At & T Byron Nelson 2022 Overview
TPC Craig Ranch located in McKinney on the north-east fringes of Dallas, Texas, it’s a 7,468 yard, Par 72 set-up with the standard split of 4 par-3s and 4-par-5s. If last year is anything to go by then we are in for a super low scoring event ahead of the second major championship of the year.
TPC Craig Ranch is designed by former PGA TOUR player and architect Tom Weiskopf, opened in 2004 and has hosted the Nationwide Tour Championship in 2008 and the Web.com Tour Championship in 2012, with the winning score of 16-under par. Current PGA TOUR pros James Hahn (2nd), Adam Hadwin (T3), Russell Henley (T6), and Luke List (T13) all competed in the 2012 event. Last year it’s hosted the Byron Nelson for the first time in what was a true birdie fest with KH Lee winning on a score of 25 under par. Jordan Speith shot 9 user par on day 1, so expect plenty more low scoring this week. Not the best prep for a major championship in my eyes. Despite the test ahead, plenty of the worlds best have chosen To tee it up here including DJ, JT, Jordan, Xander to name just a few.
TPC Craig Ranch features gently rolling hills and mature woods surrounding the limestone banks of Rowlett Creek, which runs 14 times through the course. The fairways and greens on the golf course are lush Zoysia.
Easy to hit fairways, receptive greens and no real punishment for missing the green, all in all it’s not a course to get overly excited about. Craig Ranch’s front nine is where you can make some serious birdies. The first, third, and sixth holes are all par-4s that are 430 yards or less. With 570 yard 5th and 564 yard 8th par-5s, these Bentgrass greens are ripe for birdies. The back nine features a driveable par-4 at the 14th, a short 147-yard par-3 at the 17th, and two simple par-5s at 547 yards 12th and 552 yards 15th. The other holes, on the other hand, are slightly more challenging but let’s remember this is a resort course and none of the 18 holes facing the players will give cause to sleepless nights. I expect we could see a 10 under par round this week.
With that said I am still determined to find the winner, and have broken down what I believe will be the key skill sets required to lift the trophy come Sunday night.
Key Skills Set Required
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- SG T2G – The formula is quite simple this week, dominate from T2G and your going to be right in the mix come the back nine on Sunday. Only 2 of the top 15 players last year ranked in the top 10 for putting so this is more a tee to green test than a putting contest.
- SG Approach– 6 of the final top 10 finished in the top 10 for approach play across the week. Simply put, your going to have to hit your irons close time and time again this week to stand any chances of lifting the trophy come Sunday evening. This is essentially a resort course and the player are able to take dead aim at the pins from both the fairways.
- GIR gained – Only one player in the final top 10 last year finished outside the top 10 in GIR gained on the week. The other 9 players ranked in the top 10 for GIR gained. Now I can’t see it being that pronounced this year but hitting a high percentage of GIR is by default providing plenty of birdie looks and that what all player will require this week.
- Birdies or Better % – A super low scoring affair is expected this week at TPC Craig Ranch, certainly if last year is anything to go by. So we clearly have to,pay attention to players making plenty of birdies over the past 24/36 rounds on tour. We are going to need on average 6/7 birdies per round to win this event so players who are steady and consistent might be easy to pass over this week in favour of those more aggressive golfers.
- SG Putting – Not the most important factor this week but in low scoring contests it pays to have putter who are confident in their stroke onside. When narrowing down the final portfolio it should pay dividends to favour those with positive putting performance over recent weeks, and those that excel on the Bentgrass putting surfaces we face this week.
