Friends in fore,
Most of us, if we approached our golf ball at Pebble Beach and were like "yeah, if I even swing at this thing I might literally fall to my death", would move the ball back to safety.
Jordan Spieth? He goes full Bird-Jordan commercial. "Wide-ass stance. FULL motherf***ing swing. End up off-balance because YOLO. Straight over the ravine. Nothing but net."
We backed Spieth HARD this week, if for nothing else than the entertainment his fearlessness provides.
AT&T PEBBLE BEACH PICKS
- YEYPO
- Big John
- Your group picks (get in a group with friends!)
23% of us are on Spieth in YEYPO - a SZN high. 17% of us are rolling the dice on Maverick McNealy, who is actually named Maverick.
The rest of us? Skin city, baby.
We have 24 skin opportunities, including 19 full skin opportunities (1 pick) - both are SZN highs.
Do we think Cody Gribble knows someone picked him in the Y.E. Yang Memorial Pick One?
How about Aaron Baddeley, who indeed still plays golf?
Would Marcel Siem morph into 2000 Tiger Woods if he knew he was riding the electric green 3.7% ABV wings of a YEYPO skin opportunity?
How do we let these guys know the stakes?!?
PICK STATS
YEYPO One And Done
- After Spieth (23%) and Mav (17%), it's Hovland (11%), Seamus Power (9%), Dahmen (8%), Hoge (6%), and Matty FitzTestTubeGolfer (5%).
- Dahmen is the only guy outside the top 10 by field rank (he's #18), which led to a shockingly low 3.03/10 Pick Boldness score.
- Yes, we dug deep for a bunch of skins, but the overwhelming majority of us were like "this field is BAD. Give me one of the good(ish) guys, please."
- Full skin opportunities (1 pick): Aaron Baddeley, Ben Taylor, Byeong Hun An, Chesson Hadley, Cody Gribble, Danny Willett, Doc Redman, Dylan Frittelli, Greyson Sigg, Harry Hall, Harry Higgs, Jimmy Walker, Lucas Glover, Marcel Siem, Matthias Schwab, Nick Hardy, Robby Shelton, Taylor Moore, Will Gordon.
- Half skin oppos (2 picks): Dean Burmester, Garrick Higgo, Joseph Bramlett, Kevin Yu, Nate Lashley
- Burmester is wild value for a skin. He's not a household name but he's the 9th best guy in the field by World Rank. (And he's 2-under after one round.)
- Skin oppo Harry Hall is T2 (7-under) after one round. And the aforementioned Baddeley is T5 (6-under)
- Nobody is on the round 1 leader, Hank Lebioda. HOW DID WE OVERLOOK HANK LEBIODA?
Big John Survivor
- 985 brave souls made picks in Survivor week 3.
- We had the same top 7 as YEYPO, with Spieth (20%) and Mav (16%) leading the way.
- We liked Tom Hoge (last year's champ) to make the cut (10% of Survivor picks) more than we did to threaten a repeat win (6% YEYPO picks)
- Just 35 golfers in play on our Survivor board, vs. 55 in YEYPO - largely because we took fewer deep cuts.
- 13 guys have either 1 or 2 picks, including Burmester once again.
- 313 of us (32% of those alive in Survivor) took the same golfer in both competitions. This is a big uptick from our first two weeks, which came in at 24% and 23%, respectively.
- Commish would hypothesize that we see larger "same pick" numbers on weeks with weaker fields. Simply fewer guys you feel good about trusting in any capacity.
WEEKLY AWARDS
The 1-iron Moxie Award
Boldest pick. You can't win a SZN competition without a little Moxie!
@Awuwert (Cody Gribble, YEYPO): "Just found out my pick is playing with the President of my company, have to root for them/him!!"
Commish says: ARE YOU ROOTING FOR YOUR COMPANY PRESIDENT OUT OF FEAR OR LOVE?
John Daly's Pants Award
Our best weekly comment (or three), because John Daly's pants always win
@HaveYouCheckedYourButthole (Joel Dahmen, Survior): "When i see this guy's name all i can do is picture him as a puppet with a bucket hat on, he's a member of "GAG" (or Golf Association of Golf) and the only thing he can say is "JOEL DAHMAN!"... be that as it may, this guy runs roughshod over Pebble every year, and this year will be no different. so i'm taking the goofy bastard for the win."
