You might recall that this time last year Matt Kuchar and partner Harris English were barely able to beat a couple of old guys from the Elderly Tour in a funky team event.
It’s that time of the year, with everything virtually done except the Christmas shopping, Greg Norman breaks away from his wine-drinking hobby to present the QBE Shootout down at Tiburon in the hurricane recovering Naples area.
Tiburon is the spot where the ladies held their year-end biggie in the Race To The CME Globe.
Which brings us to the only development that might makes this yawner of a tournament worth watching.
Lexi Thompson’s in the field.
America’s Golf Sweetheart is teaming with Tony Finau to go up against the guys.
Just for comparison Lexi is one of the real bombers on the LPGA Tour. She averages 273.78 yards in driving distance.
Finau leads the PGA Tour in driving distance stats at a whopping 336.6, meaning he’s basically hitting it 60 by Lexi more often than not. At 273.78, Lexi would rank 204th in driving distance on the PGA Tour. There are 64 players on the PGA Tour that average 300 yards or longer last season.
No wonder Tiger Woods was griping about the golf ball although he didn’t complain about how far he was hitting his drives in Albany last week.
But we digress.
Back to this three-day, 54-hole shootout. Friday it’s a scramble format so look for some really low scores. Saturday is modified alternate shot. Both players drive the ball then choose the best drive and play alternate shot from there. Sunday’s finale is best-ball.
Finau was late committing to the event and probably looked at the guys he had to choose from and said, “hey, why not Lexi?”
“I thought Lexi would be a great choice. I’ve heard a lot about her game,” Finau said.
Lexi said she’s simply flattered to be in the field. “Looking forward to playing with the guys,” she told everyone.
Good news is that her presence actually brings some fun to the field.
One team that sticks out other than Finau and Thompson is Bubba Watson and Brandt Snedeker.
You’ve got Bubba trying to rebound from a horrible season and Sneds working his way back from a rib injury with what he says is a new and improved swing action.
So this show gets underway tomorrow.
The weather may not be the best. A cold front will be sweeping through Florida late Friday, bringing rain that could last into Saturday morning.
Oh yes and with it comes some chilly temperatures.
Chilly for Florida but still warm enough to make everyone up north envious.
Yeah, just 16 days to Christmas Eve.
It’s the season to be jolly and maybe one team will play really, really well this week.
