The PGA Tour also travels to Grand Reserve Golf Club this week for the 2021 Puerto Rico Open. Read on below to see my prediction for who will win the tournament, as well as my top 10, dark horse, and player to fade predictions.
Winner: Thomas Pieters- Pieters has been a mainstay on the European Tour, with 6 top 25’s and 10 made cuts in his last 11 worldwide starts. Pieters is carrying some momentum as well, with a T-10 finish in his most recent start at the Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers. In an event like this, I believe someone like Pieters can march his way to the top and snag the victory.
Top 10: Branden Grace- Another European Tour mainstay, Grace has been playing some excellent golf of late too, making the cut in 5 of his last 6 worldwide starts and finishing in the top 30 in 3 of those events, including a T-8 finish at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. Grace is a player who can grind out a solid finish and I believe he can snag a top 10 finish by week’s end.
Dark horse: Andrew Putnam- Putnam has quietly been playing some good golf recently, making his last 4 cuts and finishing in the top 25 twice, including a T-7 at the Phoenix Open. Putnam has played well in opposite field events before, earning his lone PGA Tour win in one at the 2018 Barracuda Championship. That alongside his recent momentum leads me to believe that he can turn in a top 20 performance this week.
Player to fade: Ben An- Although he is considered one of the favorites this week, An’s game has been far from great recently, with only 1 top 30 result and 5 missed cuts in his last 10 starts. If An finds a way to make the cut, he will likely finish T-40 at best.