The PGA Tour is back! Who knew it was gone?!
The 2015-16 season starts this week in California Wine Country with the Frys.com Open at the North Course at the Silverado Resort in Napa. Rory McIlroy headlines the field, which includes several top-name players, especially young guns like Hideki Matsuyama, Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas. Newly minted PGA Tour players who survived the Web.com Tour Finals are also looking to get out to a hot start.
Here’s a look at our top five for this week:
1. Rory McIlroy — McIlroy should be ready to go, albeit on a course he is seeing for the first time. He looked solid at the BMW Championship, but seemed to be missing a gear at a rainy Tour Championship. Pin that on McIlroy’s fickle relationship with the weather. Napa is beautiful, so he should score well.
2. Hideki Matsuyama — Matsuyama didn’t have the best week at the Presidents Cup, but that may have been the result of huge expectations. The Japanese star may be a bit tired from playing in South Korea, but his ballstriking is a huge asset at Silverado. He finished T-3 here last year.
3. Justin Rose — Rose could arguably be the second or even top-ranked player this week, he’s playing that well. He’s finished outside of the top 16 just once (MC at the Deutsche Bank Championship) since mid-July. Not the best putter in the field, but putting well enough for his tee-to-green game to shine.
4. Daniel Berger — Berger is ahead of Tony Finau here only because he’s slightly less rusty in competition. Berger missed the cut here last year, but ended the year with a pair of T-12 finishes (Deutsche Bank Championship, Tour Championship) and a runner-up at the BMW Championship. One of the best on Tour last year in par-5 scoring because of his approach game. Mid-range putting is suspect.
5. Tony Finau — Finau had a remarkable rookie campaign. He probably should’ve won Rookie of the Year over Berger. However, he crapped out in the playoffs while Berger eeked into East Lake. Finau was T-12 here last year and should crush the par 5s.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
