Tag: PGA

The bets have been placed and the drafting is over! Your 2020 Grad School Sports FedEx Cup Draft results are in. Overall, the preview played an important role between Grad School TJK and Grad School’s JPF results in selecting key players in the 2020 season. At the first of each month, Grad School TJK and Grad School JPF will be able to make decisions on their current draft picks. They will be able to add, drop, or trade up to two players they wish. The 2020 Draft initial selection results are as follows:

Round 1: Grad School TJK was given the first pick of the 2020 Draft as he lost the 2019 FedEx Cup bet. With the first pick, Grad School TJK selected Brooks Koepka—currently unranked in the 2020 FedEx Cup Rankings.  Grad School JPF followed up the second pick of the first round with selecting Dustin Johnson—also currently unranked in the 2020 FedEx Cup Rankings. While both first-rounders are currently unranked, look for them to have a big 2020 season.

Round 2: With the first pick of the second round, Grad School TJK obtained 2019 FedEx Cup winner, Rory McIlroy—currently ranked 4^th in the 2020 FedEx Cup Rankings. Grad School JPF elected Justin Thomas as his second overall pick—currently ranked 5^th in the 2020 FedEx Cup Rankings.

Round 3: Round three led to the drafting of Xander Schauffele—currently ranked 21^st—by Grad School TJK and Justin Rose—presently ranked 170^th—by Grad School JPF.

Round 4: Grad School TJK obtained veteran Jason Day—currently ranked 139^th—and Grad School JPF scored big with selecting Tommy Fleetwood—ranked 109^th presently.

Round 5: The final round of the 2020 FedEx Cup Draft initial selecting finished with Grad School TJK selecting cry-baby Patrick Reed—ranked 70^th—and Grad School JPF selecting Bryson DeChambeau—ranked 52^nd.

The details are shown as follows:

$100 PGA FedEx Cup Bet

• On the 1st of every month, you may have the opportunity to add/drop/trade players that you have chosen to be of your Top 5 Choices. You will have 24 hours to make the add/drop/trade. Prior to add/drop/change, you must consult the other party to notify them of the add/drop/change. Every month, first choice to add/drop/trade will change (Tanner in March, Jeremy in April, etc.). A maximum of 2 add/drop/changes may occur during these 24-hour periods. 

• DEADLINE to add/drop/trade is May 1st. On this date after the 24-hour period, those 5 players in the box below are final—no exceptions.

TJK	JPF
Brooks Koepka (u)	Dustin Johnson (u)
Rory McIlroy (4)	Justin Thomas (5)
Xander Schauffele (21)	Justin Rose (170)
Jason Day (139)	Tommy Fleetwood (109)
Patrick Reed (70)	Bryson DeChambeau (52)

***Rankings are current as of Dec 16, 2019 and adjusted every week***

First Choices

January→ Jeremy

February→ Tanner

March → Jeremy

April → Tanner

May → Jeremy

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last month or so, today begins the 2019 President’s Cup hosted in Australia. The President’s Cup features the United States vs International teams both made up of 12 outstanding golfers. The 2019 United States team includes: Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Matt Kuchar, Xander Schauffele, Webb Simpson, Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Tiger Woods, Gary Woodland, Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, and Rickie Fowler. They will be facing a “not-so-stacked” International team featuring: Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Marc Leishman, Abraham Ancer, Haotong Li, C.T. Pan, Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Adam Hadwin, Sungjae Im, and Byeong Hun An.

While the United States team seems to be the absolute favorite in recent history (losing only once in the last 25 years), 2019 leaves a gray area where we have lots of speculation in how the United States will play. There are a few main factors that make me think we may have a tough challenge this year. First, perhaps the best United States golfer in the last five years dropped out—Brooks Koepka. And for some reason, Tiger Woods chose Rickie Fowler to replace him. Why did he do that? I’m not quite sure. The format for the President’s Cup is four-ball, foursome matches, and singles. To be completely honest, Rickie Fowler is not the greatest match player, so slotting him in place of Koepka may be fatal.

