PGA Odds: Fowler favored to win the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

The PGA Tour makes its 33rd annual stop in Las Vegas with the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. “It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year”.

The modern game is dominated by power hitters such as Jason Day, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson and Adam Scott while players such as Martin, who languished in 110th spot for average driving distance on the 2014-15 PGA Tour, need to excel in other areas. Host TPC Summerlin is a track where going low is an absolute must, as Ben Martin demonstrated past year in winning the tournament. That is up 3.2% over the $6.2 million from a year ago.

“It’s a little bit weird seeing your picture everywhere, but it’s something I’ll have to get used to more”, Martin said. “It does bring back a lot of good memories, a lot of good vibes”.

“I started a little bit behind the 8-ball last year with not playing many events until the start of the real calendar year”, Fowler said, “So with China being really the only one that I had planned on, with it being a World Golf Championship, I wanted to try and fit at least one more in”. He shot 62 on Saturday to move to the top of the leaderboard and then capped the tournament by playing the last four holes Sunday in 4-under, including an eagle on a long putt at No. 16 and a birdie from 20 feet at 18. “But I’m excited to be back, for sure”. Jimmy Walker, who also tied for fourth here a year ago, has five wins on tour and all five came after his 33rd birthday. That has a lot to do with the amount of young talent coming up and the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup point system. Martin has played in 82 events and earned $4.54 million on tour to date. For players who have been on tour a while, there’s plenty of history at the venue, although much of the drama in the early part of the season is due to the new players infusing the Tour with fresh energy after joining the Tour full time at the start of this season.

Last week we saw a rookie win his very first event on the PGA Tour and it might just be that we see a similar effort this week with Patton Kizzire who led the Web.Com Tour’s regular season money list this year. Bob Van Norden of Greenville tied for fifth at 153. Those good finishes play all the same in fantasy.