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GOLF Week 4 Update

by @TheCommish ⛳  GOLF Free ⚡

Friends in fore,

This week's event (the Phoenix Open) is the first "elevated event" on our calendar. That means BIG purses.

The Phoenix Open champ takes home $3.6M, which is more than our first two events combined.

The path to Golf SZN glory is marked by timely picks in the biggest money events of the year. That includes the four majors, two playoffs events (our final two weeks), and elevated events like the Phoenix Open.

Now, let's talk about the winners at Pebble - Justin Rose and, yes, Aaron Rodgers.

 

WEEK 4 PICKS (Phoenix Open)

 

Everyone knows that nothing tests a golf swing like a pressure-packed final round.

Given the extreme winds at Pebble, they canceled the Pro-Am's final round. So, naturally, one of the best "good when it doesn't matter and not good when it does" athletes of all time finally got his golf title.

Put it on your mantle next to all the NFC North titles followed by brutal playoff losses, Aaron Rodgers!

COMMISH IS NOT A BITTER PACKERS FAN HE SWEARS.

The winds disrupted the actual tournament, too - they moved most of the 3rd round to Sunday morning - which, combined with a field sorely lacking star power, made this a tough tourney to follow.

Alas, Justin Rose finally ended a 4-year title drought by pulling away from the field over the final two rounds.

It all felt vintage Rose - excellent ball-striking, minimal mistakes, and making pressure-packed final rounds look quite pedestrian.

Commish wonders if Rose is the next Paul Casey - ageless Englishman who is somehow ALWAYS hanging around the top of leaderboard well into his 40s.

The 44 of us who took Rose in YEYPO were handsomely rewarded.

AND REMEMBER, if you've had a blah start or are just joining us, these are facts:

  • 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 and/or face mid-tourney W/Ds. It's no big deal!
  • What matters most is wins and top 5 finishes.

ONE brave soul - @Bubba_Baby - has gone back-to-back-to-back to start the year. Incredible. But three tournaments does not a year make. Still 27 to go!

 

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 3 RECAP

YEYPO

Golfer Performance | Weekly Performance | Overall Standings | Golden Spreadsheet

It was Rose or bust. Rose was our 9th biggest pick, but had just 2.7% of all picks. And the top of our pick board did NOT do well. Spieth (376 picks) brought in just $19,620. Maverick McNealy (283 picks) withdrew but was tracking to miss the cut, anyway. Hovland's $182K (181 picks) was our best result in our top 8 picks. Altogether, we averaged $100,269 per pick - one of the worst performances in Golf SZN history.

Unless you are a BIG golf fan, it's very unlikely you knew most of the guys who were in contention. Behind Rose, this was the final leaderboard: Brendon Todd (3 picks), Brandon Wu (0), Denny McCarthy (13), Keith Mitchell (22), Peter Malnati (0), Taylor Pendrith (3), Chun-An Yu (0), Ryan Moore (0), Joseph Bramlett (2).

Skin? Nope. Malnati held the lead at one point but wasn't picked by any of us. Joseph Bramlett (2 picks, T7) was the highest skin oppo finisher.

Biggest shank: It felt like we all KNEW this was coming. So many of the picks on Maverick McNealy were - direct or indirect - versions of "can I really trust this guy?" And I'm not sure we can ever trust him again. Last year, with the Pebble field noticably weaker, people looked at Mav's record at Pebble and were like "this is the clear breakout candidate". He finished T33. But we kept the same narrative this year. The result? A W/D that would have been a cut, anyway.

 

Big John

Golfer Performance | Weekly Performance | Alive Players | Golden Spreadsheet

Bad, but not as bad as YEYPO. Spieth (200 picks) barely made the cut, but he still made it. Mav (162) did not, and neither did Matty FitzTestTubeGolfer (82) nor Andrew Putnam (57). In total, 656 of us are on to Week 4.

 

Team SZN Performance

We all made the cut in YEYPO but none of us did any damage. Commish is still hanging around at 59th overall.

Reminder: Team SZN plays along for fun and bragging rights but can't win any money.

 

Yours in metal stick swinging,
The Commish

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