Fittingly for a tournament played in the gambling capital of the world, the Shriners Children’s Open has produced some jackpot moments.
This was the scene of Tiger Woods’ first PGA Tour victory in 1996 when he ousted Davis Love in a play-off.
And in 2010, Jonathan Byrd decided the best way to end a three-man playoff was to dunk his tee-shot straight into the cup for an ace at the fourth extra hole.
TPC Summerlin is a resort course so scoring is usually ultra-low. In the last four years it’s witnessed two winning scores of 24-under and two of 23-under.
Course specialist Patrick Cantlay won’t be here this year after recently getting married. But 12 months ago he gave some insights into what’s required.
“I think the fairways are pretty wide, but you need to play from the fairway if you want to score,” said Cantlay. “So in the past I've hit a lot of drivers and drove the ball well, so I have a lot of opportunities to make birdies.”
Max Homa added: “You're going to have maybe a couple more eagle putts than you would normally. You're going to be closer to the hole just because of how short the course can play with the heat and all that.”
With Las Vegas being over 2,000 feet above sea level, the ball flies further so the already modest yardage of 7,255 yards for this par 71 is notably shorter.
Angles to consider
1/ Course form
Tom Kim won on his first look last year but runner-up Patrick Cantlay had previously logged a win and two other second places there. Martin Laird and Kevin Na became two-time champions at TPC Summerlin when they won in 2020 and 2019 respectively. Proven course form and knowing what clubs to hit counts.
2/ Strokes Gained: Approach
Kim made the top five for SG: Approach when winning 12 months ago. That means four of the last five champions in Vegas have ranked in the top six for SGA so strong iron play is a key asset here.
3/ Par 4 Scoring
It’s a Par 71 and hence there’s one more Par 4 than standard. Kim ranked 6th in Par 4 Scoring last year while four of the previous six winners ranked in the top two for those holes.
4/ Par Breakers
Last year’s leading birdie-maker, Cantlay, scribbled 28 red numbers on his scorecard. Only one other player made more than the 24 of winner Tom Kim. A year earlier, winner Sungjae Im was 2nd for Birdies, racking up 26.
Selections
The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected.
Tom Hoge
Hoge will be a popular pick this week and rightly so. Fourth last year, that followed finishes of 14th and 24th while he also took seventh in 2017. The American is 15th for Par Breakers, 13th for Par 4 Birdie or Better leaders and 9th for Approach. He’s also made the top 15 in his last two PGA Tour starts.
Adam Schenk
The American is another horse for the course and reading back from last year his finishes at TPC Summerlin read 12-3-27-18-MC-20. His irons looked particularly strong at the end of last season as he recorded top six finishes in two of his final three events, ranking 4th for Approach in the Tour Championship and 7th for SGA at St Jude.
Aaron Rai
Rai’s top 20 here last year included a third-round 62 that put him seventh after 54 holes. The Englishman ranks 10th in Par 4 Scoring and 38th on Approach. Two starts ago he was runner-up in elite company at the BMW PGA Championship while the week before Wentworth he ranked 2nd for Approach in the Irish Open.
Tips 0-3; -6.00pts
1pt e.w. Tom Hoge at 33/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power, Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) mc
1pt e.w. Adam Schenk at 30/1 (William Hill 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) mc
1pt e.w. Aaron Rai at 50/1 (bet365, Betfair, Paddy Power 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) 28th
