Friends in fore,
We know the top two guys on our board - Sungjae and Lowry - but beyond that it gets wild.
Denny McCarthy as a top 5 pick? Jhonny Vegas getting 30+ picks? 29 skin opportunities?!
GIVE US THE HONDA CLASSIC!
HONDA CLASSIC PICKS
- YEYPO
- Big John
- Your group picks (get in a group with friends!)
Sungjae and Lowry getting 41% of our picks is the most ever for our top 2. But then we had 58 (!) more golfers comprise our remaining picks.
Neither Sungjae nor Lowry are world-beaters (at least not yet), but they're clearly the two best golfers in the field when you look at World Rank and current form. So if you wanted chalk, it was a pretty easy decision to make.
But if you looked at the golfer list and thought "It's still WAY more likely that someone else wins" (this is correct) and then looked in your fridge and saw a glistening electric green can of courage... you had a LOT of fun options to choose from.
Does "fun option" mean you actually know the guy? No. Does it mean you could identify him if you were shown a photo? Absolutely not.
But it allows you to dream. And it allows you to say, when Joseph Bramlett or Pierceson Coody or Adam Schenk win this thing, I PICKED THAT GUY WHEN HE WON.
Those are all real names, by the way. Real names of real professional golfers at or near the top of the Honda Classic leaderboard.
Oh, you want more?
Stephan Jaeger bagged 3 picks. Austin Eckroat got 2. Adrian Meronk got one, as did guys named Garrick, Grayson, Dylan, Harry, and Davis.
Has the Honda Classic drinking game been invented yet? No? WHO WANTS TO MAKE SOME MONEY WITH ME?
PICK STATS
YEYPO One And Done
- By World Rank, Sungjae is the best golfer in the field, and Lowry is the third best.
- Second best is Billy Horschel, who was just our 7th most picked guy. We didn't like his recent form.
- Given we had 41% of our picks on #1 and #3, we limped to a 3.6/10 pick boldness score - second lowest of this Golf SZN.
- Full skin opportunities (1 pick): Adam Long, Adam Schenk, Adrian Meronk, Anders Albertson, Andrew Novak, Ben Taylor, Charley Hoffman, Davis Riley, Dylan Frittelli, Eric Cole, Garrick Higgo, Greyson Sigg, Harry Higgs, J.B. Holmes, Mark Hubbard, Nick Hardy, Robby Shelton, Russell Knox, Ryan Palmer, Sam Stevens, S.H. Kim, Tano Goya, Zach Johnson,
- Half skin oppos (2 picks): Austin Eckroat, Brandon Wu, Dylan Wu, Kevin Tway, Matthias Schwab, Will Gordon,
- Davis Riley (full skin oppo) is the 13th best golfer in the field by World Rank. Value!
Big John Survivor
- We were even heavier on Sungjae and Lowry in Survivor, to the tune of 52% of our picks on one of those guys.
- That's easily a Golf SZN record.
- We also picked just 26 golfers, which is also a Golf SZN record in the other direction.
- It illuminates a point that now feels obvious in retrospect: Weaker fields will lead to MORE variance in YEYPO while leading to LESS variance in Survivor.
- Shout-out to our lone picker on Zach Johnson, who, at 343rd in the world, is our lowest ranked Survivor pick ever.
- 157 of us (34% of those alive in Survivor) took the same golfer in both competitions. This is higher than normal, again owing to the weak field. A bunch of people took Sungjae or Lowry in both competitions.
WEEKLY AWARDS
The 1-iron Moxie Award
Boldest pick. You can't win a SZN competition without a little Moxie!
@BigFurryWookiee (Kevin Tway, YEYPO): "This is the definition of a long shot, but there's no Tway I'm winning anything except a skin this SZN so LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!"
Commish says: NO TWAY. The rare instance of a predicted skin opportunity actually being a skin opportunity!
John Daly's Pants Award
Our best weekly comment (or three), because John Daly's pants always win
@GreenBowbPackers (J.T. Poston, YEYPO): "When it comes to a tournament like this where the field is a crapshoot and half the names you’re looking at are veterans of the Korn Ferry, Euro Tour, or total unknowns, you need someone who will deliver. Someone who has won before, preferably in the past year. Someone on the younger side who has the brash confidence to confront this beast of a course. Someone who gains strokes both off the tee and on approach. This week, there's only 1 man for the job. JT. And while Justin Thomas would probably be +250 odds if he was in this tournament, I'm talking about the other "JT". The Postman who DOES deliver on Sundays (and doesn't impregnate 13 year old girls like that sicko Karl Malone with the same nickname). James Tyree Poston. See you in the winners circle in 4 days, pal."
Commish says: RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU SAW KARL MALONE SHADE COMING IN THE GOLF SZN COMMENT SECTION
"Bryson Approves This Pick" Award
Most convincing comment (There's logic, and then there's Bryson-level logic)
@mahatma19 (Danny Willett, Survivor): "A quick appreciation comment for John Rahm, Justin Rose and even Si Woo Kim: all tourney winners in 2023 that grew up with the metric system, I assume. It's one thing to be good at a thing where hitting a ball a specific distance is vitally important, but to be able to do it in a second language that makes way less sense? Incredible. It's like learning typewriter repair in 2010. Oh, you hit your 8-iron 145 meters? I don't know what that means. I mean, water freezes at 32 degrees here so.... I'm going to be rooting for Danny in about 1/3 of a fortnight. "
Commish says: Odds that Bryson DeChambeau asks his caddy for every yardage reading in both yards and meters? HIGH VERY HIGH.
