Pro Golf Now
Fansided

Safeway Open: Top 10 power rankings for Silverado CC

By Mike Randleman

NAPA, CA - OCTOBER 06: Brandt Snedeker plays his shot from the 18th tee during the third round of the Safeway Open at the North Course of the Silverado Resort and Spaon October 6, 2018 in Napa, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
NAPA, CA - OCTOBER 06: Brandt Snedeker plays his shot from the 18th tee during the third round of the Safeway Open at the North Course of the Silverado Resort and Spaon October 6, 2018 in Napa, California. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
10 of 11
Next
NAPA, CA – OCTOBER 16: Justin Thomas chips onto the 16th hole during the final round of the Safeway Open at the North Course of the Silverado Resort and Spa on October 16, 2016 in Napa, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
NAPA, CA – OCTOBER 16: Justin Thomas chips onto the 16th hole during the final round of the Safeway Open at the North Course of the Silverado Resort and Spa on October 16, 2016 in Napa, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

It’s understandable why JT didn’t want to come to the Safeway Open the past two years. In 2017, it fell two weeks after he helped Team USA to a win in the Presidents Cup. Last year, it was a mere week after Thomas was a bright spot (4-1 record) on a losing American Ryder Cup squad.

Now in a more advantageous spot on the schedule for top players to come play, Thomas has chosen Napa Valley for his 2019-2020 PGA Tour debut.

He’ll be happy to be back. At Silverado, Thomas missed the cut in 2014 as a 21-year-old rookie but bounced back for a T-3 (66-70-69-69) in 2015 and T-8 (75-66-66-67) in 2016. He was just one shot out of a playoff in 2015.

Thomas missed a portion of last season in the spring, including the PGA Championship with a wrist injury. Prior to that, he was on the cusp of winning with four top-10s and no missed cuts in his first nine events of the calendar year culminating with a T-12 at the Masters.

Post-recovery, Thomas struggled by his standards but began to round into form across the pond. He picked up a T-9 at the Scottish Open and a T-11 at the Open Championship. He piled on a T-12 at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude and replicated that at the first FedEx Cup Playoffs event.

Thomas was able to extend his streak of winning on the PGA Tour to five years by winning the BMW Championship. His last start saw him surrender his two-shot lead to open the Tour Championship where he finished T-9.

The University of Alabama product finished second on Tour in 2018-19 in strokes gained approach (.985). He was 17th in SG off the tee (.479) and eighth around the green (.352). The only thing holding him back was the putter (-.186, 144th). He’s never been elite on the greens in his career, but he seems to make them when they count and was respectably in the top 50 in SG putting the past two seasons.

If he gets back near the top 50, he’ll be back to winning multiple times a season.

Thomas is perhaps the most talented player in this week’s field. His basement is likely a top 20 this week. A bit of caution is that the Kentucky native tends to play better on the east coast and does not have a win in California.

Home/Golf Power Rankings