Preview and Predictions for the 2015 AT&T Byron Nelson
Just after the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in nearby Fort Worth was hampered by occasionally torrential Texas rain, the 2015 AT&T Byron Nelson Championship will tee it up in the aftermath of some pretty severe weather at the TPC Four Seasons Resort at Las Colinas in Irving.
Thirty-one miles to the northeast of the Colonial site, the TPC course was drenched by 3.75 inches of overnight rain from Saturday into Sunday, and a storage tent left of the 18th fairway was obliterated by an apparent EF-1 tornado, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The National Weather Service confirmed parts of Irving sustained damage from a tornado that touched down and had maximum winds of 110 mph.
"Certainly, the debris field looked like that could have been one,” Nelson tournament director Jon Drago told the newspaper. “It was one of those things where it just looked like, 'Man, something weird happened here.'"
Assuming it's not swept away to Kansas in the meantime, the 7,166-yard course features large undulating greens that challenge players to use slopes and work shots close to the pins. However, runoffs and closely cropped areas just off the putting surfaces penalize poor shots.
"We're getting ourselves back on track for what we hope is going to be a great week,” Drago said.
For what else to watch when the field heads to Las Colinas, read on.
Tournament Info and Where to Watch
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Defending Champion: Brendon Todd
Where
TPC Four Seasons Resort at Las Colinas (Irving, Texas)
7,166 yards, Par 70
What
Total Purse: $7,100,000
Winning Share: $1,278,000
FedEx Points to Winner: 500
When
Thursday and Friday
4-7 p.m., Golf Channel
Saturday and Sunday
1-2:30 p.m., Golf Channel; 3-6 CBS
Biggest Storylines
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Jordan Spieth Returns Home
Masters winner and Dallas native Jordan Spieth plays his hometown event for the first time as a major champion and can build on the Lone Star State momentum he created with a second-place finish at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
Now 21 years old, he made the Byron Nelson cut twice as a teenager and had been looking forward to the Texas events as a respite from a whirlwind month of post-Augusta travel that's hampered his practice time.
"I just have not worked hard enough since the Masters to have my game," he told Randall Mell of the Golf Channel. "I've played [the courses in Fort Worth and Irving] a million times, each of them. Familiar tracks, I know how to play them. I'm excited for this next stretch."
Gentle On First-Timers
The 2014 win by Brendon Todd made him the fourth player in five years to record his first PGA Tour win at the Byron Nelson, following Jason Day in 2010, Keegan Bradley in 2011 and Sangmoon Bae in 2013. The only previous winner in the last half-decade was Jason Dufner, who won his second event in 2012.
Todd failed to follow up on his win for the remainder of the 2014 season and has been uneven thus far in 2015, recording three top-10 finishes alongside a pair of missed cuts and eight other events in which he's placed from 14th to 52nd.
"I think going forward, it keeps me hungry to try to win again because it was thrilling and rewarding and everything you think it will be,” he told Bill Nichols of the Dallas Morning News. “It's something I want to do many more times in my career."
The Favorites
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Jordan Spieth
Spieth was hearing talk of a Masters hangover prior to returning to Fort Worth last weekend and emerging with a second-place finish to carry him into his hometown this week.
He's first on the tour in scoring average, first in FedEx Cup points and second in the world rankings heading into an event at which he made his first PGA Tour start, as a 16-year-old, in 2010. He shot four-under par 276 that year and has returned to finish in ties for 32nd (2011), 68th (2013) and 37th (2014).
Presuming the adrenaline translates to good play, he'll be expected to contend.
"It's going to be awesome," Spieth told Art Stricklin of Golf.com. "I will be basking in the moment. I've been hearing some crazy numbers for tickets. I'm going to be with a lot of friends, but it will be tough too because I won't have time to practice and do things I normally do."
Jason Day
Day enters the event as the eighth-ranked golfer in the world and shows up in Irving with a chance to record his fourth top-10 finish in his last five appearances there.
Now 27, the Australian earned his first PGA Tour victory as a 22-year-old with a two-shot win in the 2010 tournament and returned to finish fifth in 2011 (two shots behind winner Keegan Bradley) and tied for ninth in 2012 (six shots behind winner Jason Dufner).
He skidded to a 27th-place tie in 2013 and skipped the event in 2014, but he arrives in 2015 after having already recorded a win and three more top-five finishes across 10 early-season outings.
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The Dark Horses
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Dustin Johnson
One of these times, it's bound to turn out well for Johnson.
The father of Wayne Gretzky's first grandson has cornered the market on near misses at Las Colinas, registering top-10 finishes in 2009 (tied for fourth), 2010 (tied for seventh) and 2014 (tied for seventh), not to mention a tie for 20th in 2011.
He's the highest-ranked player (10th in the world) not named Spieth or Day, and Johnson would more than likely be among the favorites if this weren't Spieth's hometown event—given a win and four other top-six finishes in 10 events this season.
Rory Sabbatini
If you believe the phrase "horses for courses" carries over from thoroughbreds to golfers, then it's easy to visualize Rory Sabbatini having a long-shot impact this weekend, too.
While it's true the South African has missed more cuts (seven) than he's made (six) across his first baker's dozen outings this season, it also is true that he finished in a respectable tie for 10th at the Colonial last weekend, and he still holds the 72-hole record—19-under 261—from his Byron Nelson win in 2009.
He shot rounds of 68, 64, 65 and 64 to win that title, and he's been playing on Sunday in three of his five subsequent appearances at the event, including the last two in succession.
Prediction
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Winner: Spieth
It'd be one thing if his so-called Masters hangover was really a hangover.
But in reality, just because the superstar 21-year-old wasn't winning every tournament he entered after shredding Augusta doesn't mean he wasn't playing well enough to compete.
He tied for 11th at the RBC Heritage and tied for 17th at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play. Then Spieth rebounded after a missed cut at the Players Championship to finish tied for second at Colonial.
Given that he's performed well at the Byron Nelson under previous spotlight treatment—as a 16-year-old invitee back in 2010, for example—it's hard to imagine him doing anything less than providing a big show for the hometown crowd this time around.
Expect Spieth, Day and Johnson to be on the leaderboard's first page, perhaps along with Sabbatini and maybe even Patrick Rodgers, too.
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