Fantasy Golf Tournament Preview-PGA Championship
OVERVIEW
The year’s second major is already here as the state of New York hosts the PGA Championship. Bethpage has hosted major events in the past including the 2002 (won by Tiger Woods) & 2009 (won by Lucas Glover, Tiger finished T6) editions of the US Open as well as the 2016 & 2012 versions of The Barclays (FedEx Cup playoff events). The course was designed by AW Tillinghast (who has very distinct design patterns in the way he constructs golf courses). The course played as a Par 70 for the US Opens but will play as a Par 71. The course is considered a strong test of golf on any normal day but should play somewhere in between how it was setup for the previous majors and how it’s setup for The Barclays. The rough is expected to be near 3.5”, my guess is that it’ll start somewhere around 3” to start the event, they’ll let it grow throughout the event, and it’ll be measured at 3.5” come Sunday (letting the rough grow out is typical of major events). The course is heavily bunkered and features fast, elevated greens which are tough to hit, especially with long irons. Driving accuracy should be something to consider this week as a secondary stat as the fairways are not only lined with thick-ish, tall rough, but also because of being lined with trees on many holes. The three easiest holes on the course are the Par 5’s (shocker). Previous winners at Bethpage for the two Barclays events were Patrick Reed (2016) and Nick Watney (2012). Ball striking remains the key part of success at this course regardless of how its setup, which should surprise no one. For this week’s “history”, I’ll be listing how the player finished at the previous Barclays events, as well as noting how they finished at the US Open editions if they played in them. For 1AD this week, Brooks is my number one play on the board, followed by Tiger, DJ, Rory and Sergio.
I’m not big on promoting other people’s social media, but below is the best, most current video of the course from Brodie Smith’s YouTube channel. For a little bit of a back story, Brodie recently picked up the game of golf as a trick frisbee “influencer” or whatever and has done shows with professional golfers Austin Cook and Jon Rahm (possibly more). His game is decent, but obviously nowhere near PGA Tour caliber. Like I said, this is about as good of content as we’re going to get without actually being on the course. Skip the first 2 minutes or so of the first video as it’s mostly just talking about nothing.
Part 1 – https://youtu.be/74jEKtzwBnE
Part 2 – https://youtu.be/XhHGtK1uc7Y
TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND
- The Course
- Bethpage Black Course
- Par 70
- 7,459 yards
- Poa Annua greens
- Location: Farmingdale, New York
- Corollary Courses/Performances:
- Past Champions:
- 2018: Brooks Koepka -16 over Tiger Woods [Bellerive CC]
- 2017: Justin Thomas -8 over Francisco Molinari, Louis Oosthuizen & Patrick Reed [Quail Hollow Club]
- 2016: Jimmy Walker -14 over Jason Day [Baltusrol Golf Club]
- 2015: Jason Day -20 over Jordan Spieth [Whistling Straits]
- 2014: Rory McIlroy -16 over Phil Mickelson [Valhalla GC]
KEY STATS TO TARGET
- Strong Emphasis – SG: APP, Par 5 Scoring, Birdies or Better, Scrambling
- Important – Par 4 Scoring 400-500y, APP 150-200y+ (a lot of approach shots will come between 150-175 & 175-200+)
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