The NCAA has March Madness.
Since we can’t afford to buy the rights for their trademarked annual national basketball rite, and we don’t want to be dealing with our lawyers all week on this, we’ve generated our own not-so-catchy name for our own version of golf’s ultimate tournament.
“Spring Can Be Crazy.” It begins this week. And the golf calendar is loaded heading up through Augusta, even with four-fifths of the Florida Swing already posted to Instagram.
While your NCAA brackets could be shot by the end of this upcoming weekend, we’ll just be getting started.
The name isn’t so hot, but we think the golf will be exciting, and it will take us – possibly – up through the U.S. Open.
Unlike other golf-related brackets, we’re going to let the golfers decide this one themselves.
Here’s how.
We have taken the best 20 players on the PGA Tour, using a combination of the Official World Golf Rankings and the Golfweek PGA Tour power rankings.
From that list, we developed four brackets. We had some fun with that – grouping the big U.S. names, the top Europeans, the best under 30 and the best remainders over 30, along with the top two Aussies.
There are three set seeds in each bracket, along with a play-in match to determine No. 4.
Golfers will advance in our bracket by beating the other player they’re matched up against in the same tournament. The lowest overall tournament score when they play at the same time advances. The highest Official World Golf Ranking will break any ties.
The brackets are as follows:
Team Europe
These guys put it together during the 2018 Ryder Cup. But how will the fare against each other as the golf season progresses?
1. Rory McIlroy
2. Justin Rose
3. Jon Rahm
Play In: Francesco Molinari vs. Tommy Fleetwood
Team America
They’re all Americans and, at times, All-Americans. They’ve all won majors and helped Team USA dominate in the 2017 Presidents Cup. No so much in Paris last year.
1. Dustin Johnson
2. Justin Thomas
3. Tiger Woods
Play In: Phil Mickelson vs. Patrick Reed
The Young Guns
Each one of these golfers is under 30 and has shown tremendous presence and potential.
1. Brooks Koepka
2. Xander Schauffele
3. Bryson DeChambeau
Play In: Jordan Spieth vs. Patrick Cantlay
30 + Over & Down Under
They’re the best of the rest, with a heavy Australian accent and some serious PGA Tour experience. The Presidents Cup will be played at Royal Melbourne this year, so keep an eye on Marc Leishman and Jason Day as 2019 progresses.
1. Rickie Fowler
2. Marc Leishman
3. Jason Day
Play In: Webb Simpson vs Matt Kuchar
We’ll get things going this weekend at the Valspar Championship.
Jason Day and Webb Simpson are set to play at Innisbrook. The low score between them this week gets the 4th seed in their bracket as our first play-in match.
DeChambeau and Cantlay are off this week, as are Molinari and Fleetwood. Reed is playing at the Valspar, but Mickelson is off working on his game.
So fill out your bracket and follow along. This is for fun, unless you’re willing to bet someone else.
You have nothing to lose – and even less to win.
