Sunday, May 1, 2011

Last Week In Golf - Zurich Classic

Bubba Watson beat Webb Simpson in a playoff to claim his third career victory. Webb Simpson applied a one stroke penatly on himself on hole 15 costing him the win. Jason Dufner, Tommy Gainey, and K.J. Choi all tied for 3rd place.

Tommy Gainey: Tommy Gainey is continuing to prove that he deserves to be on this tour. Gainey tied for 3rd last week after shooting three rounds in the 60’s. Gainey has four top 10’s and two top 3’s in a row. Even though he has an unorthodox swing, Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey has really found a rhythm on the PGA Tour this season.

Bubba Watson: A victory at the Zurich Classic shows that Bubba Watson is one of the best players on tour and he can win any week. Over the past few years, Watson has just been the long ball hitter on tour, but now he is becoming more than that. Bubba has two victories and a 4th place finish this year. He is a player that needs to be considered every week. The next step for Bubba…is getting his first major.

Webb Simpson: Even though Simpson faltered down the stretch and lost in a playoff to Bubba Watson, he still displayed his impressive golf game. Simpson now has two 2nd place finishes this year and has four other top 20’s. In order to get that first victory, he’ll have to learn how to finish down the back nine on Sunday.

3 Down

Justin Rose: Justin Rose was one of the favorites coming into last week. He has been on a hot streak on PGA Tour this year (6 top 15's, 0 missed cuts), but couldn't get anything going. Rose missed his first cut of the season after shooting a 77-74. I wouldn't read too much into one bad tournament, but keep an eye on Rose. Another bad showing would be a sure sign that something isn't quite right with his game.

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Graeme McDowell: Another missed cut by McDowell is very alarming. McDowell came onto the scene last year after winning the U.S. Open and helping the Europeans clinch the Ryder Cup, but his game has been severely off this year. After starting the year with 3 top 10's, Graeme has missed three cuts and his best finish is a tie for 42nd. For me, McDowell has a red flag next to his name until he can show signs of improvement and place in the top 15.

Jeff Overton: This was supposed to be the week that Jeff Overton broke out of his slump; it wasn't. Overton shot a final round 77 and placed 69th. Overton's stats this year are unimpressive, 64th in driving accuracy, tied for 134th in greens in regulation, 82nd in scoring average, and tied for 49th in putting. The scary thing is that there isn't one part of the Overton's game that is causing the problem; it's multiple things.

Fantasy Breakdown Results

Players to Think About (0-2-1)

Nick Watney (Push): Nick Watney couldn’t seem to get anything going last week and placed in a tie for 20th. I was hoping for a bounce back for Watney after a disappointing Masters, but it didn’t happen. Watney is still playing great golf, top 10 in driving accuracy and greens in regulation last week. Watney’s problem seems to be the putter. Watney is 9th on the tour in putting this year, but he was 67th at the Zurich Classic. If Watney can’t get the putter going, expect more finishes outside of the top 10.

Rory Sabbatini (Loss): Sabbatini missed the cut after shooting a 74-75. I said that Rory would have to keep his tee shots in the fairway to compete, but he didn’t. Rory’s driving accuracy was 39.3 percent, almost 25 percent below the field average.

Jeff Overton (Loss): Overton took 69th place after shooting 73-70-73-77. Overton hasn’t shot below 70 in 14 straight rounds. Obviously, his breakthrough didn’t happen this week.

Players to Stay Away From (3-0-0)

Brian Gay (Win): Brian Gay shot 71-71-73-71 giving him a tie for 51st place. Gay has struggled at this course in the past. A tie for 51st is actually his best showing at this event in the last seven years. Brian Gay will continue to be one of the tour’s most consistent players this year.

Vijay Singh (Win):  Vijay placed in a tie for 65th place. Vijay did shoot a 68 in the second round, but shot a 78 in the final round. My prediction of Vijay’s season hasn’t changed. He will have a couple of good tournaments, but will struggle for most of the events this year.

Brandt Snedeker (Win): Snedeker shot a 77 in the first round and missed the cut. Brandt is now 0 for 3 at making the cut in the Zurich Classic. Snedeker is a very streaky player so I wouldn’t worry about his showing at this tournament. Only play Brandt in tournaments that he has past success in.

My Picks (3-0-0)

Luke Donald (Win): Donald didn’t win last week, but he did place in the top 10. He shot under par in all four rounds and is still probably playing the best golf in the world.

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Steve Stricker (Win): A final round of 74 took Stricker out of the running, but he still finished in a tie for 13th. Stricker played well for three rounds and found himself in a tie for 4th place. He isn’t far off his game right now. I expect Stricker to remain at the top of leader boards in the future and maybe even find his way into the winner’s circle soon.

David Toms (Win): Toms played solid for the first 3 rounds of the tournament. He shot 73 on Sunday and fell back to a tie for 18th, but it’s still a top 20 for Toms. He continues to be a consistent play. If it’s a short course, Toms is almost guaranteed to finish in the top 25 right now.

This Week's Record: 6-2-1

Stay tuned for "This Week In Golf - Wells Fargo Championship"

stats from pgatour.com
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