Wells Fargo 2022 Heavy Petting

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If golf research were sexual...you'd be rounding 2nd base after this.

Here are a few key things to know that may not have been covered on the podcast enough. Keep these in mind when narrowing down your bets and/or player pool.

• The course played softer in 2018. They had rain, they had a delay, wind was up a little more. This year is shaping up to look a lot more like 2018 with softer conditions.

• Molinari, Ancer & Streelman hold the course record here of 62. JJ Spaun and Landry both shot 63s. All 5 scores were in 2018's Quicken Loans National.

• Fowler said in 2018 that when it's firm and fast (like in 2017), it can separate the field more with who's really hitting it well and who isn't. It won't be firm & fast this year. That may add more variance. It also may make the fairways easier to hit and add an advantage to distance.

• Softer conditions doesn't mean you can hit it in the rough here though. Tiger said in 2018 that the wet rough makes it thicker and sticky and was still adamant that you play this course from the fairway.

• The bent grass greens are projected to run at 12.5 on the stimp and they're only 4200 sq ft on average. Despite likely being softer due to rain, they still aren't all that easy to hit at that size and speed. Around the green play will matter this week. Not a lot, but it should be looked at.

• Water comes into play on 10 holes according to the GCSAA. Plus there about 80 "Scottish Style" bunkers on the course.

• 13 players in this year's field made the cut in BOTH the 2017 and 2018 Quicken Loans National. Kang, Fowler, Leishman, Wagner, Lingmerth, Streelman, Watney, Haas, Blaum, Percy, Power, Hahn & Tway is the rank for SG VS Expectation from 1-13. Kang being 1st.

• Long hitters will possibly club down off the tee. Here are the longer hitters (at that time) that finished in the top 20 in 2018 (similar weather conditions): Tiger 4th, Burgoon 6th, Hossler 6th, Palmer 8th, Fowler 12th, CH3 17th, Niemann 17th

1. Fairways gained the last 50 rds: 1. Laird 2. Knox 3. Ancer 4. Streelman 5. Long 6. Dahmen 7. Rai 8. Harman 9. Henley 10. Kuchar

2. Strokes gained putting % leaders on bent grass: 1. Ancer 2. Wagner 3. Hossler 4. Hughes 5. Reed 6. Poston 7. Ryder 8. McIIroy 9. Power 10. Harman

3. Strokes gained T2G leaders in the last 3 calendar months: 1. Young 2. Bradley 3. Homa 4. Fitz 5. Woodland 6. Mitchell 7. Conners 8. Henley 9. Si Woo 10. McIIroy

4. On courses <7200 yards, difficult scoring, & bent grass, your top 10 in total strokes gained are: 1. Kuchar 2. Casey 3. Watney 4. Leishman 5. Simpson 6. Finau 7. Day 8. Bradley 9. Hoffman 10. Hahn

5. Top 10 JUST strokes gained ball striking on courses <7200 yards, difficult to hit fairways, & difficult scoring: 1. Garcia 2. Casey 3. Bradley 4. List 5. Watney 6. Kuchar 7. Hoffman 8. Mitchell 9. Villegas 10. McIIroy

6. Top 10 in birdies or better gained the last 50 rounds: 1. Young 2. McIIroy 3. Henley 4. Simpson 5. Lee 6. Ramey 7. Power 8. Vegas 9. Whaley 10. Hatton

7. Top 10 in good drives gained last 24 rounds: 1. Laird 2. Steele 3. Conners 4. Dahmen 5. Ancer 6. Harman 7. Lipsky 8. Stuard 9. Smalley 10. NeSmith

8. Top 10 in GIR's gained the last 12 rounds: 1. Finau 2. Smalley 3. NeSmith 4. Lahiri 5. Lipsky 6. Wu 7. Woodland 8. Long 9. Fitz 10. Straka

9. Top 10 in proximity from the 2 main approach shot buckets (200+ & 175-200): 1. List 2. Smotherman 3. Straka 4. Finau 5. Fowler 6. Knox 7. Laird 8. Woodland 9. Casey 10. Svensson

10. Top 10 projected points per salary dollar (good values): 1. Power 2. Conners 3. Henley 4. Ghim 5. Long 6. Si Woo 7. Mitchell 8. Dahmen 9. Knox 10. Fitz

After nailing our play last week for a nice 5x return to start your Thursday, I'm breaking out the PrizePicks round 1 play again this week. I'd jump on this as soon as possible as the lines are likely to move. Given how the weather is shaping up as of Tuesday afternoon for Round 1, I'm fading Hatton on the Par 5 with a South wind and I'm bullish on the PM trio of Woodland, Homa and Knox. Tail at your own risk (or reward).

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