Johnson seems due for a good performance. Although the whole world seems to know, DJ is coming off a recent proposal to The Great One’s daughter, Paulina Gretzey. DJ won this tournament two years ago and finish in a tie for 15th last time in was played here in Manhattan. The most impressive part of his 15th place finish in 2009 was his seven under final round. If DJ can find a way to go low at any point this week, he could be dangerous.

One thing I know for certain is that we do not have to worry about Heath Slocum defending his 2009 crown, and we know there will be plenty of men chasing it. As the year comes to a dramatic end, the Tour will not disappoint. Pick your favorite and cheer for consistency because everyone has got a chance now.

-Bryan 

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PGA Championship Comes to an End but The Drama Does Not

As the week of the PGA Championship comes to a close, we have to watch another season of majors fade

away. The 2013 Majors did not disappoint. As Charlie did a fine job of walking you through Jason Dufner’s victory, I would just like to recap my thoughts on this often overlooked tournament.

While I sat and watched, somewhat expecting a hiccup in Dufner’s excellent Sunday round, I could not help but find myself in awe of the control and poise he showed. Dufner was absolutely lights out down the stretch, especially with his mid-range irons. As Twitter was abuzz throughout the afternoon, I saw may quotes stating his round could have been one of the best ball striking displays we have ever seen. Now that Duff Daddy has broken through for his first major victory, we can finally see how his game will adapt as he strives to add to his trophy case. As Jim Furyk stated after his second place finish, he did not feel like he played bad golf, and he did not make any major mistakes. He was right; he ran into a freight train that was not going to be derailed.

Now that the major season is over, the Tour will take a slight break of sorts this week before starting the

FedEx Cup Playoffs. I do not mean to understate the importance of any given week on Tour but here at SnoTap, we want to be sure to keep you up-to-date on what to watch for each week. The most important focus of this weeks’ Wyndham Championship will be those players attempting to lock their place in the Top 125. If the playoffs were to start this week, we would see big names like Nicolas Colsaerts, Padraig Harrington, Shawn Stefani, Ricky Barnes, and previous FedEx Champion Vijay Singh all miss the cut. These players will be fighting for every stroke as they are all valuable when trying to advance in the ranks.

It took me a bit of time to truly figure out how the FedEx Cup Playoffs work, and I am still learning, but once you get a grasp it is one of the coolest championships in sports. The process kicks off at The Barclays Championship where the top 125 compete for points to climb the leaderboard, with the winner taking 2,500 points. The rankings following the tournament are then reordered and the top 100 advance on. This same process will continue at the Deutsche Bank Championship but following this, only the top 70 will advance to the next stage.

I will leave it there for now, as the next two stages become more crucial and therefore more detailed. The essential idea that is important to take away is that the higher a competitor places in the events, the more points they will receive. These points may be more valuable than in the past as they are once again chasing Tiger Woods. Tiger won the FedEx Cup in its inaugural year (2007), and once again in 2009. There are three other men who have found themselves a ways in front of the field; Matt Kuchar, Brandt Snedeker, and Phil Mickelson.

Snedeker will be the only one of those men teeing it up this weekend at Wyndham, and he will once again find himself the favorite. If he were to reel in the victory this weekend, he would have the momentum he needs to catch Tiger and look to defend his FedEx Cup Title. 

Bryan 

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PGA Championship Preview: Tee Time Draft

The third tee time draft of the season. I can speak for Bryan in saying this is one of my favorite things to do before a major golf tournament. We talked about possibly not doing it, but I felt it may help the casual fans figure out when they want to tune in on the first two rounds. We scored the Open Championship where I not only had the winner but I also won the whole scoring part of it as well.  

Charlie's First Pick: (8:35 am) Tiger Woods, Keegan Bradley, Davis Love III 

Boy, I wonder what these three will talk about?  If you do not know the answer, it is the Ryder Cup. Love III coached both Woods and Bradley last October. Woods struggled at Oak Hill in 2003 but he could definitely win it this week. Bradley is playing well and has won a Wanamaker in 2011 although the one worry is he tends to have atomic bombs on certain holes. I am 100 percent confident Love III will miss the cut and  will provide me with my worst score. 

Bryan's First Pick: (1:35 pm) Henrik Stenson, Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel
Now, this may seem out of place for being a first round pick, but that seems to be SnoTap tradition with DJ. This is the first major in a while that he will not be teeing it up with the Belgian Bomber (Nicolas Colsaerts SPELLING) and Bubba Watson, and maybe that is a good thing. Henrik Stenson is an incredibly accurate iron player and leads the tour in recovering from the rough. The latter stat will be huge this week, as Oak Hill’s primary cut has been described as ‘Cabbage’. That relates well to Schwartzel seeing as Nike will most likely outfit him with a low cut shirt that allows his South African chest hair to blossom out all tourney long.

