🏒 Slip One Through The Five-Hole

📢 Fore, Please:

I’ve spent much of the last month on the road and loved every single minute of it. But it’s good to be home! I’ve got some data projects that I’m ready to press “publish” on and I can’t wait to share them with you.

That’s all for now!
Rick

🏅 Last Week’s Optimal Lineup

Scottie Scheffler: $13,300 | 103.5 PTS
Ben Griffin: $7,800 | 103.5 PTS
Nick Taylor: $6,500 | 91.5 PTS
Sepp Straka: $8,800 | 90.5 PTS
Brandt Snedeker: $6,000 | 74.5 PTS
Rickie Fowler: $7,000 | 74.0 PTS
TOTAL: $49,400 | 537.5 PTS 

🤬 He’s Getting … Better?!

Scottie Scheffler piled up nine wins last year, a historic campaign by nearly every metric. Guess what — he’s been better this year!

Scheffler has earned +2.64 strokes per round over his peers, pacing ahead of his 2024 campaign by 0.09 strokes per round. It is now the best non-Tiger season on TOUR since 2000.

There are a few more insane things to point out before I move on. Remember Scottie’s 2022 when he won 4x (Phoenix, API, Match Play, Masters)? That was an utterly ridiculous season where he emerged as one of the top players in the world.

He’s currently one stroke per round better than that version of himself. He has improved for three consecutive years since 2022. It’s hard to illustrate but I’ll try.

That’s the strokes gained numbers, by year, for the current Top 5 players in the world. Scottie is separating himself statistically and still getting better.

🧟 The Rest of the Round-Up

The rest of what you missed last week:

• Thanks to a third place finish at the Memorial, Sepp Straka has now pushed his 2025 SG: TOT rate to +1.50/round. That’s third behind only Scheffler and McIlroy.

• Tommy Fleetwood gained 1.9 strokes from tee-to-green in Dublin, extending his streak of such feats to 18 — dating back to the 2024 TOUR Championship.

• Wyndham Clark has played 14 events this year with (1) Top 10 finish. He has more MCs than Top 10s. He currently ranks 76th in the FedEx Cup standings and 20th in the US Ryder Cup Standings.

🐳 JD + RRG + U

Remember when we gave away an all-expense paid trip to play golf with John Daly and myself? Yeah, we’re doing it again. We’re filling that fourth spot in the group with one of you!

⛳ Play one round of golf with John Daly and myself.
✈️ $1,000 cash towards travel
🎟️ Each contest entry = one chance to win
⏰ All PGA contests thru U.S. Open

This Week’s Contest
🤑 $25/Entry
🪙 $25,000 guaranteed purse, $2,500 to first.
🎱 Pick six golfers, best five scores count!

🔗 Play Now

🍁 Maple Leafs Rise Up

Let’s shine a light on a Canuck or two — starting with Taylor Pendrith. He’s flown under the radar this year after a slump in the spring. However, he’s heating up with a T5 at the PGA Championship and T12 at the Memorial — his two most recent starts.

His superpower is his driver, where he’s gained strokes in 14 of his last 16 starts. With the rough expected to top 4” for this week, you’d expect his club head speed to make a significant impact.

Nick Taylor has revenge on the mind. Okay, maybe not revenge but redemption? This man is literally the logo of the Canadian Open but failed to make the Presidents Cup team in Montreal. Now he’s playing some of his best golf in recent years right as the TOUR heads North of the Border.

When Taylor is in contention, he closes at a ridiculous clip. He has (5) wins stemming from only (21) Top 10. For comparison, Russell Henley also has (5) wins but he’s needed (52) Top 10s to get there.

Taylor doesn’t always play well, but when he does, he’s a threat to win.

🚌 School’s Out For Summer

This is always a fun time of year as college golf winds down and the best players turn pro. Plus the Korn Ferry Tour is in full throttle giving their best players a chance to crack into the primary circuit. Let’s highlight a few of the names that will be around for a very long time.

Luke Clanton — making his professional debut but certainly not his first TOUR start. In his 12 TOUR starts he has (5) Top 15 finishes including two different runner-up results. He’s a masher (!!) off-the-tee and rarely misses the center of the face. He’s getting his “Welcome to the Show” moment being paired alongside Rory McIlroy and Ludvig Aberg for the first two rounds.

Johnny Keefer — It’s been a dozen starts on the KFT for the former Baylor Bear. In those events he’s earned a win and (4) more Top 6 finishes. In terms of raw strokes gained, he’s gaining over two per round in his last 36. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship but finished 2nd in Knoxville and T12 in North Carolina in his two starts after that.

Karl Vilips — yeah, I’m throwing Karl into the mix too! I know he’s a PGA TOUR winner but he’s only 23 and has even sniffed his full potential yet. He went on the vintage “Winners Slump” after closing in Puerto Rico, missing three straight cuts. He’s been steadying the ship and had an excellent run at Colonial where he finished T11 and gained in all four strokes gained categories.

❄️ Glorious & Free

The Canadian Open dates back to 1904 — the third oldest continuously running tournament on TOUR. While the history is stout, it’s never really held a permanent home and has been played at 41 different venues, not counting TPC Toronto which will make its debut this year.

Since the event has moved all over The Great White North, there isn’t a stellar bit of course history to use. The chart above are the best players in this field all over the great country of Canada — minimum two starts.

The usual suspects are there, but Sam Burns stands out to me. He’s been laying breadcrumbs in his game, getting back to his foundation for the last five starts. His history in Canada perks me up. He has a T4 at the Canadian Open in 2022 and a T10 in 2024. He was also a winning member of the USA Presidents Cup team (despite small contributions).