Power Rankings: Barracuda Championship

If you were going to define an opposite event literally – instead of an event in opposition, which, using astronomical terminology, really is what the Barracuda Championship is to The Open Championship – you might cite where it is and how it’s scored in relation to its concurrently contested competition. As it concerns the last opposite event of the season, you wouldn’t be wrong.

Whereas Royal Liverpool essentially is at sea level, Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood Course is 6,000 feet higher from said sea. And instead of traditional stroke play to measure performance, Modified Stableford Scoring is used at the Barracuda Championship. So, there truly is something for every fan of golf this week.

Details of the tournament, what the 156 in Truckee, California, face and more are below.

OTHERS TO CONSIDER

• Keith Mitchell … It’s an indictment that he’s not slotted above, but he runs too hot and cold to take a spot away from those who are worthy. That said, the tournament debutant can be as dangerous as he is dynamic, and he should love the track because of how much it will reward his long, straight tee balls. Still, at 63rd in the FedExCup, the pressure is on to perform and crash the Playoffs.

• Rico Hoey … He’s in on a sponsor exemption, something he won’t need often if at all in 2024. The 27-year-old is second on the Korn Ferry Tour points list with a win among four podium finishes, so he’ll be a PGA TOUR rookie next year. Of course, a victory this week would advance that inevitability. He’s also second on his circuit in the all-around ranking.

• Sean Crocker … The 26-year-old from Zimbabwe competes as an American. (He moved to the U.S. when he was five.) His former teammates at USC include Justin Suh and Rico Hoey, both of whom also are featured on this page. Among those who competed in the Genesis Scottish Open and made the trip to Old Greenwood, Crocker has the distinction of recording the best finish (T19). He’s also no stranger here, having posted a T13 in his debut last year. He does his best work tee to green, so his grind will be paying off the scoring opportunities.

• Maximilian Kieffer … Among the transatlantic travelers from The Renaissance Club where he finished T42, although he was positioned inside the top 20 entering the final round. He connected for a pair of podiums on the DP World Tour in June and sits 33rd in the Race to Dubai. Like Crocker, the 33-year-old German is an above-average ball-striker, but he’s a little quicker in getting the ball into the hole. Currently 25th in scoring.

• Kyle Reifers … The veteran of 165 PGA TOUR starts is making his fourth of this season, all as a four-spotter. In a sense, the mentality is exactly the same in the Barracuda Championship proper that it was on Monday at Hidden Valley Country Club where he turned in a blemish-free, 8-under 64. He hasn’t played Old Greenwood in competition, but he went 3-for-3 in Modified Stableford Scoring at Montrêux with a playoff loss in 2015, a T9 in 2016 and a T18 in 2017.

Just like last week’s Barbasol Championship, the Barracuda Championship is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour for which 50 spots in the field at Old Greenwood are reserved. If the champion is a PGA TOUR member, the usual perks will apply, including a membership exemption through 2025. If a DP World Tour member prevails, his status will extend through only next season on his circuit. The usual top-10 exemption into next week’s 3M Open applies only to PGA TOUR members.

The Barracuda has utilized Modified Stableford Scoring since 2012. This is the fourth edition at Old Greenwood. It’s a par 71 that stretches to 7,480 yards on the scorecard, but at altitude, it plays much shorter. That helps explain how a laser-straight bunter like Chez Reavie not only can be a threat but can win. With two eagles and 18 birdies covering just three bogeys, the veteran totaled 43 points to clip Alex Noren by one. (Recall that Noren would have gained entry into The Open Championship as an alternate but opted for the trip to Tahoe where the thinner air was no match after the whirlwind.)

The narrative of a target score is tossed around often enough to warrant the same consideration at Old Greenwood, but because the objective is to total the most points, there’s a different mentality than there is in trying to save strokes. It’s one thing to accentuate the absence of a negative to illustrate good, but when plain-old volume of success is easily understood with positive totals, the influence of a target score hits different. This week, as Reavie’s 72-hole aggregate last year suggests, reaching 11 points per round is a fair goal to claim victory. When one birdie worth two points cancels two bogeys worth one point each, flag hunting will be on the mind of every entrant.

None of that is to say that Old Greenwood is a pushover. ShotLink isn’t utilized, but hard data steps aside when the 2½-inch rough frames fairways and combination bentgrass-Poa greens are running to 11½ feet on the Stimpmeter, anyway. And, of course, adjusting expected distances for full shots adds to the challenge, whether in yards or meters. However, for most of the experience, the simple of it is to pile up the points. Once the finish line and leaderboards are within view in the finale, strategy rises as a priority because there will be more to gain than to lose in the context of position and how scores are tabulated.

Mother Nature will present a predictable array of conditions in mid-July. Daytime temperatures will climb to about 90 degrees, prevailing winds from the southwest will be moderate and sunshine will dominate what promises to a dry week.

ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE

PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled.

MONDAY: Power Rankings (Open)

TUESDAY*: Power Rankings (Barracuda), Sleepers (Open)

WEDNESDAY: Golfbet Insider

SUNDAY: Payouts and Points (Open), Payouts and Points (Barracuda), Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle

* - Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.