Andrew's The Ascendant Preview

After a break, the Korn Ferry Tour returns. The bad news is we’ve got a slightly

weaker field because of the alternate field ISCO Championship over in Kentucky. The good news is that we’ve got one of the better and more memorable courses to look at. Let’s dive right in.

The Tournament

This is one of those previews where I think I can get a very different reaction depending on how I first introduce this course. If I say “a TPC course” you’ll have an image in your head of low scoring, driving without fear of penalty and taking wedges into receptive greens. If I say “8,015 yards” you’ll start thinking about driver-wood-wedge into par-threes and a nightmare on the long par fours. If I say “Nicholas Lindheim won in 2023 and Brian Campbell was runner up last year” you’ll think of a short, tight, wedge-and-putter competition sort of course.

All of those things are true, and they co-exist because of one key word: altitude. TPC Colorado sits at 1500m above sea level. So yes, this is a long course but it isn’t really an 8k yard course. Yes, it is a TPC course – and a new one, opened in 2019 – but it takes inspiration from links golf (albeit with a 773 yard par-five.) Yes, the likes of Lindheim and Campbell have had success here but so too have Cristobal del Solar (winning last year with a record low 266 (-22) and Max Greyserman, runner up to Lindheim. Will Zalatoris and Nelson Ledesma have won here too – it is all things to all people.

So what do you need to win? Well, experience at altitude helps. It seems that there’s meaningful crossover with the Astara Championship (in 2024, Campbell was second and Del Solar fifth whilst the likes of MJ Daffue and Shad Tuten have been successful at both). Other than altitude and low scoring, it isn’t clear what links the events. Whist you do see bombers and plodders succeeding, you either need to be excellent with your irons or a long way up the fairway – very few short game specialists are successful here. You also need to be going well in the year, as I can’t find a winner who didn’t pick up a PGA card after taking this title.

It is worth looking at the weather – it is going to be damn hot. There’s an advisory out. Also, Thursday looks mighty blowy and you’ll want early starters if you’re in the FRL markets (I agree with Titanic and the other sharps that this is often overplayed, but not this week). There might be some minor thunderstorm delays too. https://www.windfinder.com/forecast/boulder-reservoir

Selections

I’m taking a win-only pick from among the favourites on what should be a course for

the best in the field, and that’s Johnny Keefer for me. After a very busy few weeks including his first two appearances at majors Keefer will have benefitted from a break and is now back to his main tour – for this week and no longer, I suspect. Fourth in the Astara Golf Championship and second in the Order of Merit, he’s got the requisite form. That’s backed up by a bevy of relevant stats – he’s 23rd in driving distance and ninth in total driving, as well as 13th in putting average. The only surprise as his season has developed is that he’s only picked up one win – I think that changes this week.

Towering above Keefer, and everyone else, is Christo Lamprecht. I mean that in terms of driving distance (he’s top of the field) as well as height (he’s 6ft-8in.) The former Georgia Tech standout was world number one amateur and played plenty of golf at altitude in his native South Africa (although he grew up on the coast). On that basis it is scarcely a surprise that he was fifth in this event last year (his first made cut on the KFT) and that he was second in the Astara Championship this season. His current form is not the strongest but a return to a thin-aired bombers’ course is perfect and he’s well-positioned to threaten again for his maiden professional win.

Having picked two young players making a name for themselves on this tour, my third pick is even younger and far less experienced. Brendan Valdes is making just his fourth KFT start (he was 13th in Kansas and has missed two cuts), and is coming here off the back of a John Deere Classic 41st upped to the big tour where I think he’ll soon be a regular. Valdes, a native of Orlando who went to college at Auburn is new to altitude golf, but that’s my only concern. Recently the fifth ranked amateur in the world, Valdes gained nearly a shot a round off the tee in the John Deere and is only stopped from ranking third in driving distance on the KFT by a limit on the number of rounds he’s played. 320.2 is certainly far enough for me to be intrigued. Will Zalatoris won a maiden professional title here and I wouldn’t be surprised if Valdes put in a bid to do the same – certainly, I’d be less surprised than the odds compilers.

• Johnny Keefer, 22/1, 2pts win, Bet365

•  Christo Lamprecht, 80/1, 1pt e/w, ¼ odds 5 places, Bet365.

•  Brendan Valdes, 40/1, 1pt e/w, ¼ odds 5 places, Bet365.