From the Deep Blue Sea to the Desert

Today we cruise into the California desolate tract for the Desert Classic, the occasion previously referred to as the Bob Hope.

In case you have forgotten, the Desert Classic makes use of three separate guides at PGA West -- the TPC Stadium Course, the Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club -- which makes it less complicated for the 156 execs to get around notwithstanding the shorter daytime this time of 12 months.

The TPC Stadium Course, as soon as nicknamed "Frankenstein" because of how hard it performed, is also the website online for the final round. Fans of the vintage Skins Game, which changed into performed every Thanksgiving, may do not forget the route as the house of that event at some point of the past due Nineteen Eighties. It's got a few actually DEEP bunkers.

Although I did not in the beginning plan to pick a winner each week, I assume I may hold it up this yr and see how I do. In the last two events I've picked a winner and another player I assume will do nicely; so far I've were given one winner (Xander Schauffele) and a T10 (Bryson DeChambeau) with my winners, and my different alternatives have finished T4 (Rory McIlroy) and T10 (Charles Howell III). Let's see how I can do that week.

The Desert Classic moves me as the first real "wild card" of the season because the style of guides, blended with the "run and gun" component of the event (you generally want to move very low to win), tends to desire the player who throws caution to the win and simply attempts to post the most birdies. It's been a dozen years because the winning score changed into less that -20 (-17, Charley Hoffman in 2007) -- and that became while the occasion changed into a 5-rounder. Hence any try to are expecting form might be doomed to fail.

Nevertheless, I will. My picks are quite easy.

• Jon Rahm is the defending champion. He posted -22 and won in a playoff against Andrew Landry. Rahm seems to be in good form again, coming off a win at the Hero Challenge and a T8 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. I see no reason he shouldn't play well again. HOWEVER, he isn't my pick to win.
• Given the wide open nature of this event, I'm going with Justin Rose to win. Rose had a 3rd at the last WGC in October, a win at the Turkish Airlines Open in November and a 3rd at the Hero. While he's coming off an extended holiday, that hasn't hurt him in past years; he routinely has Top5 finishes in his January appearances. Likewise, I don't expect his recent equipment changes to have much of an effect either.

So there you have it. I pick Rose to win and Rahm to make a good showing.

And don't forget that the Web.com Tour's Bahamas Great Exuma Classic finishes up today at 1pm ET on GC.