Friends in fore,
Back to a normal Thursday morning pick deadline this week. But the Pebble Beach Pro-Am itself? Very much not normal.
This even used to be glitzy. It's Pebble Beach. Tiger always showed. Phil always showed. It all outweighed the B-list celebrities duffing around and hogging TV time.
Now? Get ready to evaluate a bunch of guys you've definitely never heard of.
WEEK 3 PICKS (AT&T Pebble Beach)
- Go to your competitions page >>
- Purse: $9,000,000
- First place: $1,600,000
- Pick deadline: 2/2 ~7am PT Thurs
Why this tourney became one of the weaker events is a boring tale for another time. But here are the grim (funny?) facts about this week's field:
- Zero of the world's top nine golfers
- Just seven of the world's top 50 golfers
- More than 100 golfers ranked outside the world top 200
The purse is actually slightly larger than each of our first two weeks. But it's still nowhere near the size of the Majors and the PGA Tour's "elevated" events (all played later this year).
So if you're feeling the urge to pick a flyer, THIS IS YOUR WEEK.
You want some Beau Hossler (World #169), who looks like a 12-year-old in his photo? GET SOME HOSS IN THE HOUSE.
You want some Callum Tarren (#160), who was at LEAST five beers deep when taking his photo? BOTTOMS UP, BABY.
You want some Nick Hardy (#180), who took his photo staring directly into the sun? GO GET THAT SUNSHINE.
Or how about Justin Suh (#118), who has absolutely immaculate hair? I... HAVE NOTHING BAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS ONLY JEALOUSY.
If you had a blah start or missed the cut, REMEMBER THIS:
- Last year's YEYPO champ missed SIX cuts
- Last year's 3rd place finisher didn't even make a cut till Week 4
- Everyone will miss cuts, it's no big deal!
- What matters most is wins and top 5 finishes
Eight brave souls have started the year with back-to-back wins. Pulling off a three-peat given this week's field would be an amazing feat.
Could it be D.A. Points? 3,073rd in the world, having missed FIVE straight cuts in this event?
I'm kidding, people. Please don't cut THAT deep.
WEEK 2 RECAP
YEYPO
Golfer Performance | Weekly Performance | Overall Standings | Golden Spreadsheet
Very strong week. The winner (Max Homa) had 122 picks, and seven of our top nine picks made at least $150K. We averaged $306,670 per pick (3.52% of the purse). That 3.52% purse-adjusted figure is one of our best-ever performances.
Going into Sunday, just about every big name (and big pick) was just a few shots behind leader Sam Ryder. And let's be real - while Ryder played well, few expected him to hold off that stable of big guns. We had over 1,000 picks on guys who were within 4 shots of the lead at some point Sunday. Commish was dreaming of a massive Golf SZN party where we all watched the drama unfold together (why hasn't Bud Light Lime sponsored this for us yet?!).
Skin? Nope. Exactly zero of us picked Sam Ryder, which, combined with the big guns-heavy leaderboard meant minimal skin drama. Just five of our 17 skin opportunities even made the cut.
Biggest shank: Cam Davis was a popular sleeper pick, and he rewarded those who backed him in a strong field by... opening with a 79 and finishing just 1 stroke ahead of the week's worst performance. Thanks, Cam, for throwing cold water on the "IF HIS NAME IS CAMERON, PICK HIM" movement.
Big John
Golfer Performance | Weekly Performance | Alive Players | Golden Spreadsheet
Our top 7 guys (656 picks) all made the cut. #8 was Willy Z (78 picks), who bombed out Friday to miss the cut by 1. In total, 1,015 of us are on to Week 3.
Team SZN Performance
When Tony Finau went from making the cut on the number to T4 after the third round, Commish thought he might start the year with back-to-back victories. Alas, Finau faded, and Commish settled for sitting T68 Overall. @StatCzar bagged the best Team SZN week with his Sungjae pick. @Merf picked Cam Davis who shot something like 92 in the first round.
Reminder: Team SZN plays along for fun and bragging rights but can't win any money.
Yours in metal stick swinging,
The Commish