PGA DFS: Showdown Spotlight for the Farmers Insurance Open Round 3

Another Friday, and another round of cut sweats, that just can’t be made up. Take  D.J. Trahan for example. He brides 13-17 to get to -1, all the way from +3, only to double the 18th and miss by 2. You cannot make this stuff up. Again, the North Course, played two full strokes, almost three, easier than the South Course. Plus, it had rounds of -10,-7,-6 among others. Ryan Palmer who shot -10, only leads Matthew Wolff, who shot -6 today, by eight shots, and Wolff is in a tie for 51st! That’s very close field heading into the weekend, with the tournament wide open at this point.

A round of strokes gained data for every golfer, and of course, the old traditional stats to decipher after round two. First, the strokes gained data on the South Course.  Collin Morikawa might be one of the best pure ball strikers in the world, if we didn’t already know that, we are seeing it on full display this week. He’s hit 75% of his fairways over the first two rounds, and he’s not poking it out there with the Brian Gay’s of the world, he’s bombing it over 300 and on a rope. He also had another incredible day with his irons today, gaining 2.4 strokes on the. Add another 1.4 off the tee and he gained over 3.5 strokes ball striking. Wow.

Ok moving on from Morikawa, before I get too carried away here. Let’s go right to another fav of us here at Awesemo, Harry Higgs, had a great day with his approaches, gaining almost 3.5. He added just about a third of shot off the tee, for a total day ball striking in the 3.8 range. I’ll save Doc Redman for the next section, and talk about Lucas Glover for a moment. He had a great day ball striking as well, gaining almost 2.5 strokes on the day, and also gained another 2.8 with the flat stick, en route to a 5 under 67 on the South Course.

Doc Redman had possibly the worst day in terms of ball-striking vs. putting I’ve seen in quite some time. He gained almost four-ball striking, but lost almost four with the putter, coming in with a difference of 7.71. That’s incredible. Collin Morikawa also couldn’t find the putter, gaining 4.1 more strokes, with Keegan Bradley, Harry Higgs, & Joel Dahmen round out the top 5 in the category.

Lastly a check-in on the traditional statistics, not only does Collin lead in Driving Accuracy, but he also leads in Greens In Regulation, now tied with Ryan Brehm. Keegan Bradley, Joseph Bramlett & J.B. Holmes sit just two greens behind Brehm & Morikawa. Ryan Palmer has 14 birdies, Snedker 13, then Holmes at 12, along with Cameron Champ who continues to put up numbers, and even has himself in contention heading into the weekend.