Bill Haas is the favorite this week among a fairly weak field of golfers in the Greenbrier Classic. With the British Open just two weeks off (and the intervening John Deere Classic likely to draw an even weaker field than the Greenbrier), none of the top 10 in the Hawley Ratings are visiting West Virginia this week, and only three of the top 20 (Haas, Phil Mickelson, and Patrick Reed) were in the early entries list. Looking at the top 50 ranked players adds only nine more names.

Haas is playing fairly well of late, having been in the top 40 at the Masters and fifth in the U.S. Open. In other appearances over the last two months, he missed three straight cuts before posting two top-15 finishes (Dean & Deluca and then last week in the National) and one in the top 25. He gets only a slight nod over several other logical contenders, including Charles Howell, loser in the National playoff on Sunday; Kevin Kisner, back-to-back winnerof the Dean & Deluca and then top-10 finisher in the Memorial; David Lingmerth, who led through the first two rounds of the National; Mickelson; and Webb Simpson, owner of top-10 finishes in two of his last four events (Dean & Deluca and Travelers) and of the best overall record among all players in the six occurrences of this event.

The Greenbrier was not played in 2016 due to weather damage to the course.