🌲Make That Greensboro

Greensboro Preview & Blaine Review | (#19)

šŸ“¢ Fore, Please…

Last night we went out on Broadway in Nashville. We bar-hopped to a variety of places and realized that nearly every bar is named/themed after an artist (Dierks Bentley, Jon Bon Jovi, Post Malone, Jason Aldean, etc).

Standard procedure is to get carded at every single door to make sure we are of age — trust me, we are! When we got to ā€œPosty’sā€ the bouncer checked my ID and then asked me if I was playing golf anywhere when I was in town.

Is this what I’ve become? I have the ā€œlookā€ of someone who is here to play golf? Was it the lululemon ABC pants, Travis Mathew polo, or the RAGC hat? Do I need to reconsider my life decisions on how I got to this point?

Mina was flabbergasted … and concerned.

Thanks as always,
Rick

šŸ… Last Week’s Optimal Lineup

Kurt Kitayama: $8,700 | 143.0 PTS
Sam Stevens: $7,500 | 135.5 PTS
Matt Wallace: $7,600 | 130.5 PTS
David Lipsky: $6,800 | 129.5 PTS
Jake Knapp: $8,900 | 126.5 PTS
Pierceson Coody: $7,600 | 118.0 PTS
TOTAL: $47,100 | 783.0 PTS 

🚽 Underrated Flusher

Kurt Kitayama is back in the winner’s circle after destroying TPC Twin Cities on the weekend and hoisting the trophy at the 3M Open. If you noticed anything about Kitayama’s performance last week, it was probably his ball-striking.

It seemed like every time he had an approach shot, he was stuffing it close and tapping in for birdie. If you want to go back and watch, the PGA TOUR has started releasing ā€œRapid Roundsā€ which is every shot from a player’s round in approximately ~14 minutes. Here is Kurt’s Saturday round when he threatened 59.

Kitayama Strokes Gained Breakdown — last 100 rounds.

Statistically speaking, Kitayama picked up 13.225 strokes from tee-to-green, which is a massive number. That’s the 9th best tee-to-green week for any golfer on TOUR this season.

For Kurt, though, it’s hardly an outliner. He has (5) different weeks in which he’s gained 10+ strokes from tee-to-green in the last 12 months. That’s the same number of 10+ weeks that Collin Morikawa has had during the same period.

I tweeted out the age-25 season graphic below, comparing Chris Gotterup and Scottie Scheffler as 25-year olds and boy … did people love bookmarking that one!

In no way am I trying to compare Chris Gotterup to Scottie. In no way do I think he’s going to follow the same trajectory as Scottie to the top of the golfing world. But I do think there are a few key takeaways:

  1. Gotterup has been way better this entire season than most people realize. This is not just a three week thing.

  2. We should really be factoring age into all of these conversations. Remember, Akshay Bhatia is only 23 and has played 90 PGA TOUR events. Ludvig Aberg is 25 and has played 53 PGA TOUR events.

  3. Scheffler is nearly 3x ā€œas goodā€ now as he was when he was 25.

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šŸ’‹ Last Chance For Romance

There’s only four rounds to go before the playoffs are set and we need to solidify the Top 70. I’m not a huge believer that guys can ā€œturn it onā€ when they need to. If they could flip a switch, wouldn’t it be better served to flip it a few months ago? Not wait until the last minute?

Anyway, maybe there’s something to it. At the very least, I want to see if there’s anything interesting in the data.

SG: July + August, min 5 starts — back to 2021.

These are the best players in the field only in the months of July and August, dating back to 2021. This time of year is the home stretch of the PGA TOUR seasons with ā€œmoreā€ on the line. It’s also a time of year where we see similar strengths of fields with predictable golf courses.

 šŸŽ” Wide Open Betting Board

As of right now, Matt Fitzpatrick is the favorite to win the Wyndham Championship at +2000. If those odds close at the same price (or longer), it’ll be just the 8th time since 2019 where no golfer had odds shorter than 20-1 to win.

The previous occurrences:

  • 2025 Myrtle Beach (Won by Ryan Fox)

  • 2025 Cognizant (Joe Highsmith)

  • 2024 Sanderson Farms (Kevin Yu)

  • 2024 Myrtle Beach (Chris Gotterup)

  • 2021 Barbasol (Seamus Power)

  • 2020 Safeway Open (Cameron Champ)

  • 2019 Mayakoba (Matt Kuchar)

 šŸ¤‘ Lean, Mean, & Green

This week’s Listener League is back and ready for your lineups! Currently 40% full with $25,000 guaranteed!

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šŸ¤– The Boss of the Ross

Sedgefield CC is an old school Donald Ross design that opened in 1926. He’s known for his undulation, particularly on the putting surfaces, which demand that you play into the greens with some level of spin (control).

Here are the best players in the field on Donald Ross courses, dating back to 2020 (min 5 rounds). That’s a full shot difference per round on the putting surfaces from Tom Kim to Cameron Young.

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