Friends in fore,

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Friends in fore,

Kevin Kisner is the Match Play king. Just look at his record at the last six WGC Match Play events: 2nd, T18, 1st, 2nd, T17, T38.

Dude has made the championship round in THREE of the last four events.

But - and this is a big but - he's playing HORRIBLY right now. His last six finishes: CUT, 75th, CUT, CUT, CUT, T34.

So, did we pick him?

 

VALSPAR CHAMPIONSHIP PICKS

• YEYPO
  • Summary | Weekly Standings | Golden Spreadsheet
• Big John
  • Bye Week (no cuts in this event)
• Your group picks (get in a group with friends!)

 

Kisner was our fifth most picked golfer, but got just 4.9% of our picks.

Commish thinks he'd have gotten 20%+ if he wasn't missing cuts left and right of late.

Kisner also drew a brutal group, with recent Masters winner, Hideki Matsuyama, and one of the world's hottest golfers in Max Homa.

So, we instead bet on fresh blood in Tyrell Hatton, the hilarious and often ornery Englishman.

Hatton is just the 21st best golfer in the field by World Rank, but we like his WGC history (three top 10s in the last four years) and his recent form (three top 6 finishes in his last four events).

Hatton opened by running into an unexpected buzzsaw in Ben Griffin, who had five birdies and no bogeys in their round 1 match.

Can Hatton pull it around? Can Kisner escape the Group of Death? We're about to find out.

 

PICK STATS

 

YEYPO One-And-Done

• We picked 53 of the 64 golfers in the field
• Commish is impressed with our range
• To have only four golfers above the 5% mark is very rare. Those guys: Hatton, Scheff, Cantlay, and Hovland
• Relatedly, we had a whopping 17 guys between a 1% and 5% pick rate
• And yet, we have just 11 skin opportunities - tied with The Players Championship for lowest skin oppo total this SZN
• Full skin opportunities (1 pick): Adam Hadwin, Cam Davis, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Davis Riley, Denny McCarthy, K.H. Lee, Kurt Kitayama, Mackenzie Hughes, Maverick McNealy
• Half skin oppos (2 picks): Ben Griffin, Sepp Straka
• Had Cam Young been paired with Mav McNealy in Round 1, Cam would have won 10&8, which is the biggest possible blowout in a matchplay match (it means one guy won ALL 10 of the first 10 holes)
• The best (worst?) WGC blowout in history was Tiger's 9&8 win over Stephen Ames. Which means Tiger only (only!) won 9 of the first 10 holes

 

Big John Survivor

• Bye week! WGC Match Play is a no-cut event
• Our 218 survivors will pick again next week, which is ALSO the start of Survivor #2 (join us!)

 

WEEKLY AWARDS

 

The 1-iron Moxie Award
Boldest pick. You can't win a SZN competition without a little Moxie!

@kbanaian (Min Woo Lee): "Time for some real spelunking for skins. Can I change my username to @spelunkingforskins? I imagine @dumpsterdiving has already been taken."
Commish says: Just checked and shockingly both are still open. Hurry up and claim @dumpsterdiving before Golf SZN skin savant @Merf takes it.

 

John Daly's Pants Award
Our best weekly comment (or three), because John Daly's pants always win

@HaveYouCheckedYourButthole (Scottie Scheffler): "Well here we are… while I know the suspense has been killing everyone for weeks, we have reached the 2nd most punchable face on tour. Which I know will come as a disappointment to him, given he only settles for number 1. This week I’m blowing my wad with World #1 and punchable face #2, Scottie Scheffler. He’s and adult male that still goes by Scottie in public, and not just to his close friends. He also has the personality of a silent fart, it’s not audibly offensive, but once you get a whiff of his personality (or lack there of) you want to vomit. So let’s redeem yourself and bring this guy a desperate win."
Commish says: Justin Thomas at #3. Scottie Scheffler at #2. WHO IS #1?!? We might need to get a poll up on the site to gauge public perception. NAY. We should do an entire pool for this. (But wait, is it obvious? Should Commish just KNOW who #1 is?) The suspense will kill me.

 

"Bryson Approves This Pick" Award
Most convincing comment (There's logic, and then there's Bryson-level logic)

@hockey3430 (Tyrrell Hatton): "Listen, Ty Hatton is on a heater. That 29 on the back 9 at THE PLAYERS is as sure as Shohei Ohtani in the 9th inning against Mike Trout. We mix sports analogies in this house. Ty Hatton also has balls (and vitamins) and competes his vitamins off because he has the heart of a lion. Assuming that we all ignore his 0-2 singles record at the Ryder Cup, the final PGA Match Play bracket (for now) will be conquered by the salty Brit. This might be the muscle relaxers talking but Hatton is going to Austin Tejas for victory and victory alone. Long live the Queen!"
Commish says: HOW MANY ANALOGIES, ALLUSIONS, AND ALLEGORIES CAN WE CRAM INTO ONE PICK COMMENT?!? (Also, both a direct AND indirect balls reference. Your potential knows no bounds, @hockey3430.)

