So, how many of you had Erik van Rooyen on your winning ticket?

I bet not many of you took van Rooyen at 66 to 1. In a way, he was sitting there waiting to get plucked. Since the Omega European Masters, he has made five starts and was in the top 30 in all of them. In those 20 rounds, his scoring average was 68.60, and he broke par 18 times. One of the reasons many didn't spot him was because he finished T-8th at the Omega European Masters and T-16th at the Irish Open. But signs of his excellent play in his last start at the Shriners showed him shooting 70-67-68-65.

Van Rooyen had one of those record books back nines on Sunday. After making a bogey on his first hole, he made birdie at two and six. He got hot on the back nine, making an eagle, six birdies, and just two pars for a final nine 28. At first, I thought this was a record for the ages until I found out that Viktor Hovland also shot a final-nine 28 at the BMW Championship just two months ago to win by two.

And to show how low some have gone, last year at the Wyndham Championship, Tom Kim shot a front-nine 27 in the final round to win for the first time. For 2023, van Rooyen and Hovland aren't alone in shooting nine holes in 28. Six others have done it this year. One thing that we can say was remarkable about van Rooyen's finish, he played his final three holes in birdie, birdie, eagle, thanks in part to making 54 feet of putts. I was surprised at all the 28s and 29s shot over the last year. I was even more floored that van Rooyen's last three holes of four-under made him the last winner since Rickie Fowler won the 2015 Players Championship playing the last three holes in four under (eagle, birdie, birdie).

Van Rooyen has had a roller-coaster ride since joining the PGA Tour in 2020. When he won at the 2021 Barracuda Championship, many thought he would be the next best South African to hit the United States. 2021 was an excellent year for him. In 27 PGA Tour starts, he made 16 cuts and was in the top ten five times. He won $2.2 million, even making it to the Tour Championship (finished T-22nd). Things didn't carry over to the following year. He not only struggled with his game but had a nagging neck injury. By the time the British Open rolled around, he had missed five straight cuts and was hurting, so he withdrew after missing the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open. He took three months off and rehabbed the injury, coming back at the Andalucia Masters. He struggled with his game. Yes, he finished T-6th at the American Express and T-10th at the Valspar. Starting at Wells Fargo, he missed four straight cuts and, after playing poorly at the RBC Canadian Open, contacted Sean Foley. He worked with him the week of the U.S. Open, and by the Barracuda Championship, things started turning around. What Foley provided van Rooyen was some perspective and confidence that his swing was pretty good. All he had to do was get the club square on the ball. He was T-6th at the Barracuda, and by the time he played in Switzerland, his game felt like his old self.

Despite playing well, van Rooyen was sick the week before. He spent the week mostly in bed and didn't hit any balls for a week. By the time he got to Mexico, he was not hitting it very well, but he turned things around on Wednesday.

The week was bittersweet for him. His good friend from college, Jon Trasamar, has been battling Stage 4 melanoma for over a year, and on the Tuesday before he played, van Rooyengot sent a text saying that Trasamar only has six to ten weeks left. After his victory, van Rooyen dedicated the win to Jon.

Van Rooyen was planning to play in Bermuda, but with the news from Trasamar, he changed his plans and traveled to Minnesota to be with Trasamar.

News from Mexico, a driving fool:

Adam Long is that player on Tour that keeps on ticking year after year. After four years on the Korn Ferry Tour, Long earned his PGA Tour card by finishing 13th on the Korn Ferry Tour money list. He hit instant fame on his sixth PGA Tour start when he shot a final-round 65 to win the American Express in Palm Springs, beating Phil Mickelson and Adam Hadwin. The following year, Long was runner-up twice at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and the 3M Open. But in 2021, he struggled with his game but was able to Irish T-rd at Mayakoba. But after that, his game tanked; in 22 starts, he only made seven cuts, and his best finish was T-20th at Colonial. Long had two key elements to his game: the ability to putt well and to drive it in the fairway. He showed how straight of a driver he was in the World Wide Technology Championship by hitting 56 of 56 fairways.

He became the ninth player since 1997 to accomplish that feat. Still, the big difference was that the other eight accomplished that feat at the Old Course of St. Andrews and Kapalua, courses which had fewer par 3s, so, at Kapalua, a total of 60 fairways, and at St. Andrews had a total of 64. So Long became the first player in PGA Tour history since Brain Claar did the same at the 1992 Memorial to hit every fairway in a 72-hole event. For the season, Long ranks 13th in driving accuracy, hitting 66.78%. Despite the significant accomplishment, it didn't help him much in his overall problem of being ranked 138th in the Fall Points list. Long finished T-23rd in Mexico, and for the season, it was only his fourth top-25 finish. While Long is great at hitting fairways and even making putts, Long only hit 56 of 72 greens, and his 77.97% average ranked T-66th of the 73 players who made the cut. So Long has two events to get into the top 125, or it's a return to the Korn Ferry Tour, which he hasn't seen since 2018.

