The Confidence Factor: Quicken Loans National

When it was announced in the early fall of 2014 that the former TPC Avenel was slated to return as host to a PGA TOUR stop, veteran gamers may have been surprised. If you were playing fantasy golf when the Booz Allen Classic completed its run there in 2006, you may recall the general criticism about the layout. So, serious credit was and remains due the dignitaries who approved a massive renovation that rose easily into eight figures in 2007-2008. The product was the newly named TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. If time heals all wounds, the clock resets with this week’s Quicken Loans National. It plugs a gap created when nearby Congressional agreed to hosting the tournament every other year through 2020. (The host site for 2019 remains undetermined at the moment.) It’s always an intriguing exercise and a learning experience to go into any PGA TOUR event with little empirical data around which to form a profile of the host course. However, there is a handful of default mechanisms that helps shape and refine our focus. Brief explanations are included with each identifier below. Beneath them are the results of the two Web.com Tour events that were staged at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in 2012 and 2013. Any experience is helpful, but just as you wouldn’t push all of your chips into any one statistic, limit the course experience that exists to aiding in tiebreaker situations that arise in DFS. NOTE: For each of the stats below, all in the field who rank inside the top 25 on the PGA TOUR are cited. * – In the Power Rankings Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green The value of season-long statistics is greater on full shots. Just as we reviewed the top two categories here for the Wells Fargo Championship at unknown Eagle Point Golf Club, both apply at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. Rank, Golfer 5 Tony Finau 8 Kyle Stanley 11 *Rickie Fowler T17 Byeong Hun An T17 *Brendan Steele 20 Lucas Glover 21 *Marc Leishman 22 Luke List Proximity to the Hole Averaging 5,300 square feet, greens are smaller, so the combination of confidence and execution while taking aim matters more. Rank, Golfer T2 Kyle Stanley 6 *Boo Weekley T7 Nick Watney T15 Chris Kirk T15 Kevin Na T15 Scott Stallings 21 Blayne Barber T22 Graham DeLaet T22 David Hearn T25 Lucas Glover T25 Ollie Schniederjans T25 *Brendan Steele T25 Chris Stroud T25 Vaughn Taylor Scrambling If the first three sanctioned events contested at renovated TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm are any indication, par will be a good score at the Quicken Loans National. Furthermore, having a knack at getting up and down for par on smaller greens will be critical since totals for missed greens in regulation will be elevated. Rank, Golfer 1 John Huh 2 Charles Howell III 6 *Rickie Fowler 7 *Bill Haas 10 Adam Hadwin 11 Matt Jones 12 Zac Blair 14 *Brendan Steele T15 Tim Wilkinson 24 Whee Kim Finishes of those in this week’s field at the Web.com Tour event in 2012 Sorted by finish (players in bold appeared in both 2012 and 2013) Win: David Lingmerth T6: Morgan Hoffmann T8: Sam Saunders T13: Luke List T25: Adam Hadwin; Robert Streb T36: James Hahn T38: Troy Merritt T44: Tim Wilkinson T52: Fabian Gomez T57: Jason Gore 65th: Andrew Loupe MC: Jim Herman; Ben Martin; Hudson Swafford; Tyrone Van Aswegen WD: Derek Fathauer Finishes of those in this week’s field at the Web.com Tour event in 2013 Sorted by finish (players in bold appeared in both 2012 and 2013) T6: Sung Kang 10th: Tim Wilkinson T11: Jason Gore; Si Woo Kim T15: Jim Herman T27: Hudson Swafford T34: Kevin Tway T47: Adam Hadwin; Tyrone Van Aswegen 60th: Brett Stegmaier MC: Blayne Barber; Derek Fathauer; Billy Hurley III; Whee Kim; Kelly Kraft; Danny Lee; Andrew Loupe; Troy Merritt; Kyle Reifers; Sam Saunders WD: Alex Cejka

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