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10 bold predictions for the 2020 PGA Tour season

Schauffele and Cantlay on the rise.

USA Today/Pete Rogers Illustrations

10 bold predictions for the 2020 PGA Tour season:

  1. Kevin Chappell finishes in the top 10 in two of the Majors this year
  2. Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay or Paul Casey get their first Major win this year.
  3. Tiger Woods wins a WGC event this year for the first time since 2013. In general I think we see a move away from smaller tournaments into the larger events as he plays fewer events in lieu of preserving his body.
  4. Phil Mickelson announces his retirement at the end of this season. Just a gut feeling here that he’s ready to move on to something new at the conclusion of this season.
  5. Jordan Spieth has twice as many top 20 finishes in 2020 (12) as he did in 2019 (6).
  6. Chez Reavie (8th in FedEx points in 2019) finishes outside the top 50 in 2020.
  7. Victor Hovland and Beau Hossler win their first PGA Golf Tournament in 2020.
  8. Cameron Champ (62nd in 2019) and Matthew Wolff (74th in 2019) finish in the top 20 in FedEx points.
  9. Three of these golfers finish in the top 20 in earners by year end (all of them finished outside the top 50 in 2019): Jason Day, Austin Cook, Emiliano Grillo, Peter Uihlein and Joaquin Niemann
  10. Non-Americans won 11 PGA events in 2018 and 13 in 2019, we see Non-Americans win 18 events in 2020. Likeliest candidates include: Jon Rahm, Paul Casey, Rory McIlroy, Hideki Matsuyama, Abraham Ancer, Jason Day, Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia, Marc Leishman, Adam Scott, Tommy Fleetwood and Sungjae Im

Recapping the 2019 PGA Bold Predictions

1. For a 6th consecutive year, we have a different PGA player of the year
Result: Well, if I had said 5th, I would have been clear but Rory McIlroy won and it while it came down to the wire, I was wrong. (Incorrect)

2.Adam Scott or Matt Kuchar land inside the top 20 at year’s end
Result: If you remember both struggled in 2018 and entered with low stock value in 2019. Matt Kuchar ended 2018 76th and Adam Scott 51st. Well Adam Scott ended 2019 6th and Matt Kuchar 16th. (Correct)

3. Rickie Fowler wins a major this year
Result: The year of Rickie did not come to fruition. He finished 9th, 36th, 47th and 6th across the four major tournaments adding a few more top 10 finishes to his resume. (Incorrect)

4. Abraham Ancer makes the cut in two majors and finishes in the top 10 in seven tournaments this season
Result: My break through candidate did in fact break through even appearing in the Presidents Cup at the end of the year. He only finished in the top 10 in five tournaments last season but he did make the cut in two majors (he only appeared in three of them). (Half-Correct)

5. Tiger sits out at least 3 tournaments specifically to nurse an injury
Result: The year of Tiger as he wins the Masters, am I right? But a knee injury required surgery in August that knocked him out of quite a few tournaments during 2019. (Correct)

6. Brooks Koepka DOES NOT win a major this year after winning three in the last two years
Result: Brooks won another PGA Championship giving him 4 total wins across two events in three years. (Incorrect)

7. Keegan Bradley (9th last year) finishes outside the top 25 at the end of the year
Result: He finished 66th with one win, three top ten finishes and five missed cuts. (Correct)

8. Tony Finau doubles his current professional wins (2) in 2019
Result: Tony finished in the top 3 four times and finished in the top 10 seven times but he did NOT have a win in 2019 (Incorrect)

9. Three of these five golfers land in the top 10 earners in 2019: Patrick Reed, Luke List, Charley Hoffman, Kyle Stanley, Daniel Berger
Result: Patrick Reed (19th); Charley Hoffman (78th), Luke List (83rd); Kyle Stanley (95th) and Daniel Berger (141st);. Only one of them finished in the top 20. (Incorrect).

10. The prodigal Sungjae Im will be a great rookie but will NOT win rookie of the year
Result: He was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year (Incorrect)

Total: A slight improvement off the 2018 Bold Predictions as 3.5 / 10 were right.