 

Spieth's 89-degree Lob Wedge
The spiciest/wildest take (like Spieth's wild short game)

@GreenBowbPackers (Victor Perez): "I’m in Paris, France as I make this pick. Who else is from France? Victor Perez. He of a 4th place finish here in 2021 (side note: how very French of him to lay down in the 3rd place match). To get out of his group, all he has to do is beat Collin “can’t putt” Morikawa, Jason “my back is more fragile than Macron’s government / Credit Suisse’s balance sheet” Day, and Adam “never played here before” Svensson. I refuse to overthink this!"
Commish says:  Do they sell Bud Light Wine in France? Is it green? Yes, I'll be here all week.

 

 

MORE COMMENTS

@suckitspanos (Scottie Scheffler): "It’s real simple. You don’t pass on Smokey brisket from Franklins BBQ or Scottie Scheffler when he’s playing in Austin. Hey Commish, get me 2 combo brisket plates and put me down for $3.5M with the Scottie win."
Commish says: Imagine if Scheff won and bought $3.5M of combo brisket plates from Franklins BBQ. Does he become America's most popular athlete, despite nearly topping the punchable face rankings?

 

@MOPEY_MILLER83E (Sungjae Im): "There once was a man named Im
Don't confuse him with smaller Tom Kim
He plays every week
He is an absolute freak
And this week he absolutely will win"
Commish says: I have this strong sensation that Sungjae would LOVE this. Like, show up to the tourney, put this shit on a giant scroll, and recite it to Sungjae, absolute freak, indefatiguable golfer, future WGC Champ.

 

@Lambda_derg (Scottie Scheffler): "Picking scheffler the most boring dude in the world if he didnt golf just to feel something this week. golf is a weird sport."
Commish says: If Scheff needs more motivation, someone can just forward him our weekly emails.

 

@Jevans4 (Patrick Cantlay): "I wanted to take the best match play golfer ever in Kis, but his group is too strong. Time to pick off the other greats in recent history. Toss up between him and “X gonna give it to yuh”"
Commish says: How many golfers on tour do you think know what "X gonna give it to yuh" is in reference to, and do you think you have more fingers than that number?

 

@Ickey_Woods_Shuffle (Jordan Spieth): "Watching every motion in my foolish golfer's game
On this endless ocean, finally golfers know no shame
Touring and returning to some Austin CC for a pay day
Watching in slow motion as you drive and putt away
Take the match play
Take the match play
Don't leave me Spieth-less, Jordan!"
Commish says: Why do I feel like this comment is the closest thing to your real-life persona, Ickey? Like, you sing this song (with your own lyrics) at bars... walking the streets of major cities... at stop lights. Don't tell me I'm wrong because I know I'm right.

 

@Birch18 (Kevin Kisner): "Kisner is the biggest dickhead in the game so should do well in match play."
Commish says: BUT WHERE IS HE IN THE PUNCHABLE FACE RANKINGS?

 

@NEELERSBTB1 (Max Homa): "Show me the way to go Homa! I'm tired and I wanna win a golf week!!!"
Commish says: Fun fact, Stat Czar tells us his dad has never once watched Jaws without singing along to that part.

 

@Awuwert (Tyrrell Hatton): "This bracket game gets me f***ed Jonas much as the dance. Take the upset? Or go chalk?? Mild upset for the win! C’mon wee-man. Get me a W."
Commish says: Wee-man? I take back what I said about Scheffler. Send EVERY GOLFER our weekly emails and watch them all destroy scoring records that week!

 

@StatCzar (Tyrrell Hatton): "Merf! Your picks are terrible and you should feel bad about them and yourself! Commish, I’m just biding my time to chip away at your lead and bring this type of trash talk to you! And judging by last week’s performance, I won’t have to wait long."
Commish says: WATCH ME RISE AND WEEP, STATBOY. SEE YOU NEVER.

 

@Henpen77 (Brian Harman): "My pick is going to lose soooooo hard this week."
Commish says: They say confidence is a stain you can't wipe off. But pessimistic picks are a tattoo on the soul.

 

@Moondogs (Sahith Theegala): "I guarantee that this is my pick this week!"
Commish says: How many weeks away are we from you handing off the picking responsibilities to your daughters?

 

@mahatma19 (Adam Hadwin): "I don't even understand how to pick someone for a match-play thing so I'll pick a guy that has the word "win" in his name and cross my fingers..."
Commish says: Yeah but his name also rhymes with Badwin. WHAT NOW, MAHATMA? (I know that was bad. I'll do better next week. Or, you know, not.

 

 

Yours in metal stick swinging,
The Commish