Just about everyone hit the fairways in Mexico:

Yes, Long's accomplishment was great, but let's face the facts, fairways at El Cardonal at Diamante are very generous. They averaged 60 yards wide, enough to land a 747 on them. They were so abundant that of the 5,740 tee shots hit on par 4s and 5s, 5,194 hit the fairway, 90.48%. In looking at the numbers for the year, the next best for the year was 74.94 at the Masters. Now, looking back, since fairway hits have been kept by the PGA Tour since 1992, El Cardonal at Diamante set a new record as the first course in which over 90% of the drives hit the fairways. The previous best was at the 2010 Bob Hope when 85.32% of the fairways were hit at Silver Rock. So El Cardonal at Diamante made history in its PGA Tour debut as the course with the easiest fairways to hit on the PGA Tour.

New irons for Cameron Young

According to Golf.Com at the World Wide Technology Championship, Cameron Young debuted a new set of Titleist irons, which are called the 631CY. Now, don't go to your local golf shop looking to buy these clubs; they are custom-made for Titleist players. The premise of the clubs is to keep the center of gravity, launch, and turf interaction consistent by widening the sole and removing weight to induce a higher launch. Now, Young has been playing around with different irons since April at the RBC Heritage and decided after using them a lot in his off weeks at the WWT Championship.

The irons looked to be a God-send as Young hit 18 of 18 greens in the first round to shoot 65. But in the second round, he hit 11 of 14 greens and shot 74. He followed it with rounds of 72-64 to finish T-54th. Despite hitting 57 of 72 greens, which ranked T-57th, Young is having another set made with some tweaks that Young could use in his next start at the RSM Classic. Young is still looking for his first win, and his game struggled a bit in 2023, as his best finish was runner-up at the WGC-Dell Tech Match Play Championship. In 2023, Young has improved his greens hit for the year, ranking 53rd this year compared to 143rd last year. But Young's biggest problem this year has been putting. Last year, he ranked 68th in Strokes Gained Putting, but in 2023, he is 153rd. Another problem for Young is that his regular caddie, Paul Tesori, is home in Florida with a back injury that he may need surgery on. While home, Tesori took X-rays of the four damaged discs in his back. The pictures showed the ruptured disc was worse than they thought, but Tesori wants to rehab for a month and do tests after that to see if a possible microdiscectomy is the course of action.

He continues to roll along:

Ludvig Aberg kept his excellent play going with a T-10th in Mexico. It was his seventh straight top-15 worldwide finish going back to the Wyndham Championship. One of the reasons for the good finishes is his play in the final round in his last seven starts. The only time he didn't break 70 was his final round 76 at the BMW PGA Championship, but in his other six finishes, his final round average is 65.5. In Mexico last week,

Aberg shot 64 to finish T-10th, and at his previous start at the Shriners Children's, Aberg shot 62. He isn't playing in Bermuda this week but will be at the RSM Classic with two goals. He is 53rd in the world rankings and needs to be in the top 50 at the end of the year to qualify for the Masters and other majors. His second goal, which may be more challenging to achieve, he is 95th in the FedEx Fall Standings and will need about 440 points in his RSM start, which is either a solo 2nd or a win. But we can easily say that even though he hasn't won, Aberg has been the bright spot on the fall swing.

Quickies:

Oliver Betschart, a 15-year-old local prodigy, will become the youngest player to compete on the PGA Tour since 2014 and the fifth youngest since 2000 when he plays this week in Bermuda. Betschart got into the field by being one of the four qualifiers. When Betschart hits his opening shot Thursday, Betschart will become the youngest player to compete on the PGA Tour since 2014 and the fifth youngest since 2000. Michelle Wie West is the youngest since 2000, having competed in the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii at 14 years, 3 months, and 7 days.

Chesson Hadley was supposed to play in Bermuda, but after shooting 63 on Sunday to finish T-7th, he withdrew. For Hadley, with a T-7th finish at the Shriners and World Wide Technology, he moved up 18 spots to 104th in the FedEx Fall points. With the finish, Hadley is assured to retain his PGA Tour card for 2024. Hadley is planning on playing at the season-ending RSM Classic.

C.T. Pan missed the cut in Mexico and will be 125th on the FedEx Fall points list heading into Bermuda. Patton Kizzire shot a final round 63 to finish T-15th in Mexico and jumped from 130th to 126th on the points list. Both Pan and Kizzire will be playing in Bermuda.

Ben Griffin returns to Bermuda to exact a little revenge on Port Royal. The PGA Tour rookie led last year's event during the final round but played holes 12-16 in a combined 6 over en route to a T-3 finish.

It is hard to believe that Griffin worked as a loan officer for a mortgage group in North Carolina during the spring and summer of 2021. Thanks to some generous offers from members at Highland Springs C.C. in North Carolina, Griffen got into the final stage of Q-Shool and got a Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2022. He was 15th on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Eligibility Points List to graduate to the PGA Tour for 2023. On top of his excellent finish last year in Bermuda, Griffin was T-2nd at the Sanderson Farms Championship, losing a playoff to Luke List. After that, he missed the cut at the Shriners, was T-64th at the Zozo, and T-23rd last week in Mexico. Griffin is 56th on the FedEx Fall Points list, so he has a Tour card for 2024 and is in good shape to play in the two signature events in 2024.

