The PGA Tour continues on this week as it visits TPC Summerlin for the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open. First opened in 1991, the Bobby Weed design will play as a Par 71, 7,255 yard layout this week.
To find success this week, players will need to go low. Only three of the last 20 winners have finished worse than -20 at the end of the week, so players will need to be aggressive with their irons and have a hot putter if they want a chance at finding success. The biggest hurdle players will need to overcome is the altitude, as TPC Summerlin sits roughly 2,700 feet above sea level. Players will need to adjust their playing approach, as their shots will be flying farther than they typically would at sea level, but they will also need to adjust physically, as their body won’t be absorbing as much oxygen at that altitude. Given the length of the course and the altitude, this week will play towards somebody who is really good with their approach shots. The course doesn’t have a ton of trouble off the tee, so wayward tee shots are still playable, but if players can’t give themselves scoring opportunities, they will quickly fall from contention. Birdies truly are King this week, and with very navigable Bentgrass greens, players should easily make birdies in bunches, provided their touch on the greens is just right. This is another event on tour that never has a shortage of storylines; veterans vs. rookies; journeymen vs. studs; long and wild hitters vs. short and accurate hitters; great ball strikers vs. poor putters and poor ball strikers vs. great putters. Which player will rise to the top and beat the house in Sin City this week?
The Shriners Children’s Open has been a staple on tour since 1983 and has produced a variety of winners throughout the years, including Fuzzy Zoeller, Denis Watson, Curtis Strange, Greg Norman, Paul Azinger, Gary Koch, Scott Hoch, Bob Tway, Andrew Magee, John Cook, Davis Love III, Bruce Lietzke, Jim Furyk, Tiger Woods, Bill Glasson, Billy Andrade, Bob Estes, Phil Tataurangi, Stuart Appleby, Andre Stolz, Wes Short Jr., Troy Matteson, George McNeill, Marc Turnesa, Martin Laird, Jonathan Byrd, Kevin Na, Ryan Moore, Webb Simpson, Ben Martin, Smylie Kaufman, Rod Pampling, Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Sungjae Im and Tom Kim, just to name a few.
Jim Furyk has won this event the most times, taking home the victory three times in his career. Kevin Na, Martin Laird and Tom Kim are the only other multiple winners of this event, each finding victory in this event twice.
There are many scoring records for this event, so strap in. The 18-hole scoring record for this tournament is 59, which was fired by Chip Beck during the third round at Sunrise Golf Club in 1991. The 18-hole scoring record at TPC Summerlin is 60, which was achieved by the following players:
- J.J. Henry- Round 1, 2013
- Rod Pampling- Round 1, 2016
- Patrick Cantlay- Round 3, 2022
From 1983-2003, this event was a five round, 90-hole event. The 90-hole scoring record is 328 (-31), which was achieved by Stuart Appleby during his playoff victory in 2003 and matched by Scott McCarron that same week. The 90-hole scoring record to par is -31, which was achieved by Andrew Magee during his playoff victory in 1991 (329) and matched by D. A. Weibring the same week and later match by both Appleby and McCarron in 2003 (328).
The 72-hole scoring record is 260 (-24), which was achieved by each of the following players during their victories:
- Ryan Moore- 2012
- Webb Simpson- 2013
- Sungjae Im- 2021
- Tom Kim- 2022
The 72-hole scoring record to par is -25, which was achieved by Marc Turnesa during his victory in 2008 (263).
Last year’s edition was won by Tom Kim, who won this event for the second straight year after shooting a final round 66 to defeat Adam Hadwin by a single stroke. Eric Cole, Alex Noren, Taylor Pendrith and J. T. Poston all finished T-3, two strokes back.
