Fortinet Championship Preview
The course opened in 1955, but was redesigned just 11 years later in 1966 by Robert Trent Jones Jr . Silverado Resort and Spa hosted the PGA TOUR from 1968-80 before returning in 2014. The venue has produced a prestigious list of winners including Jack Nicklaus (1969), Tom Watson (1978), Ben Crenshaw (1980) and Johnny Miller (1974-75). In addition, Silverado was a PGA TOUR Champions venue from 1989-2002.
A resort course with a standard par 72 layout of 4 par 3’s and 4 pars 5’s, the players will need to go low this week.
The fairways are tree-lined, so our golfers can’t be too wayward off the tee, or they’ll be in trouble and then we have the poa annua putting surfaces which aren’t to all players liking. Those that reside in the area have a particularly good record at this track so that’s something to bear in mind on the first event of the 2021/22 season.
With the Ryder Cup taking centre stage next week the field isn’t the strongest which means a wide-open event, combined with no extreme preference for a particular playing style this will be a tough tone to unpick.
5 Key Skills Set Required
- SG Off the tee – The list of previous winners here leans toward long straight drivers of the ball.
- SG Approach – The greens here are fairly easy to hit by PGA Tour standards we want players who are gaining strokes on approach play.
- Proximity from 100-150 yards – There will be an above average number of wedges this week, looking for players who excel in this area is going to do us no harm at all. When low scoring is the order of the day you need players hitting those wedges very close.
- SG putting on Poa Annua Green – This is a specialist putting surface and although not a huge factor in the outcome in recent time, I’m certainly favouring players who have a liking for Poa Annua greens.
- Overall SG T2G – This is a long and demanding course and without a solid T2G game, players will struggle to challenge the top of the leaderboards.
Course History Stats
Players in the field this week that have string course form are the likes of NA, GRILLO AND VARNER.
