Shriners Hospitals for Children Open: Power ranking the top 10 at TPC Summerlin

Jordan Spieth is making his Shriners Hospitals for Children Open debut this week. Could it be penance for not playing the PGA Tour’s minimum number of events in 2017-18? Perhaps.

Regardless of his intentions for being in Sin City, one thing’s certain: a good showing would do wonders for his psyche going into the winter.

Spieth is in jeopardy of completing his first calendar year as a professional without a win.

It’s not like he’s fallen off the map as he’s No. 13 in the world with five top-10s this year, but he’s a far cry from his dominant mid-decade run.

The Texan had a tough go of it with the putter last season, but he could turn it around this week on one of the Tour’s easier greens to master.

According to Future of Fantasy, Spieth is third on Tour since 2014 in strokes gained on bentgrass greens.

Lost in the shuffle of Spieth’s struggles has been how well he’s hit the ball. He was 26th in strokes gained approach, 10th in proximity from the rough (which saved some shaky driving) and was third in proximity from 125-150 yards, which are common distances to face at TPC Summerlin.

He’s made four 36-hole cuts in a row and eight of the last nine in non-majors, so he’s one of the safest bets for DFS players and bettors to at least give you 72 holes.

Spieth hasn’t teed it up since the Ryder Cup, which I think is a good thing but the rest vs. rust debate can certainly be had here.