This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.
The PGA Tour stays in Texas this week for the Byron Nelson. Side note: Tiger Woods isn't here this week, but this is the event where his epic cut streak ended, a streak that will probably never be duplicated ever again. Here's our stats preview:
History Lesson
The defending champion is Brendon Todd, who beat Mike Weir by two shots. In 2013, Sang-Moon Bae defeated Keegan Bradley by two, and in 2012 Jason Dufner won over Dicky Pride by one shot.
None really standout at the moment, so we don't have any recommendations strictly from here, but if you are going to pick someone, Todd or Bradley are solid picks.
Who is Playing
Jordan Spieth, who finished second last week at Colonial, is clearly the biggest name, with Jason Day (WD-dizziness), Patrick Rodgers, Harris English, Tony Finau, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan and Brandt Snedeker.
Our picks this week are Spieth, Thomas and Snedeker.
Spieth finished second last week, one shot out of a playoff, at Colonial, and even with a rough Friday still finished fifth in strokes gained-tee to green and 34th in strokes gained-putting.
The best player in golf in 2015 keeps bringing it week after week.
Snedeker also finished second and one shot behind Chris Kirk. Snedeker, who won at Pebble Beach earlier this season, ended the week 16th in strokes gained-tee to green, 12th in strokes gained-putting and T8 in birdies. He also had no double bogeys or
The PGA Tour stays in Texas this week for the Byron Nelson. Side note: Tiger Woods isn't here this week, but this is the event where his epic cut streak ended, a streak that will probably never be duplicated ever again. Here's our stats preview:
History Lesson
The defending champion is Brendon Todd, who beat Mike Weir by two shots. In 2013, Sang-Moon Bae defeated Keegan Bradley by two, and in 2012 Jason Dufner won over Dicky Pride by one shot.
None really standout at the moment, so we don't have any recommendations strictly from here, but if you are going to pick someone, Todd or Bradley are solid picks.
Who is Playing
Jordan Spieth, who finished second last week at Colonial, is clearly the biggest name, with Jason Day (WD-dizziness), Patrick Rodgers, Harris English, Tony Finau, Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan and Brandt Snedeker.
Our picks this week are Spieth, Thomas and Snedeker.
Spieth finished second last week, one shot out of a playoff, at Colonial, and even with a rough Friday still finished fifth in strokes gained-tee to green and 34th in strokes gained-putting.
The best player in golf in 2015 keeps bringing it week after week.
Snedeker also finished second and one shot behind Chris Kirk. Snedeker, who won at Pebble Beach earlier this season, ended the week 16th in strokes gained-tee to green, 12th in strokes gained-putting and T8 in birdies. He also had no double bogeys or worse, something that helped him greatly around time-tested Colonial (and hurt Spieth).
Thomas, who will be paired with his close friend Spieth and big-hitting Koepka for the first two rounds, has had a tremendous 2014-2015 season, collecting five top-10s and 10 top-25s in 19 starts, importantly making 14 cuts. We've written a lot about him statistically before (the long drives, birdie average, ability to go low, etc), but we love his overall consistency: fourth in all-around ranking, third in total driving efficiency, first for his rate of getting birdie or better when going for the green and 10th in putts from 4-8 feet. Solid stuff.
Sunday Surgers
These are players who played well Sunday at Colonial who could help your fantasy team this week at the Nelson:
John Huh, +23 spots – A Sunday 64 that gained five strokes on the field, over three of them on the greens.
Luke Guthrie, +14 spots – A final-round 67 that was flashy but erratic: a first nine 38 followed by a second nine 29!
Scott Langley, +14 spots – A Sunday 67 that featured a solid (but not as impressive as Guthrie) front nine 31. Guthrie's gain of two shots on the field came mostly from tee to green.
