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Houston Open: Initial Picks
Brand new course so we will not have any course history to utilize. Much like the Zozo we’ve got five par 3’s and five par 5’s so you’ll want golfers who can take advantage of the Par 5’s. With that said, make sure you roster guys that are good on APP (and who are particularly good with their long irons as that will be a factor on some of the long Par 4’s and Par 3’s) as the winner of this tournament will need to be precise with his second shot and not get caught up ARG. Tune in tonight (Tuesday night) at 8:00 EST for the PGA Livestream and make sure you subscribe to the podcast and our YouTube page. See you tonight. Here are my Houston Open: Initial Picks.
Tyrrell Hatton (10300) – Looking for great ball strikers who can get red hot on any given day. Sure, the other guys in this elite range fit that mold, but a few of them may be looking ahead to the Masters and I don’t think Hatton has that mentality.
Viktor Hovland (9800) – I’m a Hovlang guy for sure, but my bias aside, you can’t deny his iron and T2G game. My hope is that Hovland doesn’t need to worry about ARG because his APP shots are on point. It’s looking like Hovland will be relatively low owned in this range.
Doc Redman (8800) – A great ball striker who flashed last week with a 4th place finish. He’s a great ball striker and he’s in good form which is a good enough recipe to have Doc on your roster. Doc’s ARG game has not been good so you’re really looking for him to be great with the ball striking which he has proven he can do.
Cameron Davis (8100) – May be a popular guy at this price as he can hit it a long way and hopefully take advantage of the five par 5’s. Add to that he’s made seven cuts in a row and you have a guy with a good floor and plenty of upside.
James Hahn (8000) – Has played in three tournaments since September and his finishes in those tournaments are 5th, 6th and 9th (Safeway, Puntacana, Shriners). I’m not a Hahn guy but I can’t ignore this recent form. With the exception of the Workday, Hahn’s ball striking has been fantastic and he’s shown the ability to flash with the putter (full disclosure Hahn missed 6 of 7 cuts immediately prior to his recent incredible Top 10 streak).
Stewart Cink (8000) – His lack of length isn’t ideal, but he’s been excellent on the Par 3’s and there are five of them here. I think his ball striking should be good enough to fare well on the rest of the holes. Add to it he has his son back on the bag and that seemed to be a difference making factor last week.
Denny McCarthy (7900) – Coming off a 4th place finish last week and has been very impressive since the summer. He’s made 9 of his last 10 cuts with three top 10 finishes in that span. He also happens to be an excellent putter and it doesn’t appear like the regression is coming with the flat stick.
Adam Schenk (7100) – The guy just refuses to miss the cut (jinx?). I think it’s 10 cuts in a row at this point. The problem is that he doesn’t seem to ever finish in the Top 20. Perhaps a conservative play here, but I can’t ignore his ability to play four days.
Scott Stallings (6900) – Been in decent form as of late and that includes a 26th place finish last week and a 6th place at the Sanderson (in between those two he missed the cut at the Shriners). He’s been great on APP thus far this year. His short game needs some work but good value here.
Austin Cook (6900) – Flashed last time we saw him play at the Shriners where he lost in a playoff. He’s been inconsistent with the ball striking but you’re going to get that in this range. He’s made 8 out of 9 cuts.
Carlos Ortiz (6700) – When Ortiz is great with the ball striking he’s terrible with the putter. And when he’s great with the putter, he’s terrible with the ball striking (last time out at the Zozo he gained over six strokes on APP but lost almost six strokes putting). The guy hasn’t put it together but you’d think it’ll all come around at some point. This is a punt play for sure, but has some upside.
Secret Weapon (sub 7k/less than 5% owned) – stay tuned and see you in the Win Daily Discord channel.
See everyone tonight and make sure you jump into Discord!
