Hello fellow hackers,

Hope you didn’t miss me too much and Happy New Year!  To kick off the new year I am going to talk about 3 of the tours up and coming stars; Jimmy Walker (35), Patrick Reed (24) and Jordan Spieth (21).

While Jimmy Walker might be the outlier age wise, he is one of the tours best players and emerged as a force to be reckoned with since being the Nationwide Tour leading money winner and player of the year in 2004.  It took roughly 9 years for Walker to get the hang of playing under pressure.

In the 2013 season, Walker won his first tournament (2013 Frys.com Open) by 2 strokes over Major Champion Vijay Singh.  Keeping up that momentum in 2014 he won his 2nd tournament after 2 starts at the Sony Open in Hawaii which he will be defending his title this coming weekend.  (Whomever was watching the Hyundai Tournament of Champions this past week, Walker lost in a playoff to another player in this article – Patrick Reed)

A few weeks after this win he took the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am by one stroke over Dustin Johnson and Jim Renner.  After this 3rd victory in 8 starts in 2014, Walker became the 2014 lead on the money list, FedEx Cup points, and Ryder Cup points standings.  To round out his season, he went on to 3 top-10 finishes at the majors.  I have a feeling this is not the last time we will be hearing about Mr. Walker!

Next up is Patrick Reed – who became famous after the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral when he said he is a “top 5 golfer in the world” (while sporting Tigers “Sunday red”).  He caught a lot of flack for that comment, but instead of hiding in the shadows he backed that statement up – while maybe not being a top-5 golfer he definitely carded some great wins.

In 2014 he proceeded to win the Human Challenge by 2 strokes over runner-up Ryan Palmer, the WGC-Cadillac by 1 stroke over Bubba and Jamie Donaldson and just this past Monday he won the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in an exciting playoff over another rising star Jimmy Walker.  Patrick Reed carries his momentum into this weeks tournament, The Sony Open, when he will go up against defending champ Jimmy Walker amongst others.  While many might feel Patrick Reed his 4 wins in 3 years is nothing crazy, he also played very very well on this years Ryder Cup team by carding 3.5 points individually.

Rounding out this entry is the youngest of our rising stars; Jordan Spieth.  Quite possibly one of the most-talked about golfers outside of Rickie Fowler and Rory, Spieth has shown a level of maturity and raw talent people twice his age wish they had.

In 2013, Spieth started his season with no official tour status; after missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open, he proceeded to make three cuts in March, tying for 2nd at the Puerto Rico Open.  Then at the young age of 19 Spieth won the John Deere Classic in an exciting 3-way sudden-death playoff against Zach Johnson and David Hearn.  This resulted in him obtaining the title of the fourth youngest PGA Tour winner in the last 82 years.  What made the win even more exciting?  He holed out from a green side biker on the 72nd hole to qualify for the playoff and eventually win.

After this win, he was eligible for the FedEx cup in 11th place, which made him eligible for the 2014 Majors (where on Sunday he was ever so close to winning a green jacket, but tied for 2nd while becoming the youngest runner-up in Masters history) losing to Bubba Watson.

Spieth then carried his momentum throughout 2014 by winning the Australian Open in November, and just a week later Tiger’s Hero World Challenge while setting a new tournament record of 26-under par.

While Spieth might have just turned 21, what he has achieved thus far on the PGA Tour is what many may call Tiger-Esque.

I am confident Walker, Reed and Spieth will continue to improve their games in 2015 – however will they be able to fend off red-hot Rory, Rickie, and Tigers new swing?  Only time will tell!

First and foremost, I completely understand that many of my blogs regarding GolfMatch are very unconventional. I wrote “The Naked Truth About GolfMatch” and our “New Years Resolutions” to give you a very real look into our mindset behind the venture. I hate how so many companies operate in a robotic fashion using standard templates to determine what they will write about and how they will present it. In my mind, in order to succeed you need to relate to your audience, listen to your early adopters, and take a risk by exposing your thoughts.

That being said, our vows for 2015 are as follows:

Put the VAST majority of our recent round of funding into product development

Our product is everything to us. We are a technology company aimed at helping golfers organize their golfing experiencing, while allowing them to share those experiences with a relevant golfing community.

We just hired SWARM NYC to do a complete redesign of our product, streamline the user experience, and build a new feature set that will allow you to share your rounds with your golfing buddies in a very unique way.  95% of my buddies on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook don’t care about the golf content I post – and that stinks! We are aiming to change that in a way that will help golfers engage with each other while allowing them to share relatablecontent to a passionate golfing audience.

