Safeway Open: Top five sleeper picks

The last time most of us saw Sangmoon Bae play golf was at the Presidents Cup. And I’m not talking about last week’s play at Liberty National.

That week in fall 2015 was emotional for the talented young South Korean playing in his homeland before soon staying there to serve his mandatory two-year military duty.

“I’ve had such great memories serving in the military, and I feel that I’ve grown a lot stronger,” Bae told the Asian Tour. “I did a lot of weight lifting and running to improve my conditioning, and I am not concerned about my fitness level at all. Even though I didn’t get to play much, I grew to love golf even more.”

Now 31, he is making his second professional since his return, the first being a missed cut at the Asian Tour’s Shinhan Donghae Open three weeks ago. I’ll give him a pass for that.

The two-time winner has an exemption to play the PGA Tour this season, and for good reason. He’s a two-time winner with one coming here in Napa.

Despite a final round 73, Bae still won by two in 2014. He carded three rounds in the 60s to gain enough ground early on to win in his only trip to Silverado.

While normally a good putter (42nd in 2014-15 in strokes gained putting), he was just 44th in the field in that category in 2014. Instead, he used his beautiful swing to lead the field in strokes gained tee-to-green and was 14-for-18 in scrambling.

If he rolled in a few more putts, he likely would have won by several more shots, showing his capability at Napa and beyond.

Bae has a long way to approach his peak at No. 26 in the world, but this is seems as good a week as any to start cashing checks again.