BlogPuerto Rico Open Preview and Picks

Things you need to know about the Puerto Rico Open:

This will be the 7th Puerto Rico, the tournament got started in 2008.  This has always been a tournament about second tier players, giving opportunities to those that didn’t qualify for the WGC-Cadillac.  This is a perfect way for a bottom-tier player getting himself full status with a win.  Unfortunely the winner gets just about every adelaide that is given to a regular winner with the exception of one important invite, to the Masters.  Augusta won’t extend an invite to the winner in Puerto Rico this week.

Course information:

• Trump International Golf Club – Puerto Rico
• Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
• 7,569 yards     Par 36-36–72
• Course has a 77,7 rating and slope rating of 135 fron the championship tees. The course is public and also sells local memberships.
• In 2013 Trump International was the 38th hardest course on the PGA Tour playing to a 70.229 average (1.771 strokes under par).
• Course is part of a 36 hole complex that was built in 2004 by Tom Kite.  The championship course, which is the lakes and ocean nines are used for the championship. The 18 hole is flat with 13 of the 18 holes having water in play for the professionals.  There are 62 bunkers and the greens are 6,000 square feet, which is average size.  Course has a special grass on it, SeaDwarf Paspaium which is a lot like Bermuda but can tolerate salt and takes a low qualify of water to survive.  The course is very tough for the average player while it’s very manageable for the pros that will play it this week.  Since the course has opened, it’s gotten the reputation as the best course in Puerto Rico.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Puerto Rico Open:

Key stat for the winner:

There is no rhyme or reason to winning this event.  Since it’s a second tier event it’s a combination of a PGA Tour and a Web.Com tour stop.  So there are no real favorites because there are no true marquee players that you know of.  One thing of the past winners, done of them achieved great success on the PGA Tour so this is for many just a stepping stone to get full time access to the PGA Tour.

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

Since last year was the first year that they used stats, hard to find what type of player wins.  So the key is to look at two things, first past results on this course and how they are playing going into the event.

Will a newcomer win this week?  Probably.  It’s more about a player being in the right place at the right time.

Does weather play a factor, yes.  Since the course is next to the ocean expect winds, some of them high.  So the winner needs to play well in windy conditions.  As for rain there won’t be any, temperatures in the mid-80 and frankly it ticks off a person like myself looking at a foot of snow that needs plowing.