The most anticipated time of the golf season has arrived as it is the week of The Masters. This is considered by many as the unofficial start of spring and while avid golf fans live for this event, even non-golf enthusiasts know about this epic tournament and what it means. Its beautiful simplicity is what makes it the greatest golf tournament in the world and famed Augusta National plays host to its 90th Masters. Back in the day, hitting the ball a mile would be the greatest asset a player could have and even though the yardage has increased from 6,985 yards in 2001 to 7,565 yards today, making it the 8th longest course on tour, bombing it is no longer the biggest necessity. Unless you have seen Augusta National in person, you cannot appreciate the undulations throughout and the enormous elevation changes which means getting a flat lie is not very common. Bomb and gouge will not get it done. Basically, it is a 'second shot' course as the approaches are important just to get into...

After tying for runner-up last year at the Texas Children's Houston Open, Gary Woodland cruised to a five-shot victory in one of the most emotional wins on the PGA Tour in recent memory. He took a one shot lead into Sunday and built the lead to seven at one point to capture his first win since the 2019 U.S. Open and just two years removed from brain surgery. The tour remains in the Lone Star State for the Valero Texas Open hosted by the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio, the third longest running event on tour, and while it has always been in the River City area, TPC San Antonio has held the event every year since 2010.  TPC San Antonio is a par 72, 7,438-yard layout that sits 1,100 feet above elevation which helps the distance numbers because of the thinner air. Even though this is one of the longer courses on tour, ranked No. 20 in distance, accuracy is ideally more important and because of the dry firm conditions, there will be plenty of roll with accurate players keeping it in the...

THE PLAYERS Championship is in the books and while we had two players in contention on Sunday, we had to settle for just a T8 with Sepp Straka while Viktor Hovland posted his worst round of the week to fall out of the money. Cameron Young had a memorable birdie on 17 while Matt Fitzpatrick bogeyed 18 and Young claimed his second PGA Tour win, the first coming at the Wyndham Championship last summer after a record tying seven runner-ups before the first victory. The PGA Tour remains in Florida for the fourth and final leg as it heads to Palm Harbor for the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course.  This will be the 25th year of the Valspar Championship that debuted in 2000 at Copperhead which is a par 71 that stretches 7,352 yards and like last week, it demands elite ball striking. It features very narrow fairways with well placed bunkers and punishing rough in key areas. Overall, there are 74 bunkers while nine holes have water in play so positioning is vital...

We had two players in contention over the weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and both hit our money list with Ludvig Åberg finishing T3 and Sahith Theegala coming in T6. It was almost a wire-to-wire winner for Daniel Berger but it was Akshay Bhatia who overcame a late five-shot deficit and forced a playoff which he won on the first hole of sudden death. It was his third PGA Tour victory, also winning in 2023 at the Barracuda Championship and in 2024 at the Valero Texas Open, both in a playoff as well. The PGA Tour remains in the Sunshine State this week for THE PLAYERS Championship taking place from The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.  The event has been played since 1974 and has been held at TPC Sawgrass since 1982 with the only year not played was the COVID year of 2020 after being cancelled after one round. It was moved from May to March in 2019 and The Stadium Course is a par 72 at 7,352-yards, an increase of 163 yards from 2021. While not...

We snagged a top ten with Nicolai Højgaard who finished T6 after making the cut on the number and going 66, 65 over the weekend but it was a very disappointing card from a less than stellar field. Shane Lowry had the Cognizant Classic in his grasp but double bogeys on 16 and 17 saw a three-shot lead turn into a two-shot deficit and Nico Echavarria took advantage with a huge birdie on 17 to win by two to capture his third PGA Tour win. The Florida swing continues with the third signature event of the season as this week it is the highly regarded Arnold Palmer Invitational from Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida. Formerly known as the Bay Hill Invitational, the name changed in 2007 recognizing Palmer who took over the property. This will be the third signature event over the last four weeks and while the field goes up in strength immensely from last week, the Arnold Palmer Invitational is a limited field to 72 players with the cut at top 50 and ties similar...

We were out of the money for the first time with The Genesis Invitational as it was Jacob Bridgeman winning his first PGA Tour event. He bogeyed two of his last three holes last week at Pebble Beach to fall short and it looked like another possible meltdown at Riviera. After birdieing two of his first three holes, eventually building a seven-shot lead, he went +3 over his last 15 holes and held off Kurt Kitayama and Rory McIlroy to win by only one shot. The California swing is complete and the tour heads to Florida for the next four events starting with the Cognizant Classic from PGA National Resort (Champions Course) in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Formerly known as The Honda Classic, Cognizant took over sponsorship in 2024 and unfortunately for the event, it precedes the signature event Arnold Palmer Invitational and this year has to follow a signature event as it was usually played after the Mexico Open but that was moved to late October. The Champions Course at PGA National is a...

Weather can be an issue this time of year and we saw that two years when the event was shortened to 54 holes with Wyndham Clark winning by one shot over Ludvig Åberg after shooting a course record 60 in the third and ultimately final round. The weather looks to be a non-issue this year with average temperatures and not much wind until Sunday. From a statistical standpoint, it is pretty straight forward with our top three key categories being: Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green Strokes Gained: Approach Strokes Gained: Around The Green Each bet is Win/Top Five/Top Ten. The typical recommendation is 50%/25%/25% with odds, payouts and results based on a $1000 unit (easy round number for bookkeeping) on each of the following players. The payouts are listed right below the odds which are all from DraftKings: Maverick McNealy Odds: Win 2,900 ~ Top Five 480 ~ Top Ten 220 Payout: Win 1,450.00 ~ Top Five 120.00 ~ Top Ten 55.00 We were on McNealy last week and it was another poor Sunday as he...

The PGA Tour will officially begin our season this week following three events to open 2026. There has been some reshuffling of the schedule from previous years as there was no opening Sentry this year as it was cancelled due to course conditions and the season started two weeks later than last year. We are coming off just three events leading into Phoenix and after being sandwiched in-between signature events in 2025, this year’s edition precedes two consecutive signature events, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational. The Greatest Show on Grass is the perfect stop prior to the signature events and in its usual spot on the schedule during Super Bowl week. The Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale has been a fan favorite for years and annually is the most attended event on tour, surpassing 700,000 spectators (they are not called patrons here) each year. Highlighted by The Colosseum, the par three No. 16 hole that accommodates 20,000 fans, this is...

MLB training camps are scheduled to open in mid-February. The division winners, AL and NL winners and World Series odds are available. If you are looking for a team to root for throughout the season a futures wager may be something to look at. The Toronto Blue Jays are coming off a World Series loss in Game 7. They were the best team in the American League last season. They won 94 games. Toronto has done a lot to upgrade their roster during the off- season and they may not be finished acquiring elite talent. The Blue Jays signed starting pitcher Dylan Cease to a big contract making their starting pitching rotation one of the best in the American League. In addition to Cease Toronto has former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber, Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios and elite prospect Trey Yesavage in their rotation. They also have Eric Lauer and Bowden Francis as depth starters. Toronto signed reliever Tyler Rogers during the off-season in order to improve a bullpen that struggled at times last...