With the U.S. Open little more than a week away, we move into a phase of the season where the list of favorites is growing more formidable and longer each week. This week we have defending Open champion Brooks Koepka; this year’s most remarkable rookie, Joaquin Niemann; and 2016 Open champion and no. 1 player […]

Considering that he is the no. 1 player in the world (per the Hawley Ratings), this has been kind of a low-profile spring for Dustin Johnson. He hasn’t played more than twice in a month since September, and his appearance in this week’s Memorial Tournament will be only his second time out since mid-April. Clearly […]

The last time we dug into Jordan Spieth’s putting statistics for the current PGA Tour season was 11 weeks ago. Repeating, for the season ending with the 2017 Tour Championship, he ranked second on the PGA Tour in putts per green-in-regulation and 42nd in strokes gained putting. This season’s stats show him 126th in putts […]

In the huge-money Players Championship event, there is always the possibility – as everywhere on the Tour – that something really surprising will happen. For instance, think of the names Craig Perks (2002), Fred Funk (2005), and Si Woo Kim (2017). But the expected form holds fast more often than not, and the list of […]

The PGA Tour has three events in Texas in an annual calendar of around 40 or 41 events. That works out to about 7.5% of the Tour being played in Texas. Just for a second, remember that number, 7.5%. Charley Hoffman has lifetime earnings of about $25.9 million. Of that, he has earned just short […]

RBC Heritage (Apr. 12-15, 2018) Of course, the big question for the big names coming out of the Masters is whether they have decompressed to such an extent that they may not be competitive in the subsequent event. That’s the question for four of the top five picks in this week’s RBC Heritage, which is […]

As the players have sought to hone their games in preparation for the Masters, the season’s first major, it seems like many have brought questions into discussion of their chances to win.  Rickie Fowler .. hasn’t had a top-10 since the first event of 2018.  Dustin Johnson .. lost three straight matches as […]

For better or worse, the name Tiger Woods is just another data point among millions on the golf ratings/ golf picks hard drive. Woods’ Hawley Ratings number reflects what he’s done in the last two calendar years, his course fit number reflects just the current PGA Tour season, and so forth. The fact that he’s […]

Jordan Spieth has commented numerous times this year about working on his putting, and he’s not kidding. For the season ending with the 2017 Tour Championship, he ranked second on the PGA Tour in putts per green-in-regulation and 42nd in shots gained putting. This season’s stats show him 109th in shots per GIR and 163rd […]

Some family issues, injuries, and maybe the water or the back-and-forth across North America have combined to somewhat thin out the field at this week’s World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. It’s a very good field but not a great one. Included are eight of the top 10 and 10 of the top 15 in the current […]

Quite a few of the bigger names on the PGA Tour appear to be in no hurry to relocate their operations to the East Coast. This week’s Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens FL, on Florida’s Atlantic coast, about 80 miles north of Miami, has attracted a field with only three of the top 10 […]

This weekend the beautiful and spectator-friendly course at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades CA will be host to our second match-up in the last two weeks of the no. 1 vs. no. 2 players in the Hawley Ratings. We are referring to Genesis Open defending champion Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey, and again […]