Weekly PGA Recap: Steele Repeats in Opener

In 2016, Brendan Steele won the season-opening Safeway Open and went on to have by far his best season. He was followed on the leaderboard by, in order, Patton Kizzire, Paul Casey, Michael Kim, Scott Piercy, Johnson Wagner and Kevin Na. Only one, Casey, had a good season.

So what to make of the first golf tournament of 2017-18? Well, Steele won again, which tells us he really, really enjoys the Silverado North Course. After that, as we can see above, it's impossible to draw any conclusions, except to say that it's hard to expect the results of any golf tournament to greatly impact future events.

For what it's worth, Steele this time was followed on the final leaderboard on Sunday by Tony Finau, Phil Mickelson, Chesson Hadley, Graham DeLaet, Tyler Duncan, Andrew Landry and Bud Cauley, some of whom we expand on below.

Getting back to a year ago for a moment – does anyone remember that two golfers now in the top 5 in the world, Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm, were also in the relatively weak field but were non-factors? Thomas tied for eighth and Rahm for 15th.

Less than seven weeks ago, Steele entered the playoffs at No. 16 in the points standings, almost a lock to advance to the 30-man Tour Championship. But he played so poorly in the first three playoff events – MC, T56, T44 – that he didn't make it to the fourth. (In fact, Steele had been playing poorly since July, missing more cuts than he didn't.)

But he turned around a mere three weeks after that season- and soul-crushing T44 at the BMW Championship to rise again. Steele was the steadiest golfer among the leaders on Sunday, as Finau (back-nine double bogey), Mickelson (bogey after an iron off the tee on 17) and Hadley (back-nine double bogey) committed decisive mistakes.

Steele proved to be a great fantasy option until the summer months hit, with three more top-10s, a boatload of top-10s and strong finishes in big tournaments. It's always hard to follow your best season with an even better one, especially since Steele will turn 35 in April.

The Safeway was just the beginning of our determinations of who will be the top golfers, the top fantasy golfers, of the coming season. We use last season as a guide, we use each ensuing tournament as a guide. But as last year's Safeway shows, that process is far from simple.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Tony Finau

Finau already has a PGA Tour win, at the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, so we can't call him a guy who never wins. But he sure is starting to look like those guys who can't win. With a top-notch tee-to-green game, Finau is often in the mix and surely could have won more than once in his 90-plus PGA Tour starts. No. 2 could've come at the Safeway, except that a disastrous double on the short par-4 14th torpedoed his chances. And that was even with an iron off the tee. Finau wound up alone in second two shots behind Steele. He was the top guy on the DraftKings board and largely delivered – in every way but one.

Phil Mickelson

On the one hand, we have to credit Mickelson for being so engaged a week after the emotional-filled Presidents Cup. On the other hand, with a chance to win for the first time in four years, he couldn't get it done on Sunday – and there were no Caseys, Thomases or Rahms to contend with. First, Mickelson bogeyed the second hole and then, still with a chance to win, bogeyed 17 to end his chances. Mickelson tied for third and afterward vowed that he would was playing well and would win again (frankly, Mickelson has often said he's playing well). But he doesn't play a ton of tournaments, and this was about as weak of a field as he'll be in all season. Mickelson of course can be plenty valuable in your lineup even without a win. But this was a missed chance.

Chesson Hadley

Hadley returned to the PGA Tour this season after emerging from the Web.com Tour with a lights-out final three months, a period that included two wins, a runner-up and a solo third. He continued his marvelous stretch with a T3 at the Safeway. It surely is possible that, at age 30, Hadley has found a new gear. After all, he was the Rookie of the Year in 2013-14, when he won his first PGA tournament. His game slowly fell apart thereafter, so we'll have to see a bit more of Hadley before declaring him "back."

Tyler Duncan

Heading into the week, Duncan had played in one career PGA Tour event – the U.S. Open three years ago. Heading into Sunday, the Web.com grad led the tournament. Duncan stumbled to a 3-over 75 that relegated him to T5, but it was still a terrific week for the 28-year-old rookie. Just don't expect it to happen again. It could, of course, but there are outliers every week on Tour, and little in Duncan's history suggests he will be become an impact golfer at this level. He was only a decent Web.com player, entering this season in the middle of the reshuffle pack.

Hunter Mahan

Mahan really has fallen on hard times, failing to keep his card, not even via the Web.com Tour Finals. And then he elected not to use a career-earnings exemption to retain full status. Quite a gamble. If the first week of the season is an indication, it was a good gamble, as Mahan tied for 13th, his best showing in more than two years. Top-5 players don't stay top-5 players forever, but Mahan's fall was especially rapid and steep. If he can regain even some of his past greatness, he could be a useful fantasy chip.

Scott Piercy

Piercy disappeared from the Tour after June, presumably with an injury but one that never was disclosed. He was back at the Safeway, where he tied for third a year ago. This time around, he tied for 17th, a very promising development. Piercy was never ranked anywhere near as high as Mahan was, but he too fell far and fast last season. Piercy's 2015-16 breakout season was probably an aberration, but when he's on he is capable of being a top-50 OWGR golfer.

Webb Simpson

Simpson had a strong finish to last season and extended his prosperity with a T17 at Silverado. That is especially encouraging for Simpson because he missed the cut there the two previous years. As we often noted, Simpson's putting got better and better as last season progressed. That's really been the only thing holding him back.

Emiliano Grillo

The 2015 Safeway champion was in contention until a Sunday 77 sent him plummeting down the leaderboard into a tie for 28th. But we view the week as a positive for the Argentine, especially coming a few days after the difficult Presidents Cup for the International team. Grillo used that 2015 Silverado win as a springboard to the Rookie of the Year, but then he followed that up with a poor season. Now with a little more experience, we could envision Grillo getting closer in form to his stellar rookie season.

Maverick McNealy

The decorated Stanford star with the name made for Hollywood tied for 52nd in his professional debut. The 21-year-old opened with a 68 before scoring worse each proceeding round. Still, it has to be viewed as a good pro debut. McNealy will have to get even better, though, as he played on a sponsor invite, and he's eligible for only six more of those.

Peter Uihlein

After securing his PGA Tour card with a win during the Web.com Tour Finals, Uihlein flamed out in his first event with full playing status, missing the cut. We can't read too much into one week, but Uihlein is surely someone gamers have their eyes on, with high expectations.

RotoWire Value Picks

This week: Winner (Steele), two top-10s, six top-25s, four missed cuts.

We opened this season the way we opened last season: With a Brendan Steele win. It was a little more expected this time around, though Steele was not among the highest-priced on the DraftKings board. Our Tier 1 choices included Zach Johnson (T13), Bill Haas (T17), Kevin Na (T37) and Keegan Bradley (MC). Steele headed Tier 2, followed by Chez Reavie (T13), Peter Uihlein (MC) and Harold Varner III (T59). In Tier 3, Luke List and Ricky Werenski (T37) led a disappointing group, followed by Chad Campbell (68) and Seamus Power (MC). Among the long shots, Grayson Murray (T9) delivered nicely, as did Ben Martin (T17), but Sung Kang (T62) and Sam Ryder (MC) did not.