Stricker Faces Tough Selection Task
Vintage Tiger & Swing 'Clock' System / Delivery Driver to PGA Tour Card Holder
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This week in The Mulligan:
Steve Stricker has a tough task ahead of him selecting the US Ryder Cup Team
Comparing the worldās leading tours and official earnings
Our (short) Weekly Pub Quiz! š»
This weekās best bets for the Northern Trust & D+D Czech Masters
Our 3 best-handpicked equipment deals
Before you go, check out Doug Barronās antics and celebrations after capturing second Legends Tour title! š
Snippets including Tigerās effective swing clock system with short irons in particular, Paul Azingerās caddy with an alternative method of ācarryingā a bag, Tiger almost won at Liberty National years back despite being in immense pain and lastly David Skinns goes from delivery driver to PGA Tour card holder for 2021/22
Free Roll of an interactive table showing how different things would be if Ryder Cups were selected via Strokes Gained and weighted on recent form. Very interesting š¤
But before we jump in, here are some interesting stats from the past week.
Big OWGR Movers
Here are the biggest movers over the last week on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR)
š Kevin Kisner 52 ā> 34
š Branden Grace 65 ā> 56
š Jhonattan Vegas 95 ā> 86
š Calum Hill 150 ā> 97
š Callum Shinkwin 179 ā> 147
Last Weekās Winnersā Cheques
š° Kevin Kisner - $1 152 000 (PGA Tour)
š° Doug Barron - $352 500 (Legends Tour)
š° Ryann OāToole - $225 000 (LPGA Tour)
š° Calum Hill - $222 944 (European Tour)
š° David Skinns - $135 000 (Korn Ferry Tour)
š° Ricardo Gouveia - $37 683 (Challenge Tour)
Last Weekās Last Place Cheques
š° $12 608 - PGA Tour
š° $4 047 - European Tour
š° $3 555 - Legends Tour
š° $3 000 - Korn Ferry Tour
š° $2 582 - LPGA Tour
š° $518 - Challenge Tour
Strickerās Got It Tough!
One thing is for sure. Steve Stricker has it tougher than counterpart Padraig Harrington!
There are quite honestly (at least) 17 players to choose from to make up the last 6 spots and each of those players could be argued for. Only two more events left for players to secure automatic exemption into Team USA. For the rest itās about gaining as many points as possible to move themselves into the āCaptainās picksā conversation.
One player who did just that was Kevin Kisner. And at just the right time too. He was expected to be in the mix at the Wyndham mainly being suited to the relatively short Sedgefield course of 7130 yards. Will he be suited to Whistling Straits though? It will be his first Ryder Cup appearance (surprisingly), but heāll be a value-add for sure.
Itās one thing being āsuitedā to a course though, but in terms of Ryder Cup there could be more argument of what type of team player you are, past experience and whether you have the bulldog grit toughing it out against anyone.
Those qualities bring Kevin Na into the frame too. Na showed the type of grit and determination that any captain looks for in a player - one that fights until the very end. Even if struggling with his game, heāll find a way to tough it out and that is just the type of player Stricker needs.
For the sake of clarity here are our Captainās picks for the US team - letās see just how close or far off we are in two weeks time. We may be diving for cover!
Jordan Spieth
Harris English
Patrick Reed
Webb Simpson
Scottie Scheffler
Kevin Kisner
Comparing The Money Lists
Below is an interesting comparison of the worldās leading tours and official money earned for 2019.
A few things to note though on the below table:
The European Tour does not display or publish any official money list for any of the years and only displays the Race To Dubai Rank. To be frank, itās actually ridiculous. Every single one of the other tours display some sort of money list if you search for it. Therefore in below table there may be a slight difference in European Tour numbers however it will not be far off the quoted figure.
The PGA Tour and European Tour earnings include the FedEx Cup and RTD bonus pool payouts therefore boosting actual tournament earnings for the year.
The majors and WGC events count towards each tourās official earnings so in certain cases where a player is a member of multiple tours (Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy etc.) their earnings may be fluctuated slightly due to the ādouble upā of earnings on both tours.
All earnings weāve converted to USD in order to simplify the comparison
It is very interesting to see just how far ahead the PGA & European Tours are in comparison to the other tours. For example - 100th position on the PGA Tour earned over 7 times that of the leading player on the Sunshine Tour earned for 2019! Even the 100th player on European Tour earned more than 2.5 times that of the Sunshine Tour leader.
Then itās also interesting to see how compact the range of earnings (between 1st to 100th) is on the Korn Ferry Tour in comparison to the likes of the Asian Tour, Japan Tour and even Sunshine Tour who are immensely top-heavy.
No wonder itās a massive occasion for a regular Sunshine Tour player to either play in a co-sanctioned event, a WGC event or a major championship as it serves up the opportunity to very possibly earn more in one week than they have all year long.
Quite remarkable.
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Pub Quiz
Three questions. Three Answers for each. A bit like The Chase except you get bugger-all in return. Just your trivial pride! (Answers at the bottom)
How many majors did Tiger Woods win in the 90ās?
A - 1
B - 2
C - 3
How many players have broken 60 on the PGA Tour?
A - 6
B - 9
C - 12
Which course has hosted the most Ryder Cups?
A - The Belfry
B - Royal Lytham & St Annes
C - Oakland Hills
Our Best Bets this WeekĀ
Weāve kept a record of our best bets to date as well as profit & loss. Check our detailed record here
We got lucky with a decent winner last week in Kevin Kisner at 50/1. Ending a poor run for three straight weeks prior which we nipped in the bud!
Our value picks for this weekās Northern Trust & D+D Real Czech Masters are as follows.
Northern Trust
Jordan Spieth EW @ 16/1 (Place Bet Here - Paying 8 Places)
Scottie Scheffler EW @ 30/1 (Place Bet HereĀ - Paying 8 Places)
Webb Simpson EW @ 33/1 (Place Bet Here - Paying 8 Places)
D+D Real Czech Masters
Tapio Pulkkanen EW @ 50/1 (Place Bet Here - Paying 6 Places)
Jacques Kruyswijk EW @ 28/1 (Place Bet Here - Paying 6 Places)
Hugo Leon EW @ 28/1 (Place Bet HereĀ - Paying 6 Places)
ā”ļø Bet Ā£10 (ā¬10), Get Ā£30 (ā¬30) In Free Bets
ā Golf Snippets
Hereās a short video of vintage Tiger & the āclock systemā. Superb philosophy which results in remarkable consistency and reliability once youāve had enough reps. Perhaps this is what Rory needs with wedges in particular!
This is an alternative method of ācarryingā a bag! Check out Paul Azingerās caddy at the 1994 Johnnie Walker Classic š
This weekās Northern Trust is at Liberty National, Tiger almost won there a number of years back whilst in excruciating pain
From Delivery Driver to PGA Tour card holder for 2021/22, quite a story for David Skinns šµ
Wait a Second!
Definitely a pre-celebration youāll not forget anytime soon š
Answers to Pub Quiz
- B (2)
- C (12)
- A (The Belfry)
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Free Roll
Here is a fantastic resource from Data Golf showing Ryder Cup standings and how the selections would change over 3/6/12/24 months. You can sort by column and see how the āautomaticā players change. Proof that the standings shouldnāt necessarily work off prize money or FedEx cup points.