Charlie's Second Pick: (1:45 pm) Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson 

Cheeky move by the PGA to have the three major winners from this year play with each other. I am sure they will talk about how awesome they are and how their majors are great. None of these guys I personally root for but I completely respect all of their games. A winner could easily come out of this group and I could not believe Bryan left the window open for me to take this group. my competitiveness to win a Tee Time Draft trumps my lack of a rooting interest 

Bryan's Second Pick: (1:15 pm) Graeme McDowell, Ernie Els, Bill Haas
This second round pick is based off mostly by the early season play of Mr. McDowell and I know Bill Haas possesses the ability to be at the top of the leaderboard. Also, I am wearing a beautiful ‘mint’ colored shirt today and I would bet my life Billy will do the same at some point this weekend. I do not know if Ernie has the strength left in him to play out of thick rough, but if he keeps it straight he could look to win his second major in as many years.

Charlie's Third Pick: (7:45 am)  Nicolas Colsaerts, Jason Day, Brandt Snedeker 

I am going to ride the Belgian Bomber bandwagon until everyone else is on it. He is in the Dufner, DJ, Horschel group of SnoTap favorites. He also is one of the few if not the only golfer to fly the creek on 14 in two.  The guy can completely mash. Day will probably end up in the top ten, but finish third with a car crash finish leading people to criticize him for no real reason. Snedeker is going to win this thing if Tiger and Phil does not. I realize that's not too out there but the man with the golden locks will be great this week.

Bryan's Third Pick: (7:55 am) Sergio Garcia, Matt Kuchar, Rickie Fowler
This group was built for me. I highlighted the games of both Garcia and Kuchar is yesterday’s post and I believe they will both comfortably make it into the weekend. Folwer putted extremely well last week and has not been a stranger to weekend leaderboards at majors this year. In order for Fowler to win his first major title, he will have to avoid what he does so often and not have any blow up holes. Consistence and patience are key.

Charlie's Fourth Pick: (7:45 am) Hideki Matsuyama, Steve Stricker, Jason Dufner 
I surprised Reynolds by leaving Stricker off my list of guys I thought might be worth watching this weekend and now we believe he has the SnoTap mojo in his direction. Strick will definitely be a player at Oak Hill, this course works to his advantage. DUFFFFFFF I want to see him and then pay attention to see if he will smile at any point of holding the Wanamaker. Matsuyama held his own when Woods went off for a 61 on Friday and that makes me think he could do alright this week.  

Bryan's Fourth Pick: (1:25) Rory McIlroy, Vijay Singh, Martin Kaymer
This is another group the PGA assembled by highlighting their past champions. It has been a while since Vijay has been a threat on tour, but he won this event in both 1998 and 2004. Kaymer will always be stuck in my head as the guy who stole a major from DJ when he had his goofy penalty at Whistling Straits. Nonetheless, Kaymer remained consistent since his triumph and could find himself in contention come Sunday. Lastly, Rory is the defending PGA Champion and we know whether he plays well or self-combusts, the media will find a way to bring him to the forefront. I hope Rory turns it around, he needs it.

Charlie's Fifth Pick: (12:45 pm) Hunter Mahan, Paul Casey, Billy Horschel

Mahan and Horschel have hovered around the leaderboards during majors so far this season, and there is no reason to think they cannot do it again this weekend. Mahan probably does not have much sleep dealing with a new baby but he looks like a guy who needs only two hours of sleep. Horschel probably will wear sting ray pants and that is good enough reason to choose him.  Casey scares the living shit out of me. I have Casey and Love III, two of the bigger underachievers in the past decade or so we know I could lose this thing easily.

Bryan's Fifth Pick: (8:25) Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Luke Donald, Jordan Spieth
Spieth is by far my favorite out of this group, because he does not wear a visor. In all seriousness, Jordan is looking more and more like someone to fear in future years. He broke through in dramatic fashion at the John Deere Classic and a victory here would have the whole golf world buzzing about his potential. Castano played well at The Masters and has continued since earning his exemption. I am not a big fan of the permanently popped collar but I do enjoy his golf game. Finally, Luke Donald; My nemesis. I just feel he has been so overrated, for so long. Personally, I would love for him to win so I can finally feel like he is playing to his rank.

Charlie & Bryan 

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Limit the Tiger Woods Expectations at Oak Hill

Tiger Woods has courses where he should have personal ownership of the course. There are a few that belong to Tiger like Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, Muirfield and Firestone. Hell, those four should build statues saying 'Personal ownership of one, Tiger Eldrick Woods.'  While golf is probably as loaded as it has ever been, Woods is the only one where there are courses he pulverizes and is always near the top of the leaderboard.  Tiger ran away with the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday winning by seven strokes and completely dominating the field.

The highlight of the weekend was Friday afternoon. Woods came out on complete fire going four under in the first three holes and came in reach of getting golf's greatest round, 59. Tiger did absolutely everything right from driving the ball, approach shots and putts. The last one might be the biggest one moving forward. Tiger had mostly one-putts on Friday and ensure the mistakes he made throughout the weekend did not come back to haunt him on the scorecard.  After he finished the second round, the tournament became who is playing for second as Tiger ran away with the tournament.      

