This article is part of our Weekly PGA Preview series.
There are any number of traits that draw the casual or even avid golf fan to a specific golfer. The golfer's game is generally at the top of that list, while other traits such as personality, presence, swagger and appearance are other reasons a golf fan might choose to follow one golfer more closely than the others.
Rickie Fowler is a fine golfer, but he's never been in the conversation as the best golfer in the world, yet he's a huge draw. He's the perfect example of a golfer who relies heavily on attributes outside of his game to draw fans his way. Jordan Spieth has the game along with some other intangibles that make him one of the fan favorites on the PGA Tour. Tiger Woods had plenty of game, obviously, but without his presence, he wouldn't have changed the entire sport the way he did. These are all high-level examples of golfers who have played at a high level for a long time and have parlayed that into a huge following ... and then there's Justin Rose.
For whatever the reason, Justin Rose has never moved the needle in this country, even though he's not necessarily lacking the ancillary components of a popular golfer. Rose's issue has been that his game, personality, presence, swagger and appearance all seem to be in perfect harmony. No one aspect sets him apart too much and in a sport where it's often difficult to separate from the crowd, that can be an
There are any number of traits that draw the casual or even avid golf fan to a specific golfer. The golfer's game is generally at the top of that list, while other traits such as personality, presence, swagger and appearance are other reasons a golf fan might choose to follow one golfer more closely than the others.
Rickie Fowler is a fine golfer, but he's never been in the conversation as the best golfer in the world, yet he's a huge draw. He's the perfect example of a golfer who relies heavily on attributes outside of his game to draw fans his way. Jordan Spieth has the game along with some other intangibles that make him one of the fan favorites on the PGA Tour. Tiger Woods had plenty of game, obviously, but without his presence, he wouldn't have changed the entire sport the way he did. These are all high-level examples of golfers who have played at a high level for a long time and have parlayed that into a huge following ... and then there's Justin Rose.
For whatever the reason, Justin Rose has never moved the needle in this country, even though he's not necessarily lacking the ancillary components of a popular golfer. Rose's issue has been that his game, personality, presence, swagger and appearance all seem to be in perfect harmony. No one aspect sets him apart too much and in a sport where it's often difficult to separate from the crowd, that can be an issue. For Rose, however, there's no need to even worry about anything other than his game at this point in his career. Rose has established himself as one of the better golfers of his generation, he's won a major and he's very popular in Europe. He'll never be the first guy selected in your major pool, he's not going to be on every other commercial during a golf telecast, but he's about as reliable as they come on the PGA Tour and in fantasy golf. And that's all that matters.
This week: Memorial Tournament - Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, Ohio
Last Year: Jason Dufner shot a final-round 65 on his way to a three-stroke victory over Anirban Lahiri and Rickie Fowler.
PLAYERS TO CONSIDER
Justin Rose
Rose has everything going for him this week, except of course, the law of averages. The law of averages would state that no golfer would win consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour, but as we all know, it's certainly possible. Rose could not have played much better on this way to crushing the field last week in Fort Worth and his track record at this event is among the best in the field. The only downside is that he'll be an extremely popular pick this week in one and done formats.
Bryson DeChambeau
There aren't a lot of golfers in the field with stellar track records at this event, which means we'll have to rely more on other factors, such as recent play. The boat may have sailed on DeChambeau as he's missed the top-30 in each of his past two events, but prior to that, he was on fire, with top-5s in three of his previous four starts. DeChambeau is on the verge of joining the upper echelon of golfers on the PGA Tour, but he needs to learn how to close. He'll get another chance to show what he has while in contention this week.
Rickie Fowler
Fowler has been extremely hit or miss here (what's new, he's hit or miss, everywhere), but I like the way he's trending coming into this week. He played well at the Masters last month, then fell back a bit over his next couple events, but he played well last week on his way to a top-15 and he has history or high finishes here. Fowler has two runner-up finishes at this event and while he also has a handful of missed cuts, I get the feeling we'll see the good Rickie this week.
Tiger Woods
Woods has by far the best track record of anyone in the field this week, but the problem is, he hasn't played well here since 2012. With that said, if he brings in his form from the weekend at The PLAYERS, then he's probably the favorite. The key this week, will be a quick start. If he can get near the lead prior to the back-nine on Sunday, he might just find the winner's circle again.
Emiliano Grillo
We learned a valuable lesson last week. Never take the guy who won the previous week, take the guy who played well, but didn't win. Grillo is that guy, but he's actually been playing well since the beginning of April. Grillo has three top-10s in his past six starts, which includes two top-5s.
PLAYERS TO AVOID
Jhonattan Vegas
It's been a strange few weeks for Vegas as he's had no trouble getting off to a good start, but once the first-round ends, his game disappears. Vegas opened with a 67 at The PLAYERS, but failed to crack 70 the rest of the week. He opened with a 64 last week and again failed to crack 70 the rest of the way. Something is obviously off in his game right now and considering he's never played well here, there's just no reason to take a chance on him this week.
Danny Lee
Crazy, right? Lee was on the "good" list last week, scored a top-15 and now he's back on the "bad" list? Such are the swings of Lee's game. He's good for a few weeks, bad for a couple months and then everything repeats. The problem for Lee this week is, he's never finished better than T49 at this event and quite honestly, his game is due for a downturn at any moment.
Lucas Glover
This has nothing to do with his off-course issues, well, okay, it has something to do with that, but there are more than enough purely golf-related reasons to exclude Glover from your lineup this week. Mainly, he won this event in 2007 and hasn't cracked the top-30 in any of his 10 starts since. Unless his off the course issues have a Bizarro effect on him, I can't imagine Glover improving upon his performances over the past decade this week.
Henrik Stenson
Stenson hasn't teed it up here since 2013, probably because he's never cracked the top-40 here. Stenson rarely finds himself on this list because he's so dangerous, but if his track record at this event is any indication, he won't be much of a threat this week.
Charley Hoffman
Hoffman turned an opening-round 63 into a T52 last week in Fort Worth. That result wasn't much of a surprise when you consider that he hasn't carded a single top-10 this calendar year. Hoffman has made the cut here in eight of nine starts, but he's only cracked the top-20 just one time at this event.
ONE AND DONE GOLFER
Last week: Aaron Wise (MC) - $0; Season - $5,535,239
This week: Emiliano Grillo - I can't lie, the Wise pick from last week is definitely affecting my choice this week. Rose looks like the best pick, but it's just so rare that anyone on the PGA Tour wins in consecutive starts. With that in mind, I'm going to go with one of the hottest golfers on the PGA Tour right now and strike while Grillo is hot.
PGATOUR.COM PICKS
This Week:
Starters: Justin Rose, Emiliano Grillo, Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar
Bench: Rickie Fowler, Bryson DeChambeau
SURVIVOR PICK
Last week: Kevin Na - (T4); Streak - 3
This week: Matt Kuchar - I'm not as high on Kuchar in one and done formats right now because I think he's running out of gas on the weekends this year, but when it comes to making the cut, I have no issues using Kuchar in a spot like this. Kuchar has made 11 of 12 cuts at this event and he's missed just one cut in 16 starts this season.