Matt Kuchar shot a 6-under 66 Sunday, and while it wasn't enough for the win, his T-2nd moved him up 14 spots in the FedExCup Fall standings to 52nd, all but securing him a spot in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational next year.

The week in Mexico won't conclude, though, without some heartbreak. Kuchar led by six shots upon reaching the 15th tee in Saturday's third round then pulled his tee shot into dense bushes and made a quadruple bogey. He followed with a bogey-par-par finish, falling into a share of the 54-hole lead with Villegas. Kuchar rebounded with a bogey-free 66 on Sunday, but it wasn't enough to withstand Van Rooyen's closing flurry.

Significant movement up the FedEx Fall standings

Another who should be playing in the signature events is Mackenzie Hughes. With his T-7th finish in Mexico, he moved from 57th to 53rd, which should be enough to finish in the Next ten races.

Doug Ghim gave himself some breathing room after a T-15th in Mexico. Ghim moved from No. 123 to No. 117 after his week in Mexico, a good improvement over missing the cut at the Sanderson Farms and Shriners.

Camilo Villegas' T-2nd was his first top-10 finish in nearly two-and-a-half-years on the PGA Tour. It moved Villegas up 76 spots in the FedExCup Fall to 147th. This places him 127 points from the top 125, so playing this week and next will give him a chance to keep climbing.

Austin Cook shot the low round of the week, a final-round 62, to finish T-10th and climb up 24 spots to 155th. Finishing inside the top 150 means Cook will keep conditional status on Tour for 2024, an improvement in his Past Champion category.

Onward to Bermuda

Located on the island of Bermuda, which is in the Atlantic Ocean 650 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.  The course is on the southwest part of the island with most of the holes with views of the Atlantic.  It was originally supposed to be built in 1965 and they had some problems with one farmer who changed his mind on selling the property.  In 1967 all the land was bought and Robert Trent Jones did the routing and the course opened in 1970.

Course information:

• Port Royal GC

• Southampton, Bermuda

• 6,828 yards     Par 36-35--72

The course is government-run and one of the most popular public courses in the world and it was the host of the Bermuda Open.  The course got a $16 million renovation in 2009 so that it could host the PGA Grand Slam of Golf.  With the support of the Bermuda Government, Port Royal is now one of the world’s premier public golf courses boasting TifEagle greens, a state-of-the-art irrigation system, and sweeping ocean views from nearly every hole.

Jones built the course to utilize the ocean views along with the par 3 16th hole that dangles over the Atlantic Ocean.  At 6,828 yards, it's the shortest course on the PGA Tour for 2023 (The Travelers TPC River Highlands at 6,852 is 24 yards longer), but one that won't appeal to long hitters.  The reason, most of the holes have sharp doglegs, which require finesse off the tee.  The course only has three holes that don't dogleg, so most players have to throttle back off the tee.  So off the bat, those who are short off the tee have an advantage.  In looking at the previous champions, Brian Gay and Brendon Todd are the shortest players on the PGA Tour.  The most significant protection Port Royal has is mother nature.  Sitting on a bluff over the Atlantic, it has severe wind coming off of the ocean.  On a perfect day, winds will be around 10 mph.  But on average, expect average winds between 17 and 20 mph, which gusts up to 30 miles per hour.  So look for a player that does well in windy conditions.  This is one of the reasons you don't see more marquee names; most players tend to avoid courses with a history of high winds.  Many a player have found themselves all messed up after playing a few rounds in the wind.  So look for those who excel in windy conditions, players who grew up in windy places like Texas, Florida, Australia, or Great Britain and Ireland. Those players who fit the bill are Lucas Glover, Luke List, Alex Smalley, Thomas Detry, Brian Gay, Ryan Armour, and Russell Knox.  I also have to look at players with a lot of experience, this is not a course that will be tough on a young player to win, so I see the champion who has won before.  Most importantly, look for those that have played a lot in windy conditions.  Lastly, you want a player who can play well on par 4s, past winners Brendon Todd was 12 under on the par 4s, 2021 winner Brian Gay was 15 under, 2022 winner Lucas Herbert was 7 under, and last year's winner Seamus Power was 11 under on the par 4s.

Still, the course will allow a lot of birdies and eagles, so those that have offense will do good.

Putting has been key to success at Port Royal in recent years. Only one winner has ranked outside the top five in putts per round (Herbert in 2022), and he ranked T6 in that stat. The narrow, winding Port Royal layout offers plenty of wedge opportunities, generally leading to several mid-range birdie putts in the 10- to 15-foot range. Players know they’ll likely need to convert several in this range to have a chance on the back nine on Sunday.

So the question for all is, who are the picks for this week?

First, we have to look at who is playing the best going into Bermuda. This is a small sampling of our Golfstats preview for the Bermuda Championship.

So that brings up who are my picks for this week:

For a complete look at our picks join GolfStats.Com and you can get our weekly preview along with more great information like our who’s hot, and who’s not plus are performance charts, all on Golfstats.com.

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