This week’s PGA Tour main event is the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but the Puerto Rico Open is also a great competition. A lot of the FedEx top 50 players will be playing in the Invitational in Bay Hill, Florida, this week. This makes room for the guys that have cracked the top 100 in the FedEx standings to crack the top 50 with a good performance in Puerto Rico.
The Puerto Rico Open winner will be given 300 FedEx points that will help them going into the end of the season.
Guys to Watch Out For
Nate Lashley, Ben Martin, Brandon Harkins, Scott Piercy, and Andrew Novak are the top five guys to watch out for this week.
Lashley turned pro in 2005, and since turning pro, he has played in 120 PGA Tour events and has one win under his belt.
Martin turned pro in 2010, has played in 216 PGA Tour events, and has one win.
Harkins turned pro in 2010 and has only 61 PGA Tour events under his belt. Harkins is still looking for that first career win.
Piercy turned pro in 2001 and has played in 373 PGA Tour events. Piercy has four PGA Tour wins going into this weekend.
Novak is the last man, and he turned pro in 2017. Novak has played in 37 PGA Tour events since 2017 but still does not have a win on the PGA Tour.
Factors That Make This Course Difficult
Wind in golf is such a huge factor when it comes down to trying and win a tournament. The wind speeds could be five or 50 mph, depending on the event’s location.
The wind this week in Puerto Rico will be a huge factor because the wind will be a huge factor.
What does wind have to do with golf?
Everything, the trajectory of the ball off your club face and the gust of wind coming at you from the tee box. This week these players will need to keep the ball at a low trajectory to give themselves a chance of winning this tournament.
Who’s Going to Win This Year?
Ryan Brehm was the 2022 Puerto Rico Open winner last year. Brehm will not be back this year as he will be attending the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida this year.
That leaves a lot of room for the older guys on tour. A lot of these tour players that have played since the early 2000s have played phenomenally on this golf course.
Do not be afraid to put money on some of these older guys this year. These players know the course well and definitely have some tricks up their sleeves this week.
This week I love Scott Piercy for the outright winner because he is one of the older guys on tour and has won a few times on tour already. I feel Piercy has the confidence that if he can go out and play his best, then he knows he will be able to win the tournament, which is a huge confidence booster as a golfer.
