The “silly season” is in full force with team exhibitions, parent-child tournaments and The Match showing up on weekend TV. There is, however, one more golf tournament where the best compete for world ranking points. Tiger Woods’ tournament, The Hero World Challenge, is celebrating its 19th birthday in the Bahamas at Albany Resort. 18 of the top 50 in the world will play for the Tiger trophy on Sunday. With no cut, expect a lot of birdies and a photo finish to end the year!
Top Pick: Tiger Woods
Even with his mediocre play against Phil Mickelson last week and press conferences covering his exhaustion down the stretch this season, it’s hard to route against the host. I might be biased (clearly wrapped up in Tiger-mania) but Tiger has 4 wins and 5 seconds in his limited field event. What’s more, he showed up on the leaderboard each of the last two years even after TWO back surgeries. Adding to that (!), Tiger was 1,199th in the world this time last year. He’s now 13th. The Tiger is on the prowl and wants to collect some more hardware. Lookout!
Back to the Range Bro: Bubba Watson
Bubba could finish last or first this week. He’s a wildcard in any tournament, so this is a risky pick. Bubba only logged one top ten since his win at the Travelers in June. He’s also 150th in sand saves on the PGA Tour. Not good if you consider the venue (on a beach). He has found success at this course, winning with a score of 25 under par in 2015, but his season average of 3.75 birdies per round won’t cut it. I’m rolling the dice, but I think Bubba is trending soft through the end of the year. Time for a range session and some vacation.