Quote:
Originally Posted by ligastar
The 2017-2018 PGA Tour season kicks off today with the 1st round of the Safeway Open. The season wraps up in Atlanta again on 9/23/18. This season's schedule consists of 49 FedEx Cup tournaments and record total prize money of more than $363 million (that kind of money buys a lot of pancakes at IHOP).
A lot of credit needs to go revots33's way for predicting the monster that Justin Thomas was going to be a couple of years ago. JT was the past season's POY and FedEx Cup champion:
One has to wonder the goals this wunderkid has put in his iPhone for the upcoming PGA Tour season.
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Taking a look at the OWGR top 50 entering the season, USA#1 is back in a dominant position with 3 of the top 4 and 26 overall.
Some of the biggest movers up the OWGR rankings for this calendar year include: Rahm (137>5), Fleetwood (99>17), Harman (141>28), Perez (118>31), Schauffele (299>32), Henley (128>44), Hadwin (191>48), and Bryan (127>50). Look for more positive results from these players in the upcoming season.
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The year's major venues include a return to Shinnecock Hills for the U.S. Open (for the first time since '04), my favorite British Open venue is back this year -- Carnoustie Golf Links, and crappy Bellerive C.C. hosts the PGA Championship.
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Now for some predictions:
The player most likely to win a major this year:
The player most likely to win the FedEx Cup:
The side most likely to lose the Ryder Cup:
The player most likely to end a round putting with a club other than his putter:
The player most likely to be rookie of the year:
Austin Cook
The player most likely to be the next Hunter Mahan:
And, finally, the player most likely to backdoor the most top 10s:
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Lettuce 2017/2018 PGA Tour!
There were some decent calls in here, with one glaring exception.....
Spieth had an off year and didn't win a major, but his performance in majors was one of his bright spots with a 3rd and a T9 finish.
DJ didn't win the FedEx, but he had a chance and finished #1 in the world.
Scott Piercy started the year ranked 122 and is currently 247, so he's well along on the Hunter Mahan path.