2023 Fortinet Championship: Top 10 power rankings at Silverado

Eric Cole is set to embark on his sophomore season after a stellar rookie campaign. He may still be kicking himself after losing in a playoff at the Honda Classic, but there’s much not to fault with the 35-year-old who’s living out his dream.

Cole graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour and got off to a slow start with four straight missed cuts, including the Fortinet Championship.

The former mini-tour grinder has too much grit to give up that easily. He finally earned a payday at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba.

That set off a streak of five straight made cuts, as well as seven of eight.

Cole’s highlight was the solo second at the Honda. He added two more top-10s and comes to Napa on a streak of eight straight made cuts dating back to May.

Even when the FedEx Cup Playoffs cutoff was at 125, it was still a good benchmark of success for a rookie to make it.

Cole still got in now that the cutoff is top 70. He even made the top 50 for the BMW Championship.

The Nova Southeastern University alum made more birdies than anyone on the PGA Tour last season with 438. Cole was 21st in total strokes gained per round (.888) and ended up 12th in SG putting (.547).

A lack of distance is one of Cole’s main issues week to week, though I don’t see that being too harmful at a course like Silverado where accuracy is valued.