2019 Breakout Player

[lastings]

Seemingly every year, since Tiger stopped winning every single tournament, we get a new breakout star.   A player that was previously a decent player on the come up that flipped a switch and thrust himself to become a top 10 player in the world.   

Last year it was Bryson (or, Tiger), the year before JT or Koepka, or Rahm..     

So..   Who's next on the block?   

I would say that of the young guys, Joaquin Niemann, and Beau Hossler have the all-around game to make the leap.   Cameron Champ certainly has the tools, but he's probably still a ways off.   

Of the older guys that look like they are making a breakthrough, Patton Kazzire, or maybe Patrick Cantlay. 

 

but, if I had to pick one guy that has been just on the outside looking in and ready to make the jump, I don't think it would surprise anyone to see Xander Schauffele finish top 5 on the money list this year.   Even though he's never been higher than 14th..  

 

 

[Club Rat]

Each year it's always interesting to see who excels above expectations.

With the current players, I look for Tiger, Kucher, Leishman, Rory, Rose, DJ, DeChambeau, Fleetwood to all maintain top rankings.
While Reed, Schauffele, Koepka, Tway, Cantley, Simpson, CH III, Reavie, HV III, Molinari, Rahm and Finau will all be competitive through the year.

Rookies this year, I will be watching Cameron Champ, José de Jesús Rodríguez, Alex Prugh, Sebastián Muñoz,  Sungjae Im, 
Adam Svensson and Cory Conners who all moved up from the Web Tour.

And, there always seems to be a few players from the Euro and Asian Tour who light it up on any given event.

[iacas]

Who's not eligible?

For example, is Xander ineligible?

[Bucki1968]

I'm picking Tony Finau. If he's eligible. I think he gets a major this year.

[lastings]

16 hours ago, iacas said:

Who's not eligible?

For example, is Xander ineligible?

I would say Xander is eligible.   career best 14th on the money list.   3 career victories going into this season, only 1 of which was in 2018.  certainly widely accepted as good prior to this year, but making the jump to a top 5 guy would be considered a pretty big breakout, I think.  

[ChetlovesMer]

I'll take Cameron Champ... I think he's ahead of schedule.
I'll also take Tony Finau… not sure if he's eligible. Did he already break out last year?

[nevets88]

I've been following Julian Suri, who played at Duke, worked with his current instructor awhile back, so keeping an eye on him. Currently on Euro tour, tried to get his card last year, but results not good enough obviously, but some bright spots.

[Cannon1103]

I'm going to sat Xander, he has all the tools to be a real player this year. Also keeping my eye on Champ, he looks to be a great player if he puts everything together, he definitely shows promise. 

[lungbuster]

Xander will be a tough out this year.  I think Finau can be included considering he's only won once on Tour on that was in 2016 at the Puerto Rico Open, which was going on during the match play that year.

[BallStriker]

I keep waiting for this to be Gary Woodland....so, I will say Gary Woodland

[DeadMan]

I like Tommy Fleetwood to breakthrough and win a major this year. He's got the overall game to do it, and when he's on, he's really freaking good (63 on Sunday at Shinnecock, for example). Augusta seems like it could be a good fit for his game.

As far as an unknown player coming out and winning, that's tougher. Probably the whole point of them being "unknown," haha. I like Andrew Putnam to get a win this year - he's been close a couple of times now. Other names: Chase Wright, Wyndham Clark, Stephen Jaeger.

[colin007]

I've seen Cam Champ making what seems to be a lot of fat wedges. Like coming up 15-20 yds short on a 130 yd shot

[BallStriker]

On 1/16/2019 at 1:15 PM, BallStriker said:

I keep waiting for this to be Gary Woodland....so, I will say Gary Woodland

 This is about the only thing I have gotten right or predicted correctly about golf in what seems to be years.......so