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After stops in West Virginia and Mississippi, the PGA Tour continues its new 2019/20 schedule with a trip out west to the Safeway Open in California. Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa plays host once more and it’s no pushover. Four of the five winning scores at the par 72 were -14 and -15 (three times) while Brendan Steele’s -18 in 2017 was the lowest. The tree-lined course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr, opened in 1957 and measures just over 7,200 yards. It’s California so Poa Annua greens are the order of the day. More on that shortly. After modest fields so far, some of the big guns are coming out to play. Justin Thomas leads the betting while Patrick Cantlay and Bryson DeChambeau add further weight to the home challenge. Hideki Matsuyama and a back-to-form Adam Scott lead a strong overseas challenge and it’s worth noting that so far on this year’s PGA Tour, the two winners were from Chile and Colombia – Joaquin Niemann and Sebastian Munoz. Angles to consider 1/ Greens In Regulation Two of the first four home last year occupied 1st and 2nd in the GIR stats and that’s been a strong thread down the years at Silverado. Irons need to be dialled in here. 2/ Scrambling Last year’s winner, Kevin Tway, ranked 1st in Scrambling and that continued a trend. Each of the five winners at Silverado finished in the top seven in that category so getting it up and down on a regular basis serves you well at the Napa track. 3/ Poa Annua It’s an obvious factor but an important one. Some players simply don’t get on with these bumpy surfaces while others – often those who grew up on it – relish the return to Poa Annua greens. Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected… Kevin Streelman Streelman ranked 22nd for GIR and 10th for Scrambling when fourth at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship and hopefully he can carry that form to Silverado. He’s finished T25 and T13 in the last two editions and has shown his ability to play well on Poa Annua with T7 and T6 in the last two Pebble Beach Pro-Ams. He was also third at Torrey Pines in 2016. Dylan Frittelli The South African finished in the top 16 for both GIR and Scrambling at the Sanderson Farms, closing with a 66 to finish tied sixth. Looking back over the last few months he ranked 1st for Scrambling when winning the John Deere Classic and he had a nice first glimpse of Silverado last year when finishing in the top 25. Kevin Na Na took immediately to Silverado when first playing here in 2015, eventually losing in a play-off. He returned the following year to take T7 and finishes of second and fourth in recent starts at Riviera highlight his liking for Poa Annua greens. As for Scrambling, he ranked 5th for that category when T14 on his return to action at Greenbrier two weeks ago while he was 1st for greens in regulation when winning the Charles Schwab Challenge in May. Tips 1-2; +0.67pts 1pt e.w. Kevin Streelman at 55/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) mc 1pt e.w. Dylan Frittelli at 45/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power, Boylesports 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) 7th 1pt e.w. Kevin Na at 45/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power, 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) mc
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