Who’s feeling confident at Glen Abbey

If there’s one thing that can zap the confidence from any golfer without notice and without mercy, it’s an injury. Brandt Snedeker withdrew from the RBC Canadian Open on Monday. He was an early WD from last week’s Open Championship due to soreness in a rib that “didn’t respond to treatment as I had hoped,” he tweeted on Wednesday, July 19. This leaves the event in Ontario, Canada, without its all-time earnings leader at Glen Abbey Golf Club. In three appearances, he’s won (2013) and finished T5 twice (2009, 2016). Of course, this also means that opportunity is even greater for the 156 in the field who are able to compete. Glen Abbey is a fan-friendly venue on which golfers often struggle to find fairways and greens, but they know going in that par-breaker chances are everywhere. At least they should know. The par 72 with three par 5s on the inward nine connects with both angles as a putting contest. Either pile up the greens in regulation or sink it from everywhere with fewer looks. Do both and you’ll be raising that gorgeous trophy. Beginning with Snedeker in 2013, the last three winners at Glen Abbey dutifully step into formation. Glen Abbey is embraced by all who enter, not to mention a host country that continues to return to it for its national open – this will be the fourth time in five years that the RBC Canadian Open has been held here – but the Jack Nicklaus design checks all of the boxes from our analytical perspective as well. Fairness of the test translates into equity in the box scores. Last year’s field leaders in distance of all drives (Dustin Johnson), fairways hit (Steve Wheatcroft), greens in regulation (Martin Laird), proximity to the hole (Jon Rahm) and scrambling (Ricky Barnes) all finished inside the top 10 on the leaderboard. Now, because wind influenced higher scoring in the first two rounds, to get a fairer observation of the value of strokes gained: putting, it’s better to review the 2015 edition when only 16/100ths of a stroke separated the lowest round (first, 71.13) from the highest (third, 71.29). Not surprisingly, six of the top 10 on the leaderboard ranked inside the top 10 in the stat, including field pacesetter David Hearn. However, to avoid confusion by mixing and matching editions, all of the groupings in the identifiers below apply to 2016. Golfers in this week’s field inside the top 10 in the following categories in last year’s RBC Canadian Open: * – Currently inside the top 50 on the PGA TOUR in the stat. (Golfers who haven’t logged enough rounds are not tagged.) Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green Rank  Golfer (Tournament Finish) 1  Cameron Percy (T26) 2  *Jhonattan Vegas (Win) 5  Alex Cejka (T5) 6  Ricky Barnes (T5) 8  Hudson Swafford (T14) 9  Geoff Ogilvy (T9) 10  *Dustin Johnson (T2) Greens in Regulation Rank  Golfer (Tournament Finish) T3  Ricky Barnes (T5) T3  *Hudson Swafford (T14) T3  Jhonattan Vegas (Win) T8  *Chez Reavie (T14) T8  Johnson Wagner (T43) Strokes Gained: Putting Rank  Golfer (Tournament Finish) 2  Jared du Toit (T9) 5  *Steve Wheatcroft (T5) 6  Chris Kirk (T14) 7  K.J. Choi (T38) Par-5 Scoring Rank  Golfer (Tournament Finish) 1  *Dustin Johnson (T2) 2  Alex Cejka (T5) T3  Matt Kuchar (T9) T3  *Luke List (T14) T10  Ben Crane (T9) T10  Ken Duke (T49) T10  *Whee Kim (T38) T10  Geoff Ogilvy (T9) T10  Chez Reavie (T14) T10  *Hudson Swafford (T14) T10  Vaughn Taylor (T43) While Glen Abbey has undergone more than its fair share of modernizations in recent years, the historical line of demarcation as it concerns relevant course history occurred between 2000 and 2004 when a major renovation took place. So, the data below takes into account results from only 2004, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2016. NOTE: The groups below are comprehensive to assist in data mining. Inclusion doesn’t imply automatic endorsement in every fantasy game as all decisions are specific to your situation. CONFIDENCE MEN Selected golfers with multiple cuts made sorted by rank on the tournament’s money list. BUILDING CONFIDENCE Sorted by best finish, selected golfers who are either finally finding form on the course or are still relatively new to the tournament but have enjoyed some success. OTHER SIGNS OF CONFIDENCE Sorted by most recent top 10s, selected golfers for whom it’s been a few years since their last.

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