2021 Fortinet Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Silverado

There’s reasons both on paper and psychologically to like Kevin Na this week.

We’ll start with his bonafides at Silverado. Kevin Na’s first visit to this course was in 2015 at the Frys.com Open when he lost a two-man playoff on the second sudden death hole to Emiliano Grillo.

Na fired 68-71-64-70 (-15) to clear a group of three players by a shot in a tie for third place. That was one of a bevy of close calls in the seven years from his first PGA Tour win in 2011 to his next in 2018.

The American had 34 top-10s from 2012-18, including one at the 2016 Safeway Open where he earned solo seventh (71-66-70-66). Na made one of two cuts (T-37th) in two more visits to Silverado since.

The 37-year-old brings to Napa great form that earned him fanfare as a possible Ryder Cup captain’s pick. Na didn’t get the nod (the Na-d?), a move I personally agree with due to his short, grinding play style seeming incompatible with a bomber’s paradise like Whistling Straits.

I do give Na credit for tying for low gross score at the Tour Championship on a long course like East Lake and earning third in the FedEx Cup. It was his sixth straight top-25 and fourth top-10 in a span that includes T-2nd at the Wyndham Championship.

His strong late-summer play vaulted him up to No. 1 in the final 2020-21 strokes gained around the green statistics.

Na likes to put on a show and wear his emotions on his sleeve, so it’s conceivable he plays with a little extra fire and a chip on his shoulder this week.

Beating a field that includes Jon Rahm and the reigning Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama would send a message.

It would also follow in the footsteps of another American who felt snubbed, Billy Horschel. Horschel won last week’s BMW Championship on the European Tour.

If not Horschel, maybe it’s Na who would be an emergency fill-in if Brooks Koepka isn’t healthy or if there are any covid holdouts. A win this week would keep a glimmer of hope alive at Na playing his first Ryder Cup.