Work harder than anyone around us to grow the game of golf

This is my life. I live, breathe, eat, sleep, and think golf.  From a high level overview, golf is struggling with participation numbers and increasing course closure rates. However, the biggest problem the industry faces is the lack of innovation. Industries need innovation to adapt to changing times and their consumer’s needs. Without innovation you don’t attract new customers, while losing a % of current users.  My 5-year plan is to grow the game of golf and be the go-to product that golfers use to approach their rounds and share their content – anything short of that is a failure in my mind.

Giveaway a TON of cool golf stuff

Our Instagram page has been a great way for us to connect with golfers on a daily basis. We have given away drivers, putters, and autographed gear, to name a few. We are about to start our weekly giveaway plan to constantly give golfers cool stuff…for free! Each contest will be different, so stay tuned for details, but what we do know for certain is that people love free stuff. We aim to please.

On that note, please email me directly [email protected] as I would love to hear your thoughts on how to better GolfMatch!

Yesterday, Patrick Reed won his fourth PGA Tour title at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions by defeating Jimmy Walker in a sudden death playoff.  The win also moved Reed to a career-best OWGR ranking of 14^th.

1. Patrick’s father, Bill, bought his son plastic golf clubs just days after Patrick’s birth as he said he saw how sales reps were paired with executives during corporate outings, and figured Patrick should start working his ability to perform business early on in life.
2. By the time Patrick was nine years of age, he was all-in on golf, working with Peter Murphy, a coach under Hank Haney, on Haney’s ranch in McKinney, Texas.
3. Patrick Reed initially attended the University of Georgia, with fellow PGA Tour players Russell Henley and Harris English.  The Georgia coach, Chris Haack, saw Reed as a “wild colt” that needed to be tamed, this after a series of issues — including an arrest for underage drinking and possession of a fake ID.
4. After his stint at the University of Georgia, Reed transferred to Augusta State University where helped lead Augusta State to back-to-back NCAA Division I Golf Championships in 2010 and 2011.
5. Following his second NCAA National Championship in 2011, Reed decided to declare himself a professional where he netted only $25,000 in three PGA Tour events and two Nationwide Tour events.  In 2012, Reed earned over $300,000 on the PGA Tour although he did not secure a top-10 finish in any event.
6. Reed’s first PGA Tour victory came in 2013 at the Wyndham Championship in a playoff victory over fellow young star Jordan Spieth.
7. Last season during the the Humana Challenge, Reed set the PGA Tour record for most strokes under par through 54 holes. His rounds of 63-63-63, were 27-under-par.  Later in 2014, Reed became only the fifth golfer to earn three PGA Tour wins before his 24th birthday since 1990, joining Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Sergio García.
8. Patrick’s wife, Justine Reed, was Patrick’s caddy in 2012 and was on the bag for Patrick’s first PGA Tour victory at the 2013 Wyndham Championship.
9. For most of 2013 through today, Justine’s younger brother Karain has now taken on the job of carrying Patrick’s bag.  Patrick has been stated that Karain is very calm and keeps the sometimes-excitable Reed on point with his emotions.

GolfMatch Fantasy Focus: Hyundai Tournament of Champions

Happy New Year, Happy Holidays, and Happy PGA-Tour-Golf-is-back! The Holidays are a fun part of year but unfortunately there’s not much room for competitive golf. The 2015 season restarts this week in Hawaii with one of the best tournaments all year to watch. As we sit at home, cold and far from the start of our own golf season, we get to watch the pro’s play in the canyons of Kapalua on a par 73 course straight out of Jurassic Park. I hope you’re all as excited as we are to kick off 2015. Feel free to let us know what you think and what else you’d like to see on our fantasy focus!

How it works:

• My Guy: If I’m picking in a one-golfer league, and had to just pick one…he’s the guy.
• Stripes: “Man, I was striping it today” as the big guy likes to say. Call these guys my “favorites” each week.
• Wildcard: All in the name. Enough said.
• Shank: I hate to even say this word, especially on a golf course, so as you can imagine these are guys to avoid.

My Guy:

• Well known for being streaky, especially with the putter, but he’s also one of the most competitive guys on Tour. If there’s one tournament outside of a major that Patrick Reed would love to win I’m sure it’s the Tournament of Champions. Look for the putter to heat up and his name on top of the leaderboard Sunday.

