Silverado CC (North),
CA
Thursday October 13th
- Sunday October 16th, 2016
by David Barwise
 |
| Photo: Patch |
The beginning of a new season. Sadly no Tiger this time
around, but a host of future superstars fresh from the Web.com Tour are looking
to challenge the old guard in their rookie debuts.
The Course
This will be the third time this event will take place at
Silverado (and the first time as the “Safeway Open”). The course itself has
been described as “straightforward”
and is fairly open. Essentially, at just over 7200 yards, it’s a bog-standard
PGA Tour course tinkered with by Johnny Miller.
The Field
The Safeway Open looks to be an unpredictable mix which
boasts in-form stars (Phil Mickelson
and Paul Casey), bright young stars
(Smylie Kaufman and Bryson DeChambeau), and future stars (38 graduates from the Web.com Tour). The
fact that Tiger Woods withdrew earlier
this week after seeing the way that his game paled in comparison to the
others in the field can only inspire optimism for this young batch of rookies. Wesley Bryan, the money leader for the
Web.com Tour, and world number one amateur Maverick
McNealy will also be in attendance.
Last Year
Emiliano Grillo
won on his Tour debut as he caught Kevin
Na on the final day to take him to a playoff where he trimuphed after two
holes. Grillo’s regulation -15 equalled Sangmoon
Bae’s winning score the previous year – the first year this event was
hosted at Silverado. While Grillo will be back to defend his title, Sangmoon
Bae will be absent due to his mandatory two-year military service.
Spotlight
The smart money will be on Casey who has three top-5s in a
row, with Ryder Cup teammates Mickelson and Matt Kuchar also looking to
capitalise on their great form. Grillo is looking to be the first player to defend his title in
this event. Every rookie in the field will be looking to play well and maybe
cause an upset – it happened last year... so why not this time?
Prediction
I’m expecting Casey
to win, with Grillo to contend (not Na, sadly) and Jon Rahm to crack the top-10 in pursuit of a stellar (full) debut
season.
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