💰 Good As Gold

📢 Fore, Please…

Hi all — or should I say HI ALL (all caps, baby). The buzz around Ponte Vedra is palpable. The town is poppin’ and the course is in phenomenal shape.

Mina even got her first look at the Goldboy.

Let’s have a great week.
Rick

🏆 Last Week’s Optimal Lineup

Akshay Bhatia ($7,500): 124.0 pts
Daniel Berger ($6,800): 110.0
Ludvig Aberg ($8,400): 103.5
Cameron Young ($9,100): 102.0
Collin Morikawa ($9,600): 99.0
Min Woo Lee ($7,900): 92.5
Total: $49,300: 631.0 pts

🤟 Shorties & Classics

You won’t see many winners getting it done the way that Akshay Bhatia got it done last week. You may have seen this, but if you haven’t, he was bonkers in the short-game.

He gained +5.67 strokes around-the-green and another +10.61 strokes with the putter. That’s a combined +16.27 strokes gained in the two short-game categories which is the most for any winner in ShotLink history.

He was 38/44 on putts inside 15’ but added six more from longer than that. He made every meaningful putt over four days and earned a cardigan for his efforts.

🍔 Undercooked Berger

Daniel Berger was winning Bay Hill for every moment of the event until the very last second it was over. On the verge of going wire-to-wire but falling in a playoff is a really tough pill to swallow.

If you’re looking for reasons for optimism, Berger gained +7.9 strokes on approach last week. He gained +5.7 strokes on approach at the Cognizant and +7.2 in Phoenix.

When he was playing his best, in 2021, he was gaining +0.83 strokes per round which was sixth best on TOUR that season. It’s looking more clear that Berger is going to have a solid 2026 now that he’s fully healthy and last week won’t be his only contention run.

🤔Scottie Doesn’t Know?

Since the start of 2026, Scottie Scheffler has played 18 measured rounds and is a +0.04 player on approach. While that’s above TOUR average, it’s well below the lofty standards that Scheffler has gotten us accustomed to.

Since the start of 2022, Scheffler is a +1.07 approach player per round. Meaning that Scottie is currently losing one stroke per round to himself in 2026.

This is — concerning — and it would be disastrous if he wasn’t so good in the other facets of his game. I’m not a big “eye test” guy, but he has not passed the eye test the last two weeks. His club interaction with the turf looks turbulent and he’s clearly not contacting the ball as consistently as usual.

This is not a panic situation, just something to consider.

👩‍💻 Updated Cheat Sheet

There’s a tool on RickRunGood.com called the “Showdown Cheat Sheet”. The idea was to have something that updates in “real-time” that can show you the stats of the current event and help you make plays in-tournament.

And while it has done just that, it was very manual on my side. I was personally making every update and that is simply unsustainable. Time for an upgrade.

So today, I am launching the new Showdown Cheat Sheet which will automatically update every few minutes and will give you access to dozens of stats for the event.

✅Filter by groups/nationalities/rounds
✅Swap between ranks/values/expectation
✅Bounceback + Skill Quadrants
✅Select Favorites
✅Light + Dark Mode

This is something that I would consider a v1.0. We tested it in the Discord Channel but if you run into any issues, bugs, or questions — let me know.

You can check it out here.

💪 The Closing Stretch

The final three holes at TPC Sawgrass might be the best closing stretch in the world! Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but they are very good.

The 16th is a true “risk/reward” par-5 that only plays ~520 yards. It’s reachable for every player in the field but the approach shot is surrounded by trouble on all sides. There’s water all along the right side and behind the hole with pot bunkers protecting the short miss. There’s a perfectly placed oak tree on the left, about 40 yards short of the green which directs the player’s eyes ever closer to the water.

The 17th needs no introduction. The island green is a wedge for most players but it has made many look foolish. The pressure of the Championship got ratcheted to new heights here.

I stood on the 18th tee Monday morning and just chuckled. There’s just so much water, I don’t know how you could even choose a line. No wonder so many guys want to bail right into the trees.

Every single shot on these three holes is so valuable and the range of outcomes is massive.

🐌 Slippery Sawgrass

Remember this chart, below? Does it look familiar? It should! I used it last week to show how sticky the course history has been at Bay Hill but I’ve flipped it now!

THE PLAYERS, since 2019, has had the second-lowest correlation of players finishing position year-over-year. The only event with more volatile results has been the RSM Classic.

This is really important because it goes back to 2019 which is when this event has gone back to March. I cannot begin to describe how different this course plays in March versus May. It’s a total crapshoot!

👁️My Sense of the Sawgrass

I’ve spent the last few days walking TPC Sawgrass so I’m just going to drop some comments from my notes.

• The rough is really thick and standing straight up. I didn’t have a ruler but the rough seemed no shorter than four inches and it was rather dense.

• There are so many awkward tee shots including six which has a tree hanging down into the flight path.

• The greens, especially four, are already browning. It’s hot and once the morning dew burns off, these things are begging for water.

• Loud thuds for balls hit onto the green already.

• Every player I’ve seen has tried both wedge and putter around the greens in the closely mown areas.

My sense is that the TOUR wants this to be difficult. The “maybe this is a major” discourse completely falls flat if the winning score is 25-under. There are some things they cannot control — like Mother Nature — but if you made me choose a winning score right now, I’ll take 11-under.

Speaking of Mother Nature:

Well hello wind! Thursday afternoon is forecasted for gusts up to 35 MPH with a complete wind direction shift. Those gusts sustain until Friday morning which, if this is correct, is going to cause quite the weather wave.

🗣️ Join The Discord

I screwed this up a couple weeks ago. I meant to include a link to our new and budding Discord but I absolutely whiffed and forgot the hyperlink. I feel shame.

I’m taking my mulligan and inviting you to the Discord via this link:
https://discord.com/invite/fznfRbDJq8

We have broken over 800 members and things seem to be going well. It’s all still new to me but it’s a massive improvement over Slack and I’m happy y’all are along for the ride.

💵 The Most Popular Contest of the Year!

The big “Three and Done” for the PLAYERS + Majors is up and running on Splash right now. Pick three golfers for each event but you can only use them once. There are payouts for the whole thing plus payouts for each tournament with $125,000 guaranteed in total.

The tiers contest ($25,000) is on pace to fill very early.
Pick six golfers, best five scores count.

Join both: https://bit.ly/SplashRRG

🥸 Looking For An Edge?

You guys know that I have a nice relationship with the team over at PoolGenius and we are entering the time of year where they really shine.

• One and Done Contests

• Majors Pools

• March Madness

They have tools to help you get custom recommendations for your pool size, payouts, goals, etc and give you the optimal ways to play. I helped consult on their OAD tool a few years back. Since I have the relationship, they give us the best possible discount which is up to 60% off.

Link for discounts: https://bit.ly/PGRG

• Use my fantasy and betting tools here!

• Let me know which players and stats you want to hear more about. Reply to this email with suggestions.

• Play big contests & win big money. See my contests now.