2014-2015 PGA Tour Season: Predicting The West Coast Swing Winners

This is part two of our little game we are playing. If missed part one here is a link for that where we made predictions on the fall swing. We are predicting the winners on the PGA Tour season far out in advance as the PGA Tour is now on hiatus during the holiday months.

This will be a short article as the west coast swing features only handful of tournaments. With that said, I do worry about this year’s west coast swing. With the WGC-Accenture Match Play moved into May, there’s really not much incentive for the big time golfers to come out on the west coast. What may happen is once the PGA Tour hits the Honda Classic that’s when we’ll see bigger and deeper fields involved.

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Nevertheless, whether we get the big names or not, quality golf will still be played and it’ll be interesting to see who will step up while the Rory McIlroy’s and Adam Scott’s of the world are around the world playing in other events.

Alright, enough talking, let’s get into who I think will be the winners of these events on the west coast. And once these events are played we’ll keep track and do a recap of what happened how close or how off the mark I was in these picks. Also, the schedule is courtesy of PGA.com.

January 19-25th: Humana Challenge

PGA West. La Quinta CC, La Quinta, California

Winner: Brian Stuard

As I mentioned atop, the west coast swing this year will be interesting. With the WGC-Accenture Match Play moved to May this year, there’s really not much an incentive for some of the big name players to play. So, we may have weaker fields than usual and if that’s the case, look for more out of left field winners.

Now, the Humana Challenge isn’t normally a tournament that features big names golfers anyway, so look for an off the wall winner anyway. For me, I’ve got Brian Stuard as the winner at Humana. Stuard is a solid enough golfer, but here at Humana he has been really good finishing in the top ten the last two years.

January 26-February 1: Waste Management Phoenix Open

TPC Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona

Winner: Bo Van Pelt

Bo Van Pelt had struggled for the majority of the year last year. But, towards the end of last year, Bo Van Pelt seemed to figure it out. In the last six tournaments, Bo Van Pelt made the cut in five of those tournaments and finished in the top fourteen in three of those six tournaments.

I like Bo Van Pelt to bounce back and have a comeback year. If there were a comeback player of the year on the PGA Tour I think Bo Van Pelt would be in contention for that award. I’ve got him making a lot of cuts this year, competing and finishing in the top 25 in a handful of tournaments, and I think he’ll grab at least one victory on Tour this season. Which I believe will come at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

February 2-8 Farmers Insurance Open

Torrey Pines GC, La Jolla, California

Winner: Jimmy Walker

Jimmy Walker has done pretty well over the years here at the Farmers Insurance Open. In 2013, he finished T-5, in 2012 he finished T-8, and in 2011 he finished T-29. Last year, he missed the cut, but I’m not going to put too much stock into that result because J-Walk was sick during that tournament.

If Walker is healthy he should make the cut and compete like he did the previous years before. Walker clearly has the game and loves playing on the west coast. I’ll go with chalk here at the Farmers Insurance Open as Walker will be the one of the favorites at Torrey Pines.

February 9-15: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am

Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, Monterey Peninsula, Pebble Beach, California

Winner: Aaron Baddeley

Again, my philosophy on the west coast is to go with golfers that are a bit off the radar. So, that’s why I’m rolling with Aaron Baddeley. Maybe not that far off the radar, but Baddeley isn’t exactly a household name.

Last year, Baddeley finished T-56 which isn’t that great, but a round three 73 and a final round 78 basically ruined his tournament. Aside from that blow up he would have finished somewhere in the top 25. In 2013, Baddeley finished T-12, in 2012 he finished 4th, and in 2011 T-6. Baddeley loves this tournament and is just about a lock to make the cut and have a really quality finish. I like those odds and think he has about as good of a shot as anybody to win at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

June 2, 2013; Dublin, OH, USA; Kevin Chappell tees off on the 15th hole during the final round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports

February 16-22 Northern Trust Open

Riviera CC, Pacific Palisades, California

Winner: Kevin Chappell

If you want a player to watch for this year I would say watch out for Kevin Chappell. This could be the year where Chappell really breaks out onto the scene like what Jimmy Walker or Chris Kirk did this past year. Chappell is another one of these young, talented players on the PGA Tour.

Chappell is 28 years old and he has been on the PGA Tour for four years. And every year he has improved little by little. In 2011, Chappell finished in the top 25 three times, in 2012: five times, 2013: seven times, and last year nine times.

Plus, you might remember Chappell shooting a 65 at the PGA Championship and leading after the first round this past year. He ended up finishing in a tie for 13th. For the season, Chappell finished 55th in the FedEx Cup standings.

All in all, look for Chappell’s name on the leaderboards early in the year and look for his name to be atop at the Northern Trust Open. I’m picking Chappell to win his first career PGA Tour event at the Northern Trust Open.

Two years ago, UCLA grad John Merrick won his first career PGA Tour event and Chappell, a UCLA grad, is very familiar playing at Riviera Country Club. It’s a homefield advantage. It served Merrick well and I believe it will serve Chappell as well.

That wraps up the west coast swing article. Again, nice and somewhat short. We’ll see what happens months from now, we’ll do a recap of the results and see how we did. Next up will be the Florida swing, the Texas swing, and the Masters. That will be fun as we’ll predict who will win the first major of the year.

Will Rory McIlroy complete the career Grand Slam? Will Bubba Watson win back-to-back? Will Adam Scott win his second green jacket? Will someone like Matt Kuchar or Lee Westwood win their first career major? We won’t know for another five months, but we can still make a prediction on what will happen.

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