Mackenzie Hughes took down the second tournament of the season as he beat Sepp Straka in a playoff at the Sanderson Farms Championship. It was the Canadian's first win since 2016 and a reminder of some of the great stories that can bubble up during this stretch of the year.
Hughes mentioned taking inspiration from missing the recent President's Cup and that was the same sentiment overseas as Australian Ryan Fox won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World Tour.
Now, the TOUR heads to Las Vegas and the Shriners Children's Open. They'll tee it up at TPC Summerlin, a popular area where many pros call home. Several big names have decided to make this their first stop of the new season as Patrick Cantlay and Sungjae Im are set to make their debut.
Max Homa will play his second tournament of the year following his win at the Fortinet prior to the President's Cup. Those names will undoubtedly lead the way in the odds market on Monday morning, bumping many others down a notch and creating a fun tournament to handicap this week.
First Look
Patrick Cantlay
Any article this week has to start with Patrick Cantlay. I fully expect him to be too short on the odds board for me to actually take the leap, but he's in fantastic form and has an incredible history at this event.
Cantlay hasn't finished worse than T8 at this tournament in the four years he has played it and in the other three, he has two runner-up finishes and a win. This is just simply one of those course fits for one of the best players in the world. If we don't take him, he will certainly be the golfer we fear the most.
Taylor Montgomery
I bit on the home game narrative this past week at the Sanderson Farms with Davis Riley and I'll be looking to do so again on Monday with Taylor Montgomery.
The UNLV grad calls Las Vegas home and, more importantly, he's on a hot stretch of golf. He added another top-10 finish to his resume with a T9 this past week in Mississippi, backing up his solo third at the Fortinet. Montgomery made it through to the weekend on the number this past week and took full advantage of his added play to climb nearly into contention before the end of the week.
He'll be a favorite bet of mine from the start and I am hopeful the bigger names at the top will give us better odds than the +3000 he opened at last Monday.
Thomas Detry
Another player who has come out firing in the opening tournaments of the year is Thomas Detry. He has made an early commitment this season to the PGA Tour and has brought his game with him.
The Belgian was the 36-hole leader at the Sanderson Farms, but got derailed by a poor round on Saturday. I really liked the way he bounced back in the final round with a 4-under 68 to close the week with a T9 finish, alongside Montgomery.
Detry's game should carry over well to TPC Summerlin, where he can use his distance off the tee and strong overall ball striking to his advantage. If he can put it together on the greens, he could be in the mix once again when we turn to the weekend in Vegas.
