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Chris Meaney
The top end of the official world golf rankings (OWGR) will make a pit stop in the Bahamas this week for the Hero World Challenge. This event is hosted by Tiger Woods, used to benefit The Tiger Woods Foundation and although golfers will not earn FedEx Cup points, it is officially part of the PGA Tour schedule and golfers will earn OWGR points. The field is made up of 18 golfers, with invites going out to the top 11 golfers in the world, recent winners, defending champion, and two special invites from Woods. This will be the sixth time the tournament is being played at Albany Golf Club and the first time since 2019 when Henrik Stenson was the winner.
The course, per the PGA Tour scorecard, plays as a Par 72, 7,414 yards. Shotlink data is not available for this tournament so we will do our best to judge a “fit” based on some past leaderboards and very limited, basic stats.
When you have the world’s elite playing in such a small field it can be hard to make assumptions on if the course caters to a certain skill set, considering how much better the field is than a regular tournament. I would be leaning towards accuracy being more important here than a typical tour event, but also like 90% of events, distance is still a larger advantage overall. Again, it’s hard to say and I will be leaning mostly on my overall skill ratings.
Due to the nature of the field and small number of golfers, I’m going to highlight only two golfers from the field whose salaries jumped out at me.
Daniel Berger $7,200
I’m sure there are concerns about what Mr. Berger has been doing since the Ryder Cup however I’m going to look past any potential rust. He has the tools to hang with this field and realistically, with only 18 golfers in the field, the game theory will matter more than cramming in your favorite six golfers. That said, I would like more exposure to golfers I like and I think Berger’s price is not befitting of how he played in 2021 and I don’t anticipate his game simply falling off. We have seen the killer instinct, and he has the great putting that will be required to go low in a birdie fest. Although not superior distance he’s plenty long and quite accurate compared to many others in his skill range. Playing from the fairway and elite irons will go a long way this weekend (no kidding!?). Not many pair the putting and iron play that Berger has.
Harris English $6,200
If you would like to dip into the basement, I think English is the place to start. He was in a lot of cashing lineups for me over the last 1.5 years so hoping we can end the season with him in another. An even better putter than Berger, but does not possess quite the same iron play. I have him rated right in the middle of the field this week so the price tag is great if you’re looking to go top-heavy. I’m not sure how popular he will be, but I imagine Rose will be attractive to many, as well as Patrick Reed due to their course history. I would prefer to roll with English and hope he’s the least popular of the bottom dwellers.
