You don’t have time to be 100% locked in every week to golf like I do.
Happy reading, and happy major week.
Does have a win at Valhalla when he broke Bob Mays heart in 2000.
His patience was surely tested during that stretch.
Then to bounce back the way I did, its just kind of how I roll.
His issue is hes been statistically one of the worst putters on tour this season.
Hasnt missed a cut this year and has seven top-25 finishes in 10 starts.
Hasnt played the majors well in his careerhes missed the weekend in seven of his last eight major starts.
No real success in PGA Championships nor U.S.
Opens to speak of.
Matthieu PavonAge: 31Data Golf Ranking: 54PGA Championship appearances:First
A proper late bloomer.
A very, very respectable T12 in his first Masters appearance.
Who knows how long this run will last, but hes soaking it in while it does.
Does he have the firepower to win a major championship right now?
Could he finish inside the top 10?
Its a temporary blip on what will be a tremendous career and hes still not 22 for another month.
Played professionally since 2010 but didnt win a tournament of note until 2017 on the DP World Tour.
Won back-to-back DP World Tour events in his native South Africa last winter, albeit against weaker-than-average fields.
Three top-30 finishes in his last five major starts.
He hits a ton of fairways.
All depends on the putter with him, but hes never hit it better in his life.
Competitive being the key word rather than contending.
First he sued the Tour to venture to play in the FedEx Cup.
Then he compared the atmosphere at LIVs first event to the Ryder Cup.
Then he said thered be an asterisk if Rory McIlroy completed the career Grand Slam at the Masters.
Under some pressure, then, to perform this week given how much hes talked.
Missed the cut in two of the three majors he played in last year.
So do the advanced stats as hes way up there at 12th in Data Golfs ranking.
Not a great track record in PGA Championships which tend to reward long and high-ball hitters.
Good, then, that he showed some form at Quail Hollow last week.
Hes not hitting many fairways, which gives me some pause heading into Valhalla.
Just one top-25 finish in his last nine major starts.
Thats a mouthful, but you know what I mean.
So-so showing in last five major championships.
(Did shoot -4 the final round).
Hes clearly not at his best right now.
34 in the world didnt.
But hes too easy going to get riled up about that, and theres a huge opportunity this week.
Hes played very well in majors, finishing T22 or better in three of the last four.
Ranks eighth in driving distance and ninth in strokes gained off the tee.
Plenty of firepower, and hopefully in better physical condition than he was at Augusta.
His iron play has been very poor this year but has improved in recent weeks.
Hell have juicy odds but there just havent been any top finishes this calendar year.
Flying under the radar, as so many LIV players seem to do.
Its the little things.
A T13 last week in Charlotte came at the right time, then.
His wife gave birth to their first son, Bearyep, Bearjust after the RBC Heritage.
Thats inexcusable for a player of his caliber and makes you wonder, why?
Does he hit it too low?
Is he putting too much pressure on himself?
Hell, hed even take a backdoor top 10.
Perhaps Niemanns up next.
Thought of primarily as a flusher but his short game statistics are terrific this year.
You don’t win the Masters and shoot 62 at Riviera without being a five-tool golfer.
Thats the bad news.
Had a hell of an amateur careerhe was the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Might not think of him as a bomber but he ranks fifth on tour in driving distance.
Hes all the way up to No.
3 in the world and any notion that last year mightve been a fluke has been summarily vanquished.
But that was then, and this is now.
His longtime looper, Ian Finnis, has been out with an extended illness that recently required open-heart surgery.
Wouldnt be the slightest surprise if his first PGA Tour victory was of the major variety.
Hed be a very, very popular winner.
And he was there all week long and hardly blinked.
Then started with Mark Blackburn and won his first start at the Zozo Championship.
Hes finished inside the top 10 in eight of 17 majors hes played in.
I like his chances.
Ludvig AbergAge: 24Data Golf Ranking: 3PGA Championship appearances: First
6.
A major championship has to be in his future.
Worth noting that hes played the other three majors far better than he has the PGA Championship.
What a difference a few years makes.
That, and his growing YouTube channel.
The latest: hes won each of the last two tournaments hes played in.
Sure, one of them was a team event and yes, Scottie Scheffler didnt play in the other.
Whether hes on the policy board or not matters little once he steps inside the ropes.
2 out of respect and respect only.
Thats the only reason hes no.
That was the status quo before Baby Scheffler, that is.
How will it impact Scottie?
We dont know, but its a variable.
And there were no variables really before this.
Thats why hes No.
The one tournament he did play against Scottie Scheffler, who has soared to clear-cut No.
1 status since Rahms departure, he finished T45 at the Masters and looked pretty miserable all week.
Could he be regretting his decision?
Is it possible he thought his move would precipitate the PGA Tour-PIF deal thats still nowhere near?
Or are we forgetting that Rahm wasnt exactly rainbows-and-lollipops before he left the PGA Tour?
Hell have some extra motivation this week, whether he admits it or not.
You dont want to put up two dud majors after making the move.
And last year at this time he was the Scottie Scheffler figure in the game.
