PGA Tour stock up, stock down after Tom Hoge captures AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Tom Hoge staved off several challengers and pulled ahead for his first PGA Tour win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Now, we check in on the power rankings.
There probably arenāt many golf fans who werenāt aware of the name Tom Hoge. Heās improved drastically over the past two years and has been routinely popping up on leaderboards. The two things missing were consistently doing that week after week and, more importantly, finding his way to the top of the leaderboard after 72 holes. He changed the latter on Sunday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Outlasting Sunday challengers like Jordan Spieth and Patrick Cantlay, Hoge fired off a final round 68 to finish 19-under and with his first career victory on the PGA Tour. That now makes him the fourth first-time winner for the 2021-22 season already, including back-to-back champions after Luke List broke through at Torrey Pines.
With the season really heating up now and The Masters just about two months away, we look at the power rankings and the PGA Tour players trending up and trending down after this weekās AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (and a slight glance at the Saudi International as well).
PGA Tour power rankings: Stock up after AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Tom Hoge āĀ Youāll often hear people, particularly in the DFS community, talk about poppers and golfers who can show up and contend on a given week but also might miss the cut. Thatās been Hoge this season. However, this win highlights how fantastic his popping weeks have been.
With the win at Pebble Beach, thatās three top-five finishes for Hoge in his last five starts. The other two, naturally, were missed cuts. Heās never going to be the Jon Rahm type who finishes top-10 in his sleep but his best form is more than enough to compete with the best, which heās showing now.
Jordan Spieth āĀ Spieth gave golf fans heart palpitations in more than one way this week, first with his cliffside shot into No. 8Ā and then his Sunday rollercoaster with a chance to win. After struggling mightily to shake off rust in the first couple of starts in 2022, though, we saw shades of the Spieth of old. His iron and wedge play was truly immaculate on the weekend and, with a trip to Augusta just around the corner, heās someone to undeniably be circling to see if this form maintains.
Seamus Power āĀ Because of how poorly he performed with a five-shot lead on Saturday at Monterey Peninsula (traditionally the easiest of the three-course rotary at this tournament), some might be surprised that Power is considered to be trending up. But he undoubtedly shouldnāt be judged by one round.
Power has been trending up, frankly, for quite a while. Itās unfortunate that one bad round sunk his chances this week, but we should believe wholly that the Irishman isnāt going to fade into the background after this and will be heard from at the top of the leaderboard again soon.
Harold Varner III āĀ Throughout his career, the talent has never been in question for HV3. However, when heās gotten to Sundays in contention, the wheels have fallen off for him. At the Saudi International, that almost happened again. But with a perfect 80+-foot eagle putt on the 72nd hole that clinched him the win over Bubba Watson, Varner III got over that hump and captured a massive win.
Seriously, how can you not love the emotion of HV3 after getting that victory in such dramatic fashion?
PGA Tour power rankings: Stock down afterĀ AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am
Justin Rose āĀ I was high on Rose coming into this week but heās not trending down because he burned me a bit. Instead, itās how he burned me. One promising thing from the veteran going to Pebble was that heād seemingly found his approach play that makes him so dangerous. This week, however, Rose lost more than 5.0 strokes on approach in the two measured rounds at Pebble. Thatās concerning and could make what he did at Torrey Pines seem like an outlier more than something to be optimistic about.
Mito Pereira āĀ Another guy I liked this week, but itās frustrating to know what Pereira is capable of and then watch performances such as this. After three straight top-30 finishes, he shot just one round under par before missing the cut at 1-under over 54 holes and was never really a threat. This is a guy with the game to compete at almost any course on the PGA Tour and itās slightly disheartening to see him not live up to that in a field that was, for all intents and purposes, getable this week.
Bryson DeChambeau āĀ Back to the Saudi International, itās hard not be worried about Bryson DeChambeau. Overseas this week, he withdrew due to injury one week after looking visibly in pain at Torrey Pines. He can tell us to āchillā all he wants and claim that his chase for distance and hard-swinging arenāt the culprits for his injuries, but what weāre seeing with the eye test tells a different story. His health is now one of the top storylines to watch early in 2022.
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