Just when you thought you were getting to grips with how a PGA Tour season works and what a FedEx Cup point is worth (the answer to which is 'way more than it should be in some events'), along comes another attempt at a rehash. The wraparound season is... well, not dead, but lacking in vital signs. There's a heart beating, but you do worry say a nefarious, nameless state could bring that to a stop with the right chemical formula.
The real PGA Tour season, I think we're meant to say, begins in January. Hooray for Pope Gregory XIII! And yet the PGA Tour season really begins now, with the Fortinet Championship, just like last year. But wait a minute: if you were in the top 50 last season (Sep 22-Aug 23), you don't get any FedEx Cup points. Just money, world ranking points and, if you win, a trophy. They're always nice.
If you weren't in the top 50, now resumes the battle to gain entry into the biggest and best events from January to whenever the TOUR Championship is next year. It's a battle taking place on two fronts: here in Napa, at a familiar course, and over on the Korn Ferry Tour, where the ruthless culling of players saw an entire dozen eliminated after the first of four Finals events, before a three-week break nobody can explain to me.
Do Fortinet by any chance specialise in computer software that can helps create a simple explanation of what the hell is going on and make that explanation easy to find on the internet? Or, in the year 2023 *winks at Pope Greg*, am I asking too much?
Jokes aside (these are jokes), the excellent . He explains that this really is the FedEx Cup Fall rather than the PGA Tour season and offers a reminder that as well as qualification into some events, Tour status itself is on the line. Those who didn't make the top 50 carry their points into this stretch and at the end, anyone outside the top 125 could be preparing for Christmas by heading to a revamped Q School.
Born in California, albeit a good way from here, Theegala has extensive experience of Silverado having played it a lot with a close friend who lives nearby, and it shows. So far he's broken par in 11 of his 12 rounds, including a Saturday 64 on debut.
During his second full PGA Tour season, he showed how comfortable he is playing golf under familiar conditions, adding fourth place behind Homa at the Farmers and closing with a round of 66 to take sixth place behind Jon Rahm in the Genesis, before an excellent tie for 27th across LA at the US Open.
Only in the AmEx did he fail to shine at home, that coming after he'd been 33rd of 38 in Hawaii before something clicked the following week, and he simply looks a rock-solid option in an event he's playing for a reason. At 31st in FedEx Cup points, he's already locked up starts in the big events next year and at 37th in the world, that will surely include all four majors.
Theegala is here because the course is a great fit, it's a chance to play in front of friends and family, and it's a chance to win, too.
Without going overboard, Hossler reminds me quite a bit of Wyndham Clark. From their amateur pedigrees to their friendship and the nature of their respective games, the two shared plenty in common already – and the way Hossler has played since July is reminiscent of how Clark hit his straps last summer.
Not for a second am I expecting majors and so on to come Hossler's way, though I wouldn't dismiss that idea entirely in time. The point is that Clark had been hinting that he was ready to take the next step, which in the end came the following May, and I'm hopeful Hossler can capitalise on this opportunity at a much lower level.
Firstly, I love how he's stepped up his game off the tee. Hossler has plenty of power so good driving numbers have always been possible, but he's generally struggled to sustain them. Not so now: he's gained strokes in his last 11 measured starts and it's highly likely that would read 12, as he looked to drive it well when sixth at the Barracuda.
Hardy of course gained the biggest chunk of his with a pairs with in New Orleans so can count himself fortunate in some ways, but he's played quite nicely since then and is a big talent who could now kick on.
His Silverado record so far reads 36-67 but on both occasions his short-game was problematic whereas his approach work in particular suggested he has the game for this course, particularly if driving it better which we know he can having done so in 2021 and generally been good throughout his burgeoning career.
This is a good course for the Canadian, who showed as much on debut when leading the field in strokes-gained off-the-tee. That was his PGA Tour debut as a full member and he made a good second-round move to again emphasise that he can score here, on grass you'd expect to provide a level of familiarity he wouldn't find on the east coast.
His second appearance wasn't as encouraging but a final-round 77 when out of the mix is pretty easy to overlook, given that the previous seven had all been under-par. Besides, he'd only recently been named as a surprise Presidents Cup pick and I'm not surprised that he wasn't necessarily able to focus on the task at hand in California, days before that event took place.
Smotherman has popped up on a few leaderboards close to home, notably at Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach early last year and then in the Barracuda Championship, where he was close to the lead all week.
His second season didn't go to plan but it started encouragingly here at Silverado, where he was thereabouts at halfway for the second time in as many visits and then moved inside the top 10 with a round to play thanks to a third-round 67.
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