Commish says: This is pretty much golf's Hedge of Happiness, right? If Joel plays well, you advance. If Joel misses the cut, fire up the GAG Puppet Show! Also, how does one gain admittance to GAG? Asking for a friend.
"Bryson Approves This Pick" Award
Most convincing comment (There's logic, and then there's Bryson-level logic)
@YikesVikes (Maverick McNealy, YEYPO): "Maverick grew up on this course, making the cut should be a no brainer. The 26-year-old Californian is the heir to an astonishing $950m fortune that he stands to inherit from his dad, businessman Scott McNealy. Yet I believe he would be totally embarrassed to miss the cut on the course he loves and plays so much!"
Commish says: Does Maverick feel embarrassment? Does Maverick feel anything? WHO IS MAVERICK MCNEALY?
Spieth's 89-degree Lob Wedge
The spiciest/wildest take (like Spieth's wild short game)
@tylerpearsontp (Tom Hoge, Survivor): "Hoge looks like the adult version of the "I Like Turtles" youtube kid. Now it will be burned in your brain, no way he is Cut. "I like Hoagies""
Commish says: But Tyler, do you like turtles? You really going to leave the good people of Golf SZN hanging like this?
MORE COMMENTS
@Jevans4 (Jordan Spieth, Survivor): "John Daly would’ve fallen off the cliff… or thrown a club off it, who knows. Spieth will survive again."
Commish says: Movie idea: Free Solo, except it's John Daly. WHO LOSES? No wait. Shit. Don't answer that.
@Mr_Rodgers_Neighborhood (Maverick McNealy, Survivor): "All these pictures look like guys better suited for doing my taxes than being a high level athlete. I'll pick the dude with the cool name."
Commish says: There's a lot of momentum for a "These Headshots Look Like" comment award.
@Nova_nation (Viktor Hovland, YEYPO): "Due to his family background, Feel like Mav is plenty used to schmoozing with corporate sponsors, celebs, etc. Why not win $1.6M playing golf while he’s at it"
Commish says: Nova, you know you took Vik and not Maverick, right? You beer bonging BLLs with Phil behind our backs?
@kmorris14 (Maverick McNealy, YEYPO): "When u’ve lived there you must be able to win there."
Commish says: *Thinks back to his time toting clubs around shitty Minnesota munis* ... This is not the case in my experience.
@StatCzar (Seamus Power, YEYPO): "I'm trying to use nothing but top 30 ranked golfers. Also know as the Anti-Merf strategy!"
Commish says: If you thought Stat Czar would stop trolling Merf, YOU WERE WRONG.
@mahatma19 (Justin Rose, Survivor): "I don't know anything about golf. It's just all wordplay to me. Like, choose Justin Rose and make a reference to "The Bachelor" and stuff. (Also, I read all the comments with an Irish accent.)"
Commish says: BRING THE ROSE CEREMONY TO BUTLER CABIN THIS YEAR. DO YOU HEAR ME NANTZ? HAND OUT ROSES, YOU COWARD!!
@Alakhi (Joel Dahmen, YEYPO): "Respect the Stache."
Commish says: S-T-A-C-H-E-Y. Find out what it means to me! (Yeah, I added the Y. Because it needs 7 letters. And you really gonna tell me Joel Dahmen is a "stache guy"? No. He's a stachey guy.)
@Doobeigh (Maverick McNealy, YEYPO): "A cross between a two time Hollywood fighter pilot and college freshman offering some sound advice:
'I‘m tellin’ ya, look out for that scrawny four-eyed kid whose ass you used to kick just for fun. In three years he’ll be bangin‘ your girlfriend. Hey speakin’ of which, you still with that Amanda? Now there was a prize piece if I ever saw one. You’re lucky. Hold on to her, man. Best advice I can give. That, and bring those rubber flip-flops for the shower.' ... What could go wrong?"
Commish says: But are we SURE that Mav has got it in him? I know his name is Maverick. But does HE know his name is Maverick? DOES HE?
@mropp05 (Keith Mitchell, YEYPO): "Best visor game on tour, no doubt"
Commish says: VISOR GAME ON FLEEK
@MONSTERXXX (Matt Fitzpatrick, Survivor): "FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITZ !!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOH"
Commish says: IS THIS THE LONGEST WOO YET OR IS IT A NEW CATEGORY CALLED THE FITZWOO?
@RecDaddy (Beau Hossler): "Come on 'Big Hoss'!!"
Commish says: DOES ANYONE CALL HIM THAT
Yours in metal stick swinging,
The Commish