BlogFrys.com Open Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

Hard to believe that just like that 2013 is ended and the 2014 season is starting up.  Now you may wonder how fall has just started and we are only in October, how could the 2014 season start with 80 days left in 2013?  It all started in 2007 when the PGA Tour wasn’t able to get a TV network to show golf in September, October and November. That’s when the idea to do the FedEx Cup playoffs were born, with the Tour Championship moving to the first of September and end the FedEx Cup with that event.  But it left seven old events dangling in the wind.  In a way they were downgraded, yes they were giving away the same money and the race for the top money earners still went on.  But most thought that all of this would be settled at the Tour Championship and it was with the exception of 2011 when Luke Donald won the money title on the last event of the year at the Disney event.

Realistically the last seven events of the year between 2007 and 2012 was more for those to earn enough money to stay in the top-125 and retain there tour cards.  Those events were treated like second class citizens, they didn’t give FedEx Cup points and didn’t get the marquee names the rest of the year got.  On top of that, you had to watch it on Golf Channel so the events weren’t really the same level as the events from January to September.  The winners of those fall events weren’t given Masters invites and basically they were considered a notch below the others.  This created hardships for those events to get sponsors to pay the same as the other events and today only two events the Frys and Las Vegas are still around, the other original five are gone.

One of the things that happened between 2007 and 2012 was the Golf Channel has now become a place to watch golf and they don’t mind competing with the NFL even though I have been told that Golf Channel loses a fortune with these fall events.  But with this and the advent of events in Asian coming online this created a way for the PGA Tour to now complete against the NFL.  Frankly it’s like background noise, nice to have PGA Tour golf in the fall but it’s still not the same as golf between the Hawaii stops and the Tour Championship.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.  There is room for golf in the fall, a lot of folks want to see an event every week.  But for the players, especially your marquee names they want to be off in the fall and with some good events in China like the HSBC, there will be some players that play in those events and take time off during the west coast events in January and February so there isn’t any perfect solution.

But for now the season starts this week and by the time the usual year beginning Hyundai Tournament of Champions begins there will be six events in the books.  Be interesting to see how some of the marquee players feel starting the year a couple of million dollars down.  But hey, in 2014 the money list won’t mean anything as there won’t be anything judged off the money list, it will all be off the FedEx Cup list.  Oh one other small item, starting this year there is no more Q-School so the exempt players will be off the FedEx Cup list and the Web.Com Tour.

About the Frys.com Open:

This event started in Scottsdale, Arizona and after three years at Grayhawk transferred to CordeValle Golf Club, close to it’s sponsors headquarters in San Jose.  The hope was that CordeValle would be a temporary home as it’s been the dream to hold the event at the Institute Golf Course in Morgan Hill, CA.   But construction problems and such have forced the event not to be played on the ultra private course that very few have ever seen.  So CordeValle was to be a short term fix, but it will hold the event for a fourth year.  But the big move to Institute won’t happen at least to 2016 as the tournament will be moving on one of the Silverado resort courses in Napa.

Course information:

CordeValle is one of those hidden gems that nobody knows about, until last week.  Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. and opened in 2000 it’s already got a great reputation making several top-100 lists of best courses in the country.

CordeValle is located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, just south of San Jose and north of Monterey Peninsula.  It’s part of a winery and has a first class hotel and spa as part of it.  Laid out over 260 acres in a valley, it features unobstructed views of radiant natural beauty with dramatic contours and elevation changes.  The course utilizes the natural elevation changes of its peaks and canyons, enhanced by broad meadows, streams, striking sycamore and mature California oak trees. The course features multiple tees and approach angles for varying degrees of difficulty. Strategically placed bunkers with challenging bays, fingers and folds establish the character of the course. An elevation change of approximately 150 feet over the entire 18 holes makes it walkable for the golf purist and demands different strategies and club selections throughout. The course is a par to 71 with the nines reversed for the tournament and play at 7,368 yards.

The tournament 17th is an interesting hole coming down the stretch, a 365-yard par four where if the tees are moved up or conditions are favorable players might be tempted to try to drive the green. To do so, they must avoid water to the right and steer through an opening between bunkers at the front of the green. That’s followed by a picturesque 18th hole, where the fairway is divided into left and right sections by a stream.

CordeValle has a course rating of 75.6 and a slope rating of 147.  As for the course itself, the tees, fairways and rough are Poa Annua with Kentucky bluegrass in the fairways.  The course has 63 bunkers scattered around it with water coming into play five times.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Frys.com Open:

Key stat for the winner:

The biggest stat for all three winners is putting, all three Rocco Mediate, Bryce Molder and Jonas Blixt had the lowest amount of putts, so great putters are the ones that play well here and win.  Also, the short par 4 17th hole has played a major part in two of the three events as Rocco Mediate eagled it in 2010 and last year Blixt birdied the hole on Saturday and Sunday.

Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:

• Player has to be a birdie machine, those that make the most will win.
• You have to go low on the par 4s, that was the key for those in the top-5 as Mediate and Molder were 10 under in their wins while Blixt was 11 under last year.
• Scrambling is also very important because it’s not that demanding around the greens at CordeValle. So greens hit isn’t as important as being able to get up and down on those missed.
• Lastly the field isn’t loaded with many marquee and experience players.   Look for someone that has not been in the winners circle to prevail since over 75% of the field have not won on the PGA Tour.  Also with this being the first event of a new year look for a lot of guys off the Web.Com priority list to be playing.  This year 29 of those off that list are in the field.