The PGA Tour also continues this week as it visits Grand Reserve Country Club for the 2022 Puerto Rico Open. Read on below to see my prediction for who will win the tournament, as well as my predictions for who will finish in the top 10, my dark horse, and my player to fade.
Winner: Matthias Schwab- Schwab has put together a quietly good season, with a pair of top 25 finishes to go against just 1 missed cut in 6 starts, including a T-7 finish last week at The Honda Classic. Schwab is making his debut in this event, but his game is in fine shape, including being ranked 4th in Strokes Gained: Putting and 16th in Strokes Gained: Total. Fellow Austrian Sepp Straka became the first Austrian to ever win on the PGA Tour last week and I predict that Schwab will make it 2 weeks in a row with a victory on Sunday!
Top 10: Rafa Cabrera-Bello- Making his first PGA Tour start since the 2021 Barracuda Championship, Cabrera-Bello comes into the week off of 3 straight finishes of 45th or worse after finishing T-2 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January. Nonetheless, Cabrera-Bello has had past success at Grand Reserve Country Club, with a pair of top 25 finishes here in 2 starts, including a T-10 showing in 2015. In a relatively weak field, Cabrera-Bello should be able to put together a solid showing and bring home a top 10 finish.
Dark Horse: Ted Potter Jr.- Coming into the week ranked #692 in the Official World Golf Rankings, Potter has been struggling, missing the cut in each of his last 5 PGA Tour starts and last making the cut at the 2021 Barbasol Championship. As bleak as it seems, this may very well be Potter’s best event on tour, as he has made the cut in all 4 starts and has finished in the top 10 each of the last 2 years here. A win would be one of the biggest upsets of all-time, but a top 30 showing is certainly on the radar for Potter.
Player to Fade: Smylie Kaufman- Kaufman has faced a ton of on-course struggles these past few years and last made the cut in a PGA Tour event at the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic. In 3 starts last season, Kaufman missed the cut in all 3 events and failed to break 80 in half of his rounds, with a 74 being his best score in 6 rounds. Kaufman had also missed the cut in both of his previous starts in this event. Even though this tournament’s field is very weak, Kaufman is a lock to miss the cut.