Playing on a Sponsor’s Exemption this week, Dan McCarthy is one of many journeyman players teeing it up this week. At 39-years-old, McCarthy is making just his fifth career PGA Tour start. His previous four starts? Four missed cuts. Nothing to see here, folks. On the other hand, McCarthy has had modest success on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024, earning two top 10’s and four top 25’s in 24 starts, good enough to rank 72nd in the season-long point standings. McCarthy has also shown great ball striking prowess on the Korn Ferry Tour, ranking inside the top 12 in both Driving Accuracy Percentage and Greens in Regulation Percentage this season. Nevertheless, the courses are more difficult on the PGA Tour and the fields just so much deeper. I’m always one for the underdog, but I just don’t see success for McCarthy this week. What I do see, though, is a missed cut and an early trip to the blackjack tables.
Andrew Putnam is the definition of a mid-player. He’s qualified for the FedEx Cup Playoffs in five of the last seven seasons, but has yet to make it to the Tour Championship. Putnam has finished inside the top 35 in the standings in three of those five seasons, but just hasn’t been able to clear the hump. He is a proven winner on tour, winning the 2018 Barracuda Championship. With 14 top 5’s and 23 top 10’s, Putnam has earned over $15,000,000 in career earnings on tour. But unless you’re a die hard fan of his or have a really good eye for what a player looks like, he can still walk down the street relatively unbothered. A man who is truly living the dream. 2024 was a bit of a letdown for Putnam, given his consistency, earning two top 10’s and six top 25’s to go against seven missed cuts, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, finishing in 73rd place in the standings for the season, just three positions below the cutline. Putnam hasn’t really been lighting up leaderboards lately, but he does have a pair of top 25’s in his last four starts (T-21 at the Barracuda Championship, T-19 at the 3M Open) and has played very well at TPC Summerlin in his career, finishing inside the top 20 in three of his last five starts in this event. Putnam is a decent ball striker, ranking inside the top 50 in Driving Accuracy Percentage and Greens in Regulation Percentage for the season, but has struggled on the greens, losing strokes in five of his last seven worldwide starts. If Putnam can just make a few more putts this week, there is no doubt that he can log another top 25 finish.
The two-time defending champion of this event, I feel legally obligated to pick Tom Kim, as he is in pursuit of a three-peat. The results for Kim this season are a little underwhelming given his abilities, logging just two top 10’s and seven top 25’s to finish the season at 51st place in the FedEx Cup Standings. Kim’s game has seemed to have taken a turn for the better as we enter the fall, as he has earned one top 10 and two top 15 finishes in his last five starts, highlighted by a runner-up finish in a playoff to Scottie Scheffler at the Travelers Championship earlier this summer. Kim has a solid game across the board, gaining strokes in five of the six major Strokes Gained categories this season. However, Kim was held back from more success due to a balky putter, finishing 110th on the campaign for Strokes Gained: Putting, a relatively sub-par showing (Okay, I’ll see myself out.). Kim has lost strokes on the greens in his last three worldwide starts, while gaining strokes on approach in seven of his last nine worldwide starts. Kim seems to thrive well in certain events year after year, which gives me the confidence to back him for another top 10 finish in Las Vegas, in spite of his putter woes.
Winner:
The winner of THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson earlier this season for his first PGA Tour victory, Taylor Pendrith has not had a super noticeable slump, which is often the standard for players after their first win. On the contrary, Pendrith has been playing really great golf since then, earning two top 5’s, three top 10’s and nine top 25 finishes in a dozen starts since that victory. Pendrith has had mixed success at TPC Summerlin in his career, finishing T-3 in this event last year, while finishing outside the top 40 in each of his other two appearances. At first glance, Pendrith doesn’t look like a prime candidate for success in this event, ranking mid-pack on tour in ball striking this season. But Pendrith is a lethal putter at his best, ranking 7th on tour this season in Strokes Gained: Putting. Lately though, Pendrith has been dialed in, gaining strokes on approach in eight of his last ten starts and on the greens in nine of his last 10 starts. In an event that is typically a race to -20, or lower, every single year, Pendrith is firing the right cylinders of late to be a force to be reckoned with this week. Give me Taylor Pendrith for the victory at the Shriners Children’s Open!
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