Power Rankings: QBE Shootout
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Harris English and Matt Kuchar's Final Round highlights from QBE Shootout
The holiday season is about togetherness – the more, the merrier – so it only makes sense that the last two tournaments of the calendar year hosted by the PGA TOUR are team formats.
Next week’s PNC Championship associated with the PGA TOUR Champions connects generations. It’s fitting that it’s the last stop before everyone celebrates the holidays in earnest. There won’t be a Power Rankings for it, but the entire field of 12 two-person teams at this week’s QBE Shootout is slotted below.
As it has since taking over as host of the three-day competition in 2001, Tiburón Golf Club’s Gold Course in Naples, Florida, is the stage. Details of it, the format, and more can be found below.
POWER RANKINGS: QBE SHOOTOUT
| RANK | TEAM | COMMENT |
| No. 12 | Charley Hoffman & Ryan Palmer | Six different partners is as many appearances for Hoffman; he’s placed T3 thrice. Palmer has one T3 in four prior tries. Neither 40something has made much noise in a while. |
| No. 11 | Corey Conners & K.H. Lee | The Presidents Cup teammates are intriguing. Conners’ strong ball-striking yields security and confidence for Lee to pile up par breakers in succession. They are the wild card. |
| No. 10 | Maverick McNealy & Lexi Thompson | In his debut, McNealy will be leaning on his partner’s experience, but Thompson has finished in the top half just once in five tries (T4, 2017). Both arrive in good form. |
| No. 9 | Nelly Korda & Denny McCarthy | Compelling debutants. Korda is No. 2 in the Rolex Rankings and an eight-time winner on the LPGA. Her savvy on approach is matched by McCarthy’s strength with the putter. |
| No. 8 | Trey Mullinax & Scott Stallings | Both are near their primes and playing like it. Given their swings of form, they’re arguably the most likely to finish first or last. Of course, that makes them the most dangerous. |
| No. 7 | Max Homa & Kevin Kisner | One of just two returning teams in the tournament, they debuted with a T5 last year. In the interim, they were Presidents Cup teammates and Homa’s star continues to rise. |
| No. 6 | Keith Mitchell & J.J. Spaun | Neither has appeared before but they might perform like veterans. Mitchell’s knack to keep his tee ball in play blends wonderfully with Spaun’s overall balance. A dynamic team. |
| No. 5 | Tom Hoge & Sahith Theegala | Both first-timers, but they’re also bona fide threats. In fact, with a good week, it’s easy to envision their scorers’ mentalities to unite again at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. |
| No. 4 | Steve Stricker & Cameron Young | A serious illness forced Stricker into a rare DNP here last year. The two-time QBE champ won his last two on the PGA TOUR Champions. Young is fresh off a solo third at Albany. |
| No. 3 | Brian Harman & Sepp Straka | This partnership among University of Georgia products has a combined five podium finishes in the last four months. Harman also is a former winner of the QBE Shootout (2018). |
| No. 2 | Jason Day & Billy Horschel | Day is a sometimer at Tiburón but he’s also a former champ (2014). Horschel (no Ws) is making his 10th straight start, but it’s the first time he’s joined forces with the Aussie. |
| No. 1 | Harris English & Matt Kuchar | With three titles and a pair of silvers, they are the doyens of the event. English has had the more extreme 2022, but it’s been six months since he returned after hip surgery. |
For two of the competitors in the field – Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson – the Gold Course at Tiburón is exceptionally familiar, for it’s also the annual host of the LPGA’s CME Group Tour Championship. It was contested just three weeks ago. Save nine holes borrowed from the Black Course in 2014, only the Gold has hosted the QBE Shootout throughout the Tiburón’s tenure.
The Gold is a stock par 72 that can tip at 7,382 yards, but it’s all about the format in an event like this. Length off the tee will matter only in retrospect if it’s paid off, for there is a reason why this is dubbed a Shootout with a capital S. Nothing has changed concerning the sequence of the scoring for every round.
Friday’s opener is a traditional scramble. There will be 18-hole totals in the mid-to-high 50s. Last year’s highest R1 score was 62.
The second round will played as modified alternate shot. Everyone hits a tee ball on every hole, but only one ball is used to complete each hole. There was one 62 and one 71 in this format last year, but all of the others ranged from 64 to 69.
Sunday’s conclusion is better ball for which the lower of the scores among teammates goes on the card. There was one 68 in this format last year, but all of the others ranged from 60 to 65.
The tournament record is 37-under 179. That was authored by the dynastic duo of Harris English and Matt Kuchar in 2020. Their margin of victory of nine strokes that week also is the largest in tournament history. They make up one of just two teams in this week’s field that has partnered together before. This week’s winning combo will share $950,000 of a record purse of $3.8 million.
Spectacular weather is forecast. Daytime temps probably will creep into the low 80s and mostly blue skies will be accompanied by light winds.
NOTE: PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf will resume with the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Jan. 5-8.