Stripes:

• Top 10’s in his last 3 PGA Tour events (not counting a W/D at the BMW). Certainly enjoyed the break to finish healing some nagging injuries. A long, high, accurate player; if he takes advantage of the par 5’s Jason Day will be in contention come Sunday.
• Kapalua is a long course with big fairways and big greens. There’s a reason that Bubba Watson has played this course well in the past. Unless he has another ‘allergy’ attack, Bubba should be a betting favorite.
• Top 10’s in his last four appearances here and a crowd favorite. Not sure what else you need to think about before adding Matt Kuchar to the roster. Koooch!

Wildcard:

• Hasn’t played a PGA Tour event since the TOUR Championship, but finished the year strong playing in all four Playoff events. He has two wins on the course, and though the last was five years ago, I think Geoff Ogilvy will be well rested and fully enjoy his return to Hawaii.

Shank:

• Outside of a win in his last start back in November, Charley Hoffman wasn’t playing very inspired golf; missing five cuts in his last nine starts. Coming off the long break, I’ll be passing on ol’ Charles this week.

1.  Golfer: Brendon Todd  

Event: HP Byron Nelson Championship – May 18, 2014

WGR Change: +75

One of 12 first time winners on the PGA Tour during the 2014 calendar year, Todd completed the only bogey-free round of the weekend during his final round to move up from 138 to 63 in the World Golf Rankings.

2.  Golfer: Tim Clark

Event: RBC Canadian Open – July 27, 2014

WGR Change: +78

Having previously made only 10 cuts in 20 events entering the RBC Canadian Open, the 38-year-old South African shot a 30 in the back 9 during his final round to move from 153 to 75 in the World Golf Rankings.

3.  Golfer: Seung-Yul Noh

Event: Zurich Classic of New Orleans – April 27, 2014

WGR Change: +88

The 22-year-old secured his first PGA Tour victory and became the fifth Korean-born player at the time to win on tour. The victory moved Noh from 176 to 88 in the World Golf Rankings.

4.  Golfer: Robert Streb

Event: The McGladrey Classic – October 26, 2014

WGR Change: +89

Robert Streb defeated Brendon de Jonge and Will MacKenzie in a playoff to win The McGladrey Classic for his first career PGA Tour victory. The victory has Robert Streb leading the 2014-2015 FedEx Cup season rankings and helped Streb go from 177 to 88 in the World Golf Rankings.

5.  Golfer: Sang-Moon Bae

Event: Frys.com Open – October 12, 2014

WGR Change: +105

Bae edged out Steven Bowditch (also on this list) by two shots for the first PGA Tour victory for the 2014-2015 season. This was Bae’s second PGA Tour victory, although he hadn’t had a top-10 finish between these two victories. This victory helped Bae rise from 195 to 90 in the World Golf Ranking.

6.  Golfer: Camilo Villegas

Event: Wyndham Championship – August 17, 2014

WGR Change: +142

Entering the 2010 FedEx Cup Playoffs, Camilo was ranked 12th in world but quickly lost his momentum, hitting a stretch of 73 tournaments with only two top-10 finishes. Camilo shot a 29 in the front nine of the final round to help him secure this victory, resulting in a rise from 254 to 112 in the World Golf Ranking.

7.  Golfer: Ben Crane

Event: FedEx St. Jude Classic – June 8, 2014

WGR Change: +166

Crane held on to his wire-to-wire victory with a final round 73 (3-over par). This was Cranes first victory since the 2011 McGladrey Classic, which helped propel him to 267 to 101 in the World Golf Ranking.

8.  Golfer: Steven Bowditch

Event: Valero Texas Open – March 30, 2014

WGR Change: +205

Although shooting a final round 76, Bowditch held off Will MacKenzie and Daniel Summerhays for his first career win, launching him from 339 to 134 in the World Golf Ranking.

9.  Golfer: Nick Taylor

Event: Sanderson Farms Championship – November 9, 2014

WGR Change: +356

The 26-year-old became the first Canadian-born citizen to win on the PGA Tour since Mike Weir in 2007 after shooting a final round 66 to secure the victory and a PGA Tour exemption through the 2016-2017 season. Only a few weeks earlier, Taylor had to shot a final round 63 in the Web.com Championship to finish tied for 21st and earn his PGA Tour card. After his victory at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Taylors jumped from 566 to 210 in the World Golf Rankings.