7 PGA Tour Golfers Having Surprisingly Good Seasons so Far
A "surprisingly good season" on the PGA Tour is a relative term. Adam Scott, for example, with his pair of consecutive victories and two second-place finishes on the heels of a disappointing 2015, has surprised.
When a tour rookie, Smylie Kaufman, for example, raises a trophy, that is a surprising development. Surprising, as when CBS Sports' Jim Nantz asked Kaufman what car he was driving in a post-third-round interview at the Masters this year.
So "surprisingly good" (not surprisingly) is relative to general expectations and/or recent past performance.
With that in mind, here are seven golfers who have performed surprisingly well through the first major of the season.
Adam Scott
1 of 7
Official World Golf Ranking entering 2016: 12
Current OWGR: 7
FedEx Cup standings: 1
Adam Scott won just once in 2014 and 2015 combined, so it was surprising to see the Australian win the Honda Classic and the WGC-Cadillac Championship in back-to-back weeks. He's also tallied a pair of second-place finishes for a total of four top-10 finishes in nine starts, which is one more than he had in 15 starts last year.
Danny Willett
2 of 7
OWGR entering 2016: 19
Current OWGR: 9
FedEx Cup standings: N/A
Nobody is having a better year than Danny Willett. The Englishman, who plays primarily on the European Tour, became a father and a Masters champion in a two-week stretch. Willett tallied just two top-10 finishes in 10 starts on the PGA Tour last year. And while he's won three times on the European Tour in the last two years, he hasn't been on the radar stateside.
Smylie Kaufman
3 of 7
OWGR entering 2016: 75
Current OWGR: 48
FedEx Cup standings: 9
Playing in the final group Sunday at the Masters, PGA Tour rookie Smylie Kaufman was already a winner on the tour, having captured the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in 2015. Certainly, a tour rookie winning in his second start on the PGA Tour is unexpected. He's totaled an impressive seven top-25 finishes in 15 starts.
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Graeme McDowell
4 of 7
OWGR entering 2016: 57
Current OWGR: 66
FedEx Cup standings: 12
Before winning the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in November 2015, Graeme McDowell hadn't won on the PGA Tour since the 2013 RBC Heritage. McDowell had recorded just one top-10 finish in 15 PGA Tour starts in 2015, so his strong performance, which includes three top-10 finishes in 10 starts, has been surprisingly good.
Brandt Snedeker
5 of 7
OWGR entering 2016: 49
Current OWGR: 15
FedEx Cup standings: 3
Like Graeme McDowell, veteran Brandt Snedeker has seen an improvement in form recently. Snedeker won the Farmers Insurance Open in January, and he's totaled five top-10 finishes in 12 starts. As recently as 2014, Snedeker tallied just three top-10 finishes for the season. His tie-for-10th finish at the Masters was his best showing there since 2013.
Emiliano Grillo
6 of 7
OWGR entering 2016: 32
Current OWGR: 36
FedEx Cup standings: 17
Emiliano Grillo, like Smylie Kaufman, is a rookie on tour this season. And Grillo won even more quickly than Kaufman by raising a trophy in his first professional start (the Frys.com Open in October 2015). While he'd recorded two top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour last year prior to membership, a win in one's first member start is certainly a surprise.
Vaughn Taylor
7 of 7
OWGR entering 2016: 408
Current OWGR: 101
FedEx Cup standings: 38
The most surprising victor of 2016, Vaughn Taylor hadn't raised a trophy on the PGA Tour since the 2005 Reno-Tahoe Open. Taylor had just three top-10 finishes in the five years prior to his win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: surprising indeed.
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