We are on the eve of the first tournament of the 2014-2015 season (yeah, seriously), which means we are are about to see the graduates of the Web.com Tour, some for the first time and some who have been on Tour for a few years. There are 50 graduates, so it would be impossible for me to predict how each of them would fare next season. If you are interested in that sort of thing, Rob Bolton did a break down of every full member of the PGA Tour. For me, I would like to highlight five players from the Web.com Tour that I think will make an impact immediately.
1) Adam Hadwin - My pick for Rookie Of The Year next season. Hadwin has played a few times on the PGA Tour, most notably a third place finish at the 2011 Canadian Open. He played a couple of season on the Web.com Tour, but absolutely exploded this season and walked away as the top qualifier from the playoffs. He will have no trouble getting into tournaments as he will be immune from the reshuffle list. He's the rookie that may have the least amount of adjustment to make.
2) Jason Gore - At 40, he may not get another opportunity, so he will need to make the most out of this season. Notched 7 top 10s last season, including a third place finish at the Tour Finals. He will have familiarity with some of the courses he will play this season, which gives him a leg up on some of his fellow graduates. I don't expect him to have a huge, break out season, but could very easily make the playoffs.
3) Richard Sterne - Good pro on the European Tour who made the President's Cup last season, but success on foreign tours don't always translate into success on the PGA Tour. Regardless, his has played in every major and the World Golf Championship events, so he knows how to deal with pressure. The question will be how many events he decides to play in.
4) Steve Wheatcroft - Has been bouncing back and forth between the PGA and Web.com Tours for the better part of 8 years, so most won't have a lot of confidence in him retaining his card this season. He did, however, win in Boise last season. His consistency is a concern, but he should be able to get into quite a few tournaments, especially early in the season, so we should know out the gate if he's going to be able to get anything going.
5) Sung-Joon Park - Going off the board for this one. The 28 year old from Korea has played a few years in Japan to decent success, and played on the Web.com Tour last year, where he got nothing going until the playoffs. He has a lot of talent, but the results haven't really been there yet. I think, however, that he can sneak in a few great finishes to jump start his PGA Tour career. He will also be a rookie next season, and it may be a weaker rookie class this year, so Park might be a part of the conversation.
No comments:
Post a Comment