Bryan Reynolds is on vacation for the next two weeks so I decided to write about golf for a couple weeks. Truth be told, I did not have much for Thursday so I went with it and I hope it turned out alright. I will return next week.
In golf, there are many people whom have to grind their way to the top. It is the beauty of golf and tennis because there are only a few cases where the golfer's ascent is very quick and easy. Jimmy Walker won the Nationwide Tour in 2004 essentially a sign that he could be ready for big times to come in the future as guys like Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson and Jerry Kelly had won before him. It did not happen for Walker as he went up and down for the next several years yet in late 2013, everything seemed to click for him.Walker has been a professional since 2001 and went without a PGA win until October of 2013 and now is a multiple winner as he took home the Sony Open with a closing round 63 giving him a one-stroke win over Chris Kirk. Walker's back-nine is what won him the tournament. He went five under in the final nine holes, and it vaulted him over Kirk who had the three-day lead. Walker is now eligible for all majors, World Golf Championships meaning he puts himself in the mix for a Ryder Cup spot. Now it is still way too early to talk like that yet it is always fun to see a golfer break through. Walker now earned victories in two of his last six starts which is a hell of a way to start the PGA season.
The PGA West Coast swing begins on Thursday with Humana Challenge which what used to be the Bob Hope event where golfers played five rounds of golf. People realized this sounded a bit nuts therefore it scaled back to a regular tournament out at PGA West in La Quinta, California. Brian Gay took home the title last year in a tournament where he and two other golfers broke the tournament four-round record. Basically if you enjoy guys going low like that Flo Rida song, this is your tournament.
It is hard to really peg whom will actually make birdies when out on the course so it is tough to make a prediction. I honestly do not know how Bryan does it each week, but we will throw out some names worth watching this weekend. The first one is Webb Simpson. He leads the PGA in scoring average thus far and second in Greens In Regulation. Also Simpson is in the top five in Par 4 and Par 5 birdies which is important with a Par 72 course. If Simpson stays with how his season has went thus far, he will probably be hunting another PGA trophy this weekend.
Let's stay with the theme of converted birdies because that's what it will take to win this tournament for a couple more picks... Rickie Fowler seems like a natural choice to take control of the course and win the tournament. He also does very well with coverting Par 5 birdies. Same goes for Keegan Bradley who tees off for the first time this season. For an international flavor, David Lingmerth made his name known here last year and I see no reason to believe he will not be near the top of the leaderboard this time around.
I feel like this is the calm before the storm. We have a tournament away before Tiger Woods makes his debut along with some others. This should be a good one to keep us at bay for another week.
Charlie.
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