QBE Shootout’s Most Intriguing Player? Lexi Thompson, Of Course

Last year’s QBE Shootout wasn’t much of a shootout.  You may or may not remember that Harris English and Matt (Kooch The Caddie Mooch) Kuchar blew the field away and won by nine shots.

It was completely boring at best.

So now comes the 2021 version of the event at Tiburon in Naples and you look up and down the pairings and there isn’t much intrigue until you see the duo of Lexi Thompson and The Rainman himself — Bubba Watson.

Lexi is the most intriguing player in this non-intriguing field.  She had a pretty good run to finish her 2021 season on the LPGA Tour — eighth at the CME Group Tour Championship (played on this course, Tiburon).  Lexi tied for second at the Pelican in early November and was 12th at the Founders Cup in October.

Lexi’s 12th in the Rolex World Rankings, looking like she’s going to push her way back into the top 10 and take it from there.

Highest ranked player on the male side of this 12-team gathering?  That would be English at No. 17.  He better be prepared to play well as his buddy Kooch has been in a free-fall and lands this week at No. 100.

Lexi might want to up her game as well, her partner, Bubba, hasn’t exactly been tearing it up on the PGA Tour.  Bubba’s sittin’ pretty at No. 80 in the world.  Look out Kooch, Bubba’s headin’ your way!

After looking at how Lexi finished her season, suffice to say you really don’t want to know how Bubba’s done lately because he’s done absolutely nothing since bowing out of the FedEx Cup playoffs in the first event, the Northern Trust where he missed the cut the week of August 22.  So basically Bubba hasn’t even played competitively for three and a half months — sorry Lexi.

Just for the record, prior to that missed cut at the Northern Trust, Bubba tied for 46th at the Wyndham and tied for 51st at the 3M in late July.

So yeah, Bubba The Headcase hasn’t exactly been a staple on the PGA Tour lately.

Still, he has not one but two Green Jackets and you have to figure he’ll be a better partner than the one Lexi had when she played in this event back in 2019.  Somehow she got stuck with Sean O’Hair and while everyone else in the field shot at least 20-under for the 54-holes, Lexi and O’Hair shot eight-under.  Lexi probably could have beaten that number with another LPGA player.

And speaking of the aforementioned Sean O’Hair, he’s fallen to No. 430 in the world rankings and poor Will Zalatoris got stuck with him this year.  Which begs the question, what did Will Zalatoris do to deserve Sean O’Hair?  So you have world No. 32 Zalatoris with good old No. 430.  How in the name of Danny Noonan does O’Hair keep getting invited to this event?

We kinda like the pairing of Sam Burns and Billy Horschel and the Max Homa/Kevin Kisner duo.  You know how hot Kisner can get with the putter.  And putting carries a lot of weight this week due to the format.

Which brings us to the 54-hole format.

Day one on Friday is the two-person scramble — they go really, really low the first day.  Day two, Saturday, is Modified Alternate Shot — both players hit the tee ball, they select the best one and play alternate shot from that point until the hole is finished.  Sunday is good old Ryder Cup-style Four Ball, aka Best Ball of the pair.

There’s not much to get excited about at Tiburon but that Bubba-Lexi pairing is intriguing — Lexi’s playing well, putting better.  The committee was intrigued as well, on day one, Lexi and Bubba play in the final pairing (11 a.m.) with Harris and Kooch.

Bring your “A” game, Lexi, you might have to drag Bubba for three days.

On Television:

Friday (Dec. 10):  Golf Channel  1-4 p.m. (EST)

Saturday (Dec. 11):  Golf Channel 1-3 p.m. (EST), NBC 3-5 p.m. (EST)

Sunday (Dec. 12):  Golf Channel 12-2 p.m. (EST), NBC 2-4 p.m. (EST)

First Round Tee Times: