Workday Charity Open: Expert Picks

Tournament Information

Workday Charity Open
Date: July 9^th – 12^th
Course: Muirfield Village
Purse: $6.2MM ($1.1MM to winner)
FedEx points: 500 to winner
OWGR Points: not available yet
2019 Winner: N/A (new tournament)

Course

Muirfield - Opened in 1974, this course is named after Muirfield, Scotland. This par-72, 7,390 yard course is fun in that Jack will routinely tweak aspects to challenge golfers any time it is noted that they are cheating the layout. It is built and tailored for golfers to follow it through a journey with bunkers and hills forcing them into selected shots.

Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

My Starting 4

Justin Rose (1st selection this year) — Justin Rose has finished in the top 15 in two of his last three tournaments that he played in. In addition to that, he has finished in the top 15 the last two years at the Memorial Tournament (which is played at Muirfield). He’s currently 65th in strokes gained off the tee and total strokes gained.

Patrick Cantlay (2nd selection this year) — Welcome back Patrick! The 5th overall PGA Golfer in total strokes gained will be participating in his second event since the return to golf occurred (the first being the Travelers Championship where he finished 11th. Over his last three years at the Memorial he finished 35th (2017), 4th (2018), and 1st (2019).

Rickie Fowler (2nd selection this year) — His recent results aren’t great (80th, 12th, and 111th) but he plays well at Muirfield (2nd, 8th, and 14th over the last three years). He’s currently 40th in total strokes gained, his driving distance is excellent (18th on tour) and he’s 7th in going for the green hit percentage. His putting has been average but on days one and four he’s among the top 25 golfers.

Byeong Hun-An (2nd selection this year) — His recent record is sub-par, since the start of June he’s finished 46th, 145th and 60th. Meanwhile, his record at Dublin is amazing with three consecutive years of top 25 finishes including a near win in 2018.

My Bench 2

Kevin Streelman (1st selection this year) — Adjacent to a 98th place and 83rd place, Kevin finished 2nd at the Travelers Championship recently. His last three years at Muirfield have been markedly more successful where he finished 13rd, 44th and 4th. He’s 33rd on the tour in driving accuracy and he excels in approaches from less than 50 yards (5th on the tour).

Cameron Champ (2nd selection this year) — He’s been lights out lately with a 14th place finish at the Charles Schwab Invitational and a 12th place finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last week. In addition to this he’s 25th on the tour in total strokes gained, 1st in strokes gained off the tee and 20th in strokes gained tee to green. He’s 2nd in driving distance, 11th in birdie average and 4th in going for the green. His issue is his putting is terrible 116th on the tour. Also he struggled mightily at Muirfield last year finishing 101st with a score of 77 on Friday.

Fun Fact: This tournament is intended to be a one year replacement for the John Deere Classic as the next tournament is the Memorial which will be played at the same course.

2020 Stats

Starting 4: Avg finish 46th (33rd percentile)
Bench 2: Avg finish 65th (46th percentile)