{"id":18,"date":"2023-09-13T04:37:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T04:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/?p=18"},"modified":"2023-09-13T04:38:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T04:38:11","slug":"a-look-at-the-week-ahead-in-golf-pga-tour-the-fortinet-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/2023\/09\/13\/a-look-at-the-week-ahead-in-golf-pga-tour-the-fortinet-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look at the Week Ahead in Golf – PGA Tour – The Fortinet Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
You know when we are officially in the fall, when the Autumn Schedule is released, and Starbucks starts selling pumpkin lattes. In the first week of the PGA is The Fortinet Championship in Napa, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What can you expect from The Fortinet Championship? The Fortinet, formerly known as the Safeway Open, is the first championship match of the season. With a hefty purse of $8,400,000, the North Course at Silverado Resort is hosting, and we can expect to see some outstanding play from Justin Thomas and Max \u2018Spicy\u2019 Homa, who are fine-tuning before they head to the Ryder Cup in Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About The Fortinet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The tee-off at The Fortinet marks the start of the seven tournament championships contributing to the FedEx Cup. Each tournament produces an official PGA Tour winner and membership to the winner\u2019s priority rankings through 2025. However, because of the scheduling, the points system will be contested to determine player membership status for 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All PGA Tour players will open in January\u2019s new season with 0 FedEx points. Here\u2019s how the course is looking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
Holes 14-17 will be in play – formerly known as 8-11.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Holes 8-13 in play – formerly known as 12-17.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Hole 17 – previously 11th is now the signature hole on the course, setting up a 575-yard par-5 finish.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
The course at Silverado is a stock par 72 at 7,123 yards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
The change around the Silverado loop serves several purposes, creating nines of 35 and 37 with three par 5s on the back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The weather is as expected, with spectacular conditions and dominating sunshine. Daytime conditions offer temperatures around 80 degrees (26.667\u00b0C), so we should see some outstanding play. There might be a little wind, but nothing to excite the fans or disturb the shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who\u2019s Looking to Take the Title at The Fortinet?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Max Homa, the favorite, is likely to win The Fortinet Championship. This is a safe bet, but expect to see challengers in the form of Sahith Theegala and Australia\u2019s Cameron Davis. Davis finished 48th among the playoff contenders and is a wild card from the outer 50 who opened the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andrew Putnam is a good call; although his trophy cupboard is bare from the 22\/23 season, he has nine straight cuts to his name, including a T10 at the BMW Champs. Brendon Todd might feature, but he didn\u2019t make the top 40 in the playoff events but did finish 47th in the FedEx Cup, so it\u2019s a maybe for Todd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moving on, Mark Hubbard (Homeless Hubbs) is already secure with a Tour card after finishing 67th in the FedEx Cup. A product of The Spartans (San Jose State University) Homeless Hubbs has connected for a top 25 slot in three of the four Fortinet editions, with outstanding ball-striking Hubbard won\u2019t stay homeless for long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany\u2019s Stephan Jaeger is a consistent player, cashing in 13 straight starts, 7 when for the top 25, including a T14-T20 in the playoffs, landing him at position 56. Near, but no cigar! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beau Hossler and Eric Cole are neck and neck, with Hossler vying for attention, walking off with a T6 at the Barracuda Championships, giving three top 20s in 4 starts. On the other hand, Cole is a rookie and the only candidate from his class to get to the BMW championships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Michael Spaun Jr. (J.J. Spaun) came through in the playoffs with a 5-for-5 run, including a duo of top 25s – excellent work. Nate Lashley and Justin Suh are just a little behind, while Alex Nor\u00e9n of Sweden is coming up the inside to finish T36. Nor\u00e9n is unlikely to do much, but watch out for J.J. he might be a junior, but he isn\u2019t green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finishing up the lineout are Kev Streelman and Zac Blair; neither stands much chance of any silverware. Streelman failed to qualify for the FEC playoffs but is 87th in the points. 44-year-old Streelman is well-positioned thanks to a clutch T2 at The 3M Open, the second-to-last event on the Tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other hand, Blair is around often enough to warrant a mention (only a small one) because of his strength in threading fairways. Three top 15s include a T13 at The 3M Open. While Homa is expected to win, Spaun might take it from him; no one can say how they will perform on the day, but one thing is for sure – if you don\u2019t watch, you won\u2019t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why Watch The Fortinet Championship?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The Fortinet Championship is the start of what is going to be an exciting season; if golf is your bag, then the beginning is the best place to start. Plus, it\u2019s not all about the golf (bear with us on this). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the most rewarding parts about watching The Fortinet Championship is knowing you\u2019re part of a community-wide scheme that sees investment in critical initiatives such as supporting women in technology, promoting educational programs, and closing the cyber skills gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moreover, The Fortinet Championship funds nonprofit community organizations focusing on science, engineering, and technology while promoting diversity, inclusion, and reskilling programs in and around Napa Valley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While you might not care about the broader good The Fortinet Championship offers, isn\u2019t it comforting to know you\u2019re part of the big picture – no? Okay then, just bed in and snack up because The Fortinet Championship tees off on the 14th, concludes on the 17th of September, and is expected to be an exciting spectacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ll stick our neck out for J.J. Spaun, and if he doesn\u2019t get your blood pumping, then we\u2019ll fancy the Aussi, Cam Davis. Davis has a thriving amateur and pro career, and since 2018, he has played regularly on the PGA Tour, winning the Rocket Mortgage Classic in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Winston Churchill once said about golf, \u201cGolf is a game whose aim is to hit a tiny ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose.\u201d But that\u2019s the point, isn\u2019t it? Golf wouldn\u2019t be fun if the holes were the size of basketball hoops and the clubs were paddles – although!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You know when we are officially in the fall, when the Autumn Schedule is released, and Starbucks starts selling pumpkin lattes. In the first week of the PGA is The Fortinet Championship in Napa, California. What can you expect from The Fortinet Championship? The Fortinet, formerly known as the Safeway Open, is the first championship […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5,4,6,3],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fortinet-championship","tag-golf","tag-max-homa","tag-pga-tour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions\/23"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golffanaddicts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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