{"id":8796,"date":"2023-09-12T15:06:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T15:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/?post_type=article&p=8796"},"modified":"2023-09-12T15:06:14","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T15:06:14","slug":"2023-fortinet-championship-at-silverado-north-preview","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/article\/2023-fortinet-championship-at-silverado-north-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 Fortinet Championship at Silverado (North) – Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Surrounded by the golden hills of the Napa Valley, the fall portion of the season begins out west with the Fortinet Championship. California native, Max Homa returns to defend his back-to-back titles from the last two years. Played on the North course at the 1,200-acre property known as the Silverado Resort and Spa, this will be the tenth consecutive year for the resort to host this event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The North course at Silverado is one of the shortest on Tour and features narrow tree-lined fairways, few hazards, non-penal rough, and tricky sloping greens. It is a very straightforward and scoreable course with a winning score that has averaged 17 under par since 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time in more than a decade, the PGA Tour will not start a new season in September. Rebranded as the “FedEx Cup Fall”, the seven events that will begin with the Fortinet Championship are a continuation of the season that just concluded at the Tour Championship. The 2022-2023 season officially finished a couple of weeks ago with the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings being eligible for all eight “Signature” events as well as any other regular event in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those players who finished outside of the top 50 can play in these fall events to improve their standing heading into next season, which includes playing their way into the first two Signature events – the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. At the end of the fall series the players who finish the calendar year in positions 51-60 will be exempt for those two tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Field<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As will be the case for the majority of these fall tournaments, the field strength is extremely weak. Overall, only four of the top 50 and 23 of the top 100 ranked players in the world will be in attendance. World No. 7, Max Homa headlines the field this week and looks to become the first player since Steve Stricker (2009, 2010, 2011 John Deere Classic) to win the same event three years in a row. 25th-ranked Justin Thomas will look to sharpen his game in preparation for the Ryder Cup which is three weeks away. World No. 36 Sahith Theegala and No. 49 Cameron Davis are the only other top 50 players in the field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Silverado (North) – Course History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Having been a large Napa Valley ranch in the post-Second World War years, the original Silverado Country Club opened in 1955. 11 years later in 1966, famed golf architect Robert Trent Jones was called in to modernize the original course and also build a second one. By 1967, the “new” South course opened alongside the renovated North course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1968 to 1976 the North course hosted a full-fledged PGA Tour event called the Kaiser International Open. And then from 1977 to 1980, it played host to a Champions Tour event. Fast forward to 2010 when two-time major winner, Johnny Miller bought the entire resort. In 2011, he redesigned both courses with the goal of landing a U.S. Open or PGA Championship, but he ended up settling for a new PGA Tour event called the Frys.com Open which began play in 2014. In 2016, it was changed to the Safeway Open. And then two years ago, the tournament began its new sponsorship with Fortinet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finish Position and Strokes Gained Event History (2014-2022)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This includes the average finish position and Strokes Gained per round in each category. Players are sorted by SG: Total. Silverado is the 22nd (out of 43) most predictive annual course on Tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Course Features<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Located in the heart of California’s Napa Valley wine country, Silverado is a classical, tree-lined resort-style course with a setup that is quite scoreable. The birdie-to-bogey ratio of 1.44 is one the highest on Tour. And over the past five events here, the course ranks as the 16th easiest annual course playing an average of 0.98 strokes under par.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there is some rolling terrain and a couple of holes with elevation changes, it is predominately a flat course. With only two holes with water hazards in play (7th fewest) and only 50 bunkers (6th fewest) on the course, there aren’t many ways for golfers to score a bogey or worse. The narrow tree-lined fairways and severe undulations on several of the greens are the only defense Silverado can mount. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shortness of the course also contributes to its ease. Measuring in at under 7,200 from the tips, the par-72 course ranks as the 8th shortest annual course on Tour. Looking at the winners’ circle, both bombers and shorter hitters have seen success here. Longer hitters like Cameron Champ and Stewart Cink have raised the trophy while plodders like Chez Reavie and Emiliano Grillo have also played well here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For agronomy, this week presents an interesting mixture of grass types. The fairways are a mix of Bermuda, Poa annua and Ryegrass while the rough is a Bluegrass\/Ryegrass combination that is cut to around three inches. The greens also have some bentgrass mixed in but are a majority of West Coast “bumpy” Poa annua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with it being one of the shorter courses on Tour, there is shockingly not a single par 4 that is over 460 yards. Eight of the par-4s are between 375 and 435 yards. With an average driving distance that has increasingly crept higher over the years (291.7 last year), players will have plenty of short irons and wedges opportunities on these holes. Each of the four par-5s is reachable in two shots and they have an average Birdie or Better rate of 39%. The par-3s present the biggest challenge on the course as three are among the four toughest holes on the property and have a bogey or worse rate of 21%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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