Sandwiched between two Signature events, the PGA Tour returns this weekend to Texas for the now awkwardly named CJ Cup Byron Nelson. This full filed 36 hole cut event has been conducted since 1944. This is the fourth year that it is being played north of Dallas at TPC Craig Ranch, a par 71 7400 yard course. Year after year the tournament generates the highest level of charitable giving on the PGA Tour Schedule.
TPC Craig Ranch, while long for a par 71, favors driving accuracy over driving distance even with water coming into play on 13 holes. The three most correlative stats useful for analyzing the field are the aforementioned Driving Accuracy, SG Approach and Putting. To be successful players will have to score on the three par 5’s and the two short par 4’s. Making par on the three par 3’s that are each over 200 yards. This will be a birdie fest as the three winners of the event when held on this property have carded no less than 23 under par for the four rounds.
The first round was delayed by rain and storms are in the forecast for each of the tournament days. While many pundits are predicting an advantage to the late/early wave, my take on the weather combined with the delayed first round start coupled by the allowance of “lift, clean and place” should negate any wave being better than the other.
With this event being shoehorned between two signature events and just two weeks prior to the PGA Championship at Valhalla, the field has a limited number of “big” names. Texan Jordan Spieth is the odds on favorite in a field that includes Si Woo Kim, two time winner K.H. Lee and defending champion Jason Day. Unfortunately, native son Will Zalatoris withdrew early in the week citing an issue with his surgically repaired back. Sungjae Im, another pre-tournament favorite, withdrew immediately prior to his scheduled tee time.
For my one and done this week I went with Tom Hoge. He has been putting lights out recently and has a solid tee to green game. I expect that he will be lesser owned than some of the more obvious selections. For wagering purposes I went with Hoge, Seamus Power and Thorbjorn Olsen. Good luck to all and enjoy the golf.
