Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch Preview
The next stop on the PGA Tour is the Byron Nelson in McKinney, Texas at TPC Craig Ranch. This is the last event before the PGA Championship, the 2nd Major of the season at Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York. Twice defending champion KH Lee will be looking to achieve something only 3 golfers have succeeded at in the past 40 years and that will be winning the same event 3 times in a row. This feat has only been achieved 8 times in past 40 years by Stuart Appleby (1), Steve Stricker (1) and Tiger Woods (6). The total purse this weekend is $9.5 million with a $1.7 million to the winner. Great storylines as the beautiful state of Texas plays host for us this weekend.
The Course:
TPC Craig Ranch is a 7, 414 yard par 71 course designed by Tom Weiskopf. The Golf Course Superintendent is James Osborne from New London, Iowa and a graduate of Iowa State University who has been at Craig Ranch for 4 years. The fairways are made of zoysiagrass and putting greens of bentgrass. A winter storm caused damage to the greens collars and the low-lying fairway areas which required sodding. With a cool and dry spring the turf density will not be what it has been in years past. These golfers will need to avoid the 83 bunkers as well as Rowlett Creek which runs throughout the property and crosses 14 of the 18 holes.
The Field:
As we spoke about above, KH Lee will be not only hunting down that $1.7 million victory but also being the 4th golfer in the past 40 years to win an event 3 times in a row. We will have six golfers in the field who have already won this year: Mackenzie Hughes, Si Woo Kim, Tom Kim, Sheamus Power, Davis Riley and Scottie Scheffler. Other than KH Lee there is Scott Stallings who has the 2nd lowest scoring average at TPC Craig Ranch. There are a couple past Byron Nelson winners in the field: Sung Kang, Aaron Wise, Sangmoon Bae, Jason Dufner, Jason Day and Adam Scott.
Best Bets:
Tournament Matchup: KH Lee (-120) over Matt Kuchar
Tournament Matchup: Tom Kim (-110) over Jason Day
Tournament Group: Scott Stallings (+330) over Hoge, Min Woo Lee, Jaeger and Montgomery. [Draft Kings]
Tournament Group: KH Lee (+275) over Power, Bezuidenhout, Matsuyama and Scott. [Draft Kings]
Top South African: Christian Bezuidenhout (+160)
Projected Top 25:
Brandon Wu
KH Lee
Scott Stallings
Scottie Scheffler
Tom Kim
Tyrell Hatton
Hideki Matsuyama
Si Woo Kim
Jimmy Walker
Cameron Champ
Matt Kuchar
Davis Riley
Adam Hadwin
Dylan Wu
Christian Bezuidenhout
Byeong Hun An
Justin Suh
Nate Lashley
Tom Hoge
Ryan Palmer
Seamus Power
Doc Redmon
Adam Scott
Austin Smotherman
Pierceson Coody