The States team also includes Kuchar, who was great at last year’s Dell Technologies, and even had a chance to win the FedEx Cup. However, he is by no means the most consistent player on Tour—in fact, he is spotty at best. The United States is also bringing in five rookies to the President’s Cup, which could prove very beneficial, or just down-right horrible.

On the flip side, The United States boast Tiger Woods, Gary Woodland, and Justin Thomas. All of which are coming off phenomenal placings at the Hero World Challenge. Tiger Woods, well, he needs no introduction. The man is simply the greatest golfer in the history of the sport (yes, I did just say that). Gary Woodland played almost flawless golf at the Hero and his green-reading ability will hopefully carry over into this week. And last but not least, there’s Justin Thomas. Thomas is quite reasonably the best match player on Tour—even taking down Rory McIlroy in last year’s Ryder Cup.

Overall, even with the bad taste of Patrick Reed in everyone’s mouth, the 24 hour travel to Australia, and the potential rise that many of the International team members boast, we can expect to see a fairly dominant United States team taking down Matsuyama and the International team this week.

Tiger Woods. The name alone is enough to send shivers down the back of any golfer. A name that many know, even though they may not be golf or sports fan themselves. In contrast, many avid golf fans know that Tiger Woods currently ties the record for the most PGA Tour wins in golf history with another all-time great—Sam Snead. However, it is fair to note that in those 82 wins, Snead only has 7 Majors. Tiger Woods, on the other hand, has 15 Major wins—second only to Jack Nicklaus. Tiger Woods has also achieved 10 Player of the Year awards, been given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, holds the lowest career scoring average in Tour history, and is one of five golfers in history to win all four majors in his career (Woods has actually won each major at least three times).

With all those accolades in mind, Tiger Woods is without a doubt, the greatest golfer to ever walk the course. But will the G.O.A.T ever achieve 83 Tour wins? Well, he just barely missed it this past weekend at his self-hosted tournament: the Hero World Challenge. In the short answer, yes. I firmly believe this is the “year of G.O.A.T.’s” and that Tiger will in fact put away the sought-after 83. But that now begs the question, how many wins can Tiger achieve? 85? I don’t see why not. 90? Eh, maybe. The real answer comes in two schools of thought: Tiger’s durability and the upcoming competition.

Most fans of the sport are aware that Woods has a history with back problems. In fact, it’s fair to say that Woods will never be the same golfer he was prior to his scandal in 2009. The scandal led to a downright spiral of the great golfer, and since then, has had a number of issues that seem to stem from the incident 10 years ago: the “at-home” issues, the DUI, and the injuries. All of these played a role in hindering Tiger from competition for a number of years—potentially costing him a highly coveted record.

The second school of thought noted is competition. It’s no secret that Tiger Wood is 43 years old and that there are younger, stronger golfers in the field: Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas. Not to mention the “up-and-coming” stars such as Matthew Wolfe, Cameron Champ, Joaquin Niemann, and Viktor Hovland. These youthful golfers not only have the ability, the strength, and the “it” factor to win, they have the passion and determination to make a name for themselves. Heck, Rory McIlroy still has the hunger and has the “something to prove” mentality as he needs to win a green jacket. The one downside to being the G.O.A.T. is that once you’re at the top, there’s nothing left to “prove” per se—he’s done it. He’s achieved nearly everything. The one other thing that is getting in Tiger’s way is the aspect of fatherhood. Tiger Woods used to spend every waking moment at the golf course practicing and playing. However, now that his children are growing up, his priorities have undoubtedly shifted. His focus is now on being a better father, and as bad as it is to say, may be a downside to his career.

Tiger Woods has achieved things in sports that may potentially never be surpassed. He is a once-in-a-century golfer. He is the greatest athlete of all time, arguably in any sport. But is this great golfer’s career coming to a close? Perhaps. Perhaps not.