American Express – Trying Again and Forward Utilizing Strokes Gained Knowledge
Kevin Na had all the swagger engaged on Sunday afternoon as he chased down Brendan Steele with membership twirls and early putt walk-ins on his method to victory on the Sony Open. He makes it 4 consecutive seasons on TOUR with a victory and ensures himself a visit again to Hawaii to start out 2022.
As is frequent, Na completed the event first in whole strokes gained on the week, as he was on the plus facet in all 4 aspects of his sport. The important thing that led him to victory this week was being so stable tee-to-green since he’s all the time a powerful putter. Na’s irons have been the facet of the sport that shined essentially the most at Waialae, gaining 1.43 strokes on the sphere on strategy, together with simply wanting a full stroke in his closing spherical.
It will likely be attention-grabbing to see if he stays within the discipline for subsequent week’s American Express, however since we all know he performed nice this week, we are going to concentrate on some others. Let’s check out among the prime performers from the Sony Open that may look to hold that momentum to La Quinta, Calif.
Earlier than we get into my buys for the week, I want to start out with some housekeeping as this occasion is the primary of seemingly many that may look completely different in 2021. The American Express is historically a 3 course pro-am with a 54-hole reduce, however the pro-am portion has been eradicated this yr. Now, there will likely be no amateurs, simply two programs, and a extra customary 36-hole reduce. I begin there as a result of it is going to be onerous to make use of issues like course historical past because the leads to prior years will likely be skewed. Now that we’ve acquired that out of the way in which, let’s get to the picks.
three Buys for The American Express
Patton Kizzire put collectively an excellent week on the Sony Open, as he typically does as a former winner of the occasion, and it performed out in his strokes gained figures. The general numbers is not going to leap out at you on the floor however digging only a bit deeper, you see they’re influenced by a second spherical by which he misplaced 5.67 pictures on strategy. That was merely an terrible day along with his irons, however he bounced again over the weekend and completed gaining greater than a stroke on strategy in three of his 4 rounds.
Kizzire closed the event with a very stable, closing spherical 64 the place he gained strokes on the sphere in all metrics. He’ll take the flight throughout the Pacific to La Quinta for The American Express, the place he will get to stay on his most well-liked Bermuda grass greens and will likely be trying to construct off of his T7 end in Hawaii.
One among my picks to make a run on the win on Sunday, was Russell Henley, however he simply couldn’t get something going within the closing spherical. He would end in a tie for 11th after a 2-under 68 left him dropping down the leaderboard within the low-scoring occasion.
Regardless of the lower than stellar Sunday spherical, Henley was as constant as any participant by many of the week. He gained strokes on the sphere in all classes over the 4 rounds, ending within the High 10 within the discipline tee-to-green.
Henley had two discipline common rounds on strategy, and two actually robust ones, which bodes properly heading right into a second shot course like he’ll face in California. Sadly for the previous Georgia Bulldog, his putter failed him over the weekend as he misplaced strokes placing in every spherical. He will likely be trying to bounce-back with the putter at The American Express and may profit from staying on his most well-liked Bermuda grass placing surfaces.
It was the same story this week for Cameron Davis, who had one actually dangerous spherical on strategy, shedding 2.29 strokes to the sphere in Spherical 2, and a pair the place he simply couldn’t roll the ball within the cup. He would nonetheless acquire 1.44 strokes tee-to-green on the week and led the cut-makers in strokes gained off-the-tee.
The Australian completed with a 4-under 66 on Sunday to climb right into a 31st place end for a good begin to the brand new yr. He’ll look to enhance on two High 30 finishes in his two prior journeys to La Quinta by carrying a few of his optimistic type into The American Express.
Sony Open Strokes Gained Knowledge
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