Woods is easily the Golfer of the Year if the PGA season ended today. Woods has five wins on the year and they are not minor ones either winning two World Golf Championships and a Players Championship.  No one comes close to those numbers for the full year, but Woods is missing the one elusive win, a major.  While the hype will be at an all-time high for Woods to win at Oak Hill at this weekend's PGA Championship, it should not be a big deal if he does not win.

People measure golfers like they do with quarterbacks in the National Football League and playoff wins. Both get judged if they fail to achieve milestone, the national media comes crashing down on him. People will always bring up Woods inability to win majors in the last couple of years. People make generalizations about Woods' failure to win a major without looking at a few bad breaks in different rounds of the major tournaments. Could Tiger win at Oak Hill?  Yes, but it should not come as a shock if he does not even though he golfed like the 2001 version of himself last weekend.

There are couple things going against Woods this week at Oak Hill.  He has never won a major on a Par 70. While he has done better in years past and Bridgestone is probably his favorite Par 70 course he plays regularly, he still has never won a major on a Par 70 course. When Tiger gets more Par 5's, he has more opportunities to not only take risks, but also atone for the mistakes he might make on a Par 3.  The other part is he struggled mightily in 2003 when Oak Hill last had the PGA Championship.  Woods went 12 over shooting over par in every round. For whatever it's worth, Tiger won four tournaments before the PGA Championship in 2003, but none of them were majors; he also won one more time following one of his worst majors of his career.

It is still hard not to root for a situation where Tiger is leading or tied for the lead heading into Sunday's round. Even if you are the biggest diehard golf fan, there is something special about seeing Woods in the lead heading down the back nine at a major in contention. In two of the three majors this year, Tiger found himself hanging around the leaderboard at some point of the weekend and this week will probably no different.

Charlie.

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Brandt Wins Canada; Firestone Hosts an Elite Group

I spent my weekend relaxing in the Northwoods meaning my attention was not completely on the RBC Canadian Open, The players in Canada did not disappoint in a surprisingly loaded field. Hunter Mahan got off to a hot start and held the 36-hole lead but withdrew for reasons beyond his control, somewhat. Mahan’s wife went into labor with their firstborn and he did what most anyone would do, and left the tournament to be by her side. People in the media have been overstating his departure and saying he gave up a tournament that was his to lose; I disagree. Hunter still had two rounds to get through and he would have had the incredible, consistent play of Brandt Snedeker to compete with.

I tracked and listened to a majority of the final round, which was mostly highlighted by Mr. Snedeker doing what he had to do to bring home his second victory of the 2013 season. Interestingly enough, with three holes to play on Sunday, Dustin Johnson found himself with a one shot lead. This did not last for long though, as he went on to triple bogey his next hole. Johnson continues to show that he does not have what it takes to pull through in the clutch, even in these ‘small’ tournaments. I am starting to doubt he will ever bust through for a major title.

This week’s main PGA event is not a major, but it might as well be. Besides The Players Championship, the World Golf Championships have provided some of the finest fields to accompany their outstanding tournaments. The Bridgestone Invitational will be the final WGC event on the calendar for the year, and it looks to provide just as much excitement as the first two. Earlier in the year, we saw Matt Kuchar take the WGC Match Play in Arizona and Tiger Woods win the Cadillac Championship at Blue Monster. Firestone CC in Akron, OH will play host again this year as Keegan Bradley looks to defend his 2012 title and try to notch his first victory on tour this season.

With this tournament coming on the eve of the year’s final major, I feel it is important to look back to pre-major tournaments this year to see who could rise to the top this week. In my mind, there are four tournaments worth looking at here; Valero Texas Open (Pre-Masters), St. Jude Classic (Pre-U.S. Open), John Deere Classic (Pre-Open Championship), and The Scottish Open (Pre-Open Championship).

Phil Mickelson has been no stranger to the top of these leaderboards. As we all know, this is Mickelson's first tournament back since his impressive victory in The Open Championship. Phil has no trouble getting it rolling pre-major. He won the Scottish Open, which is a non-PGA Tour event, and he took second to Harris English at the rainy St. Jude Classic. I have given up on predicting winners every week, but I am pretty confident Phil will be right up there.

Billy Horschel is another guy that just refuses to be anywhere but in contention. Billy already notched one victory this year and is coming off a rough showing in Scotland. Horschel finished in the top five at Valero and placed top 10 at St. Jude. He has been incredibly consistent most of the 2013 campaign and I am believe he can get back on track at Firestone.

Although he is not a big name, I would keep an eye on Martin Laird to be in contention. He won the Valero going into the Masters and stuck right with Phil to finish fifth in the Scottish Open before The Open. He may need the help of a birdie ridden round but that is never out of the question with how talented Laird is with the putter.

There will be a small, yet electric field playing this weekend, all looking to get some momentum going into Oak Hill. Tiger Woods remains the only multi-time champion here, with seven victories overall. Although he didn’t win in 2012, everyone will be chasing him, as always when Tiger is playing in a tournament.

-Bryan Reynolds   

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