Spieth's 89-degree Lob Wedge
The spiciest/wildest take (like Spieth's wild short game)
@BadHawks (Justin Suh, YEYPO): "As a Packers' fan, the name "Suh" conjures up bad memories of my boy Aaron Rodgers' ankle being stepped on by the behemoth Ndamukong back in the day. Maybe Justin will exorcise some of those demons with a victory this week."
Commish says: Do you think Justin prepared for this by spending the 3 days in between tournaments immersed in complete darkness contemplating how he can attack the course as ferociously as Ndamukong Suh attacks defenses and whether or not he'd like to be the quarterback of an NFL team in 2023???
MORE COMMENTS
@HaveYouCheckedYourButthole (Shane Lowry, Surivor): "So, @TheCommish, you ask who 1 and 2 are on the punchable face list, well what I will tell you is my pick this week in both is on the opposite of the punchable face spectrum. Going double Lowry this week. He has the face of a lucky leprechaun that you know pounds Guinness, and the dad bod to match. Let’s roll big guy!!!"
Commish says: But are we sure he isn't actually a lucky leprechaun who pounds Guinness?
@MONSTERXXX (Sungjae Im, YEYPO): "I am inspired by a black eyed peas song this week gents and here we go , IM Gonna Be , IM Gonna Be , IM Gonna Be , IM Gonna Be Winning WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!"
Commish says: MONSTER. You know how to type out full sentences! I feel like everything I've ever known has been a lie. I imagined you going around in life saying nothing but "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!, like Hodor in Game of Thrones.
@Awuwert (Byeong Hun An, YEYPO): "Well definitely not a ELEVATED event, cause this field is slim pickens. There are more guys without pictures next to their name that guys who’ve made a cut here. I think you should just put the LIV guys pictures on the shadows!"
Commish says: Next week's purse at the Arnold Palmer is slightly bigger than this one and likely to draw some bigger names. Can you imagine if they started making their marketing something like, The Arnold Palmer Invitational: Our Guys Have Pictures Next to Their Names!
@Eannarelli (Denny McCarthy, YEYPO): "I didn't pick him, but I saw a guy named Callum Tarren on here."
Commish says: And he had a picture!!!
@kbanaian (Adam Svensson, Survivor): "Everything about those last 7 weeks screams Run Away! Run Away? Yet someone in Vegas is dropping big bucks on Svensson, who seems like he should be from Manitoba rather than ritzy vanCOOver burb. We’ll follow the money."
Commish says: I believe it was Enrique Iglesias who once sang, "You can run, you can hide, but you can't escape Adam Svensson!
@Mcheavens13 (Pierceson Coody, YEYPO): "After back to back weeks picking the 2nd place finisher a week too early, why not throw a hail mary. Congrats on your 2nd place finish next week Coody."
Commish says: This is like some monkey's paw tragically gifted skill. Please keep us up to date on how the Silver Selections progess
@yjcc (Matt Kuchar, YEYPO): "I'm not afraid to make bold picks for less than sane reasons. This week, my money's on the George Bluth chicken, Matt Kukukuchaar kukukuchaaaar"
Commish says:I think we just found your epitaph for when you leave this earthly domain many years from now. @yjcc "He was not afraid to make bold picks for less than sane reasons"
@Henpen77 (Shane Lowry, YEYPO): "I feel it deep down in my plums!"
Commish says: I've said it once, I'll say it a million times. You can't ignore the picks you feel in your plums people!
@RecDaddy (Sungjae Im, YEYPO): "Im better do it or I’m in TROUBLE
Commish says: TROUBLE WITH WHO? THE LAW? YOUR MOTHER? GRANDMA'S FRIEND DORIS WHO IS ALSO IN YEYPO AND CURRENTLY CRUSHING YOUR ASS?
@NEELERSBTB1 (Byeong Hun An, YEYPO): "It's beyond me why I made this pick!!!"
Commish says: Do u like N*SYNC, Neelers? They have this song that starts with Bye... I'm gonna stop.
@StatCzar (Sepp Straka, YEYPO): "On my quest to take all top 30 golfers I’m selecting number 30 himself!"
Commish says: One day ESPN will make a 30 for 30 on Stat Czar's quest to go 30 for 30.
@Ickey_Woods_Shuffle (Charley Hoffman, YEYPO): "No one reads these anyway..."
Commish says: YOU WANNA BET ICKEY?
@Jevans4 (Sungjae Im, Survivor): "Hurricane Im is coming"
Commish says: DO YOU FEEL IT DOWN IN YOUR PLUMS????
@kmorris14 (Shane Lowry, Survivor): "Get me a guinness"
Commish says: LOWRY DRINKS BUD LIGHT LIME
Yours in metal stick swinging,
The Commish