In another world, this is a Ryder Cup preview piece

It is 'Club Championship' week on the PGA Tour, as the players head to the Dominican Republic for the third event of the 2021 season, at Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. Meanwhile, the European Tour heads north once more for the Irish Open, teeing off at Galgorm Spa & Golf Resort in Northern Ireland. 

That's right. It's going to be a tough week.

It will be the second time in three weeks that a European professional tournament will be hosted at Galgorm after the Challenge Tour's recent visit, where American Tyler Koivisto won. 

The key to winning that week, as it has been in previous years at this golf course, was the champion playing the two par-five holes on the course well under par. At seven under par for the two fives, Koivisto recorded a tournament total of -13, meaning more than half of his strokes below par were found on those two holes alone. He led the field in par-five scoring for the week.

Likewise, in 2018, champion Calum Hill played these two holes in six under par, which was the best of any player in the field. This suggests good par-five scoring average could prove important this week.

The field for this Irish Open is ultimately of Challenge Tour quality, with some European Tour cameos. Shane Lowry both headlines, and enters as the bookmakers favourite to win.

Lowry may be the betting favourite, by quite some distance, but despite hours of digging, toiling, and pondering, I can't for the life of me figure out why this is.

His only two wins in Europe have come on links golf courses, he hasn't finished inside the top-20 of a field in his last five starts (a run which includes three missed cuts), he has had just two top-ten finishes since winning the Open fourteen months ago, and to cap this off, he just finished playing four rounds on golf's equivalent of climbing the Eiger.

Single figure odd numerators are always sickening, but at 7/1, this one is particularly egregious. Sorry, Shane.

I'm also swerving around George Coetzee this week, despite him being the most in-form golfer on the European continent right now. That is, unless Rasmus Hojgaard has flown back from New York already, in which case Coetzee is the second most in-form golfer on the continent.

Coetzee followed back-to-back worldwide victories in South Africa and Portugal respectively, with a third place finish at the Open de Portugal, and there seems to be little to suggest he'll be far away from the action again, come Sunday. Nevertheless, keeping this type of form going for four straight weeks is incredibly difficult, and a dip is due for Coetzee. Sorry, George.

Calum Hill won here on the Challenge Tour in 2018, and there is a good chance he adds another title to his name this week. He set the tournament record here during his winning week at 19 under par, and is beating the field average on par-fives this season, with an average score of 4.67.

Despite two consecutive missed cuts in Portugal and Spain, Hill has shown some good form on the return to golf, especially in the UK. He finished T8 at Celtic Manor, and T9 at The Belfry, two courses that will look similar to the challenge the players will face this week. Keep an eye on Hill, who is looking to open his European Tour account.

Garrick Higgo won last week, picking up his maiden European Tour title. The field of strength was incredibly weak, and despite the addition of Shane Lowry, Ryan Fox and Connor Syme this week, the strength isn't going to be a whole lot better. It is, once again, a Challenge Tour field with European Tour points on offer.

Speaking of the Challenge Tour, Higgo finished in a tie for seventh place at this course three weeks ago, on a score of eight under par. It will need to be a little bit better this week to pick up a win, but good form, a first win, and a par-five scoring average of 4.53, seventh best on the European Tour, will all help Higgo on his way as he looks to hoist trophies in back-to-back weeks. I fancy the South African lefty to put up a good fight.

Now from Ireland, to the slightly less glamorous island of the Dominican Republic, where the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship is set to take place, for the first time as a non-alternate field event for the PGA Tour.

That's right; the PGA Tour club champs (insert net club champion joke here) has risen to full field status, and as a result, the field is... not good. It is really, really not good. The field was never particularly dazzling as an off-field event, either, but this is tough. 

Will Zalatoris playing might be the only thing that entices me to tune in, at all. Saying that, though, Thomas Detry got an invite, and Henrik Stenson is there, too. There's some interesting young talent in Akshay Bhatia and Joohyung Kim both making appearances... I should stop listing names now, before I talk myself into enjoying this week.

It seems like the type of week to spin a wheel and point to a random name, but I feel like I owe you a little more than that when it comes to these selections. But, just to prove my original point, the last three winners are Graham McDowell, Brice Garnett, and Nate Lashley. If anyone called any of those three, I tip my cap to them.

I don't think it's rude to say that Corales Golf Club isn't the most interesting golf course to host a PGA Tour event. Historically, it's been like the PGA Tour version of the Drive, Chip and Putt challenge - and hold the chipping component.

Driving Distance and SG:Putting drive the variance in scores at this golf course by an asinine amount! Driving Distance and Scoring are not more perfectly correlated at any other Tour stop, and there are only a handful where prowess on the greens matters more - but not many. 

The strategy this week will thus be to look at the three statistical categories of Driving Distance, Strokes Gained (SG): Off the Tee, and SG: Putting, and then subsequently to pick a couple that show good form in all three - and then hope.

The first name that jumps out when doing this is Sam Burns. In the 2020 season, Burns was eighth in Driving Distance on Tour, 16th in SG: Off the Tee, and 30th in SG: Putting. When he played this event last season, he beat the field by 1.04 strokes per round. In his last three events, he has recorded a T7 and a T13 finish, including frequently leading the Safeway Open, won by Stewart Cink.

This is the droid we're looking for. Burns has been a lot of peoples pick for a long time, but they should have been saving him for this week. This could very well be where Sam Burns breaks through on Tour.

Another player that meets our identifiers is Kristoffer Ventura, who was 28th for Driving Distance in 2020, and fourth in SG: Putting. Some might call that a perfect match. Add to this, that Ventura has three Top-20 finishes in his last four starts, and we have a good looking pick in the Norwegian. 

It's not going to be the most exciting week of golf. Watching Galgorm Spa, and Corales Golf Club after a week at Winged Foot is going to be like eating a microwave meal a day after attending Gordon Ramsay's dinner party. It's going to be like downloading Tinder in South Dakota, after getting broken up with by Margot Robbie. 

Actually, it's going to be a lot like being reminded that the Ryder Cup would have been on this week, but instead the only golf that is on, is the (redacted) Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship! We're getting kicked when we're down, and salt is being rubbed in these fresh, fresh wounds - let's not beat around the bush.

There isn't much to be said other than that. I do hope these picks work out, if nothing other than to create a molecule of interest. Even the golf psychopath in me is struggling to find motivation in this one. Good luck and Godspeed, I guess.

Official Picks

Irish Open - Calum Hill / Garrick Higgo

Corales Club Champs - Sam Burns / Kristoffer Ventura