The Course Report
Silverado Resort & Spa
About Silverado Resort
The PGA Tour embarks on a new season at the Fortinet Championship at Silverado Resort & Spa. The course lies in the heart of Napa Valley, California and is often a spectator’s dream to come to thanks to the multitude of vineyards in the surrounding area. While it is wine country for most, the PGA will crown a champion on Sunday.
To be frank, the course is gettable. There are minimal hazards, and golfers are able to basically attack pins as long as they are in the fairway.
This is a second shot course that rewards players that utilize distance as well as accuracy to do their damage. Elite driving skills allow decent approach players to have a shot at first place on Sunday.
Fairways are more difficult to hit here at Silverado. The fairways are tight, but to the joy of the field the rough is anything but penalizing. Either way, fairways specialists and bombers have both found success here throughout the years.
As it does on my courses, approach play is going to be the biggest barometer of success here at the Fortinet Championship. The lone exception being someone getting incredibly hot with the short stick.
All the par 5’s are under 600 yards. This is going to allow the longer hitters Eagle opportunities, and the chance to score. This is a stat angle you should be keying in on. Only three players finished in the top-20 last year by driving less than 290 yards on average.
One of the edges that may or may not go overlooked is the fact that the golfers are putting on Poa greens. Some players struggle on this surface, and it could lead to lineup differentiation, or a potential sleeper play that the masses are ignoring. A key nugget to think about is that Poa does tend to get a bit bumpy in the afternoons.
A lot will talk about the doglegs on this course, but I think it is important to note that these aren’t severe obstacles for the PGA Tour player.
This is a ball strikers course, and the players have to be in control of their entire game tee to green.
Architect: Robert Trent Jones / Johnny Miller (2011)
Greens: Poa Annua Greens
Green Size: 6,100 sq. feet (average)
Stimpmeter: 11 to 11.5 – Average
Length: 7,166 – Par 72
Water Hazards: 2 come into play
Bunkers: 50
Weather Forecast
Nuggets and Tidbits
-History tells us that course history isn’t as predictive as we would hope.
-History tells us that putting hasn’t been difficult here. In fact, the last player to almost win with his broom stick was Zac Blair back in 2020. Still, putting is a stat that we often see in the top-25 of the leaderboard.
-There is some undulation on the course. Nothing of importance. Still…we have some hills.
-The AM wave gets a massive advantage with Poa. There is such an advantage so consider that when looking at Showdowns and FRL.
-Hadley has the 18-hole course record.
-The par-3’s are long. Hit the green, get your par, and go score on everything else.
-The rough is not penal here. Yet, it is important to be on teh rigth angle when attacking pins.
Approach Shot Distribution
Past Winners
The off-season was short, but it was long enough for Homa as he ended up winning the Fortinet Championship with a score of 19-under par.
In Homa’s last 27 holes, he dazzeled as he went 14-under par. Sunday pressure was no match as Homa captured his fourth PGA victory, and it was a distance and ball striking clinic to say the least.
This was Cink’s 7th win on the PGA Tour, and won the tournament by two strokes over runner-up Harry Higgs.
Cink’s short game was on point as he one-putted 10 times, scrabled for pars twice, and had eight birdies to finish at 21-under 267.
It was an emotional win for Champ as the tournament is roughly an hour away from his hometown of Sacramento.
Champ entered Sunday with a three-shot lead and never looked back. He simply hit the ball as far as he could, and used his short irons to hit plenty of pars through Sunday’s 18 holes. His 369-yard drive on the 18th allowed him to birdie the hole and lock up the victory.
Tway outlasted Ryan Moore after three playoff holes to capture his first win the PGA Tour.
The wind played a massie factor on Sunday, as the leader entering the final round was Snedeker, who ended up struggling in the gusty conditions. The wind calmed down just enough for Tway to birdie the final two holes on the back 9, thus forcing the playoff with Moore
Brendan Steele rallied from behind to repat as champion at the Safeway Open.
Tyler Duncan started round 4 as the leader, but simply couldn’t keep up with the rest of the field. Steele closed with a 3-under 69 for a two-stroke victory over Tony Finau.
It took a 3-man playoff, but Johnson beat Louis Ossthuizen and Marc Leishman by shooting a 15, 1 under in a four hole playoff.
Johnson was a surprise win as just the week before his prep came in Illinois at the John Deere Classic. This was Johnson’s second major win, and his first Claret Jug.
Entering with a six-stroke lead over the field, McIIroy went from dominant to just hanging on. Still, no golfer ever got withing two strokes the entire day, and he held his composure despite struggles off the tee and on the greens.
In winning, McIIroy became the seventh wire-to-wire winner in Open Championship history.
After winning the Scottish Open the week prior, Mickelson birdied four of the last six holes and became the Open Champion.
To this point, Phil had come close to winning, but had often doubted his abilites on links style courses.
Els began Sunday 6 shots back, but still clinched the vicotry after Adam Scott imploded.
Els’ 68 was a comeback of epic proportions when you consider the fact that Scott was still winning by 4 strokes on the 15th tee.