The Quick Hook

The Italian Open has attracted a strong field this week, even despite relinquishing Rolex Series status, which it had held for the last three seasons. Meanwhile, on the PGA Tour, Sherwood Country Club will step in as the host course for the ZOZO Championship, which was originally scheduled to be played in Japan. Starting with the event in Brescia, very few underdogs have emerged victorious in the Italian Open in recent years, perhaps due to the elevated status, and subsequent jacked-up prize money. While it has lost this status, and much of the financial lucrativeness, the field is still top-heavy this week, which comes as somewhat of a pleasant surprise. Teeing it up in Italy will be Lee Westwood, who just chalked up his sixth consecutive Top-20 finish at the Scottish Championship. Alongside him will be Victor Perez and Matt Wallace, who are both arriving on the back of runner-up finishes. The defending champion Bernd Wiesberger is also in the field. On to the stats, Chervo Golf Club ...

Temporarily moving from Nine Bridges in South Korea, the CJ Cup is taking place at Shadow Creek at MGM Resorts in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event marks the competitive return from injury of Brooks Koepka, and the first time all five of the world's top ranked golfers will play the same event in the 2021 season. Meanwhile, on the European Tour, the inaugural Scottish Championship will be played on the Torrance Course at Fairmont St Andrews, presumably due to the presence of an onsite hotel, and not because no other course was available in the entire country. So, it's the Fairmont and MGM, in St Andrews and Las Vegas. Who said golf was out of touch with the common person? Bring on hotel week. Detailed analysis is going to be difficult this week, as neither the Fairmont nor Shadow Creek have hosted a ranking professional stroke-play championship. Shadow Creek played host to the first edition of "The Match" between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in 2018, but neither of those ...

It's the flagship week on the European Tour, as Wentworth Club takes centre stage, as it has every year since 1984. In the United States, the Tour moves to Las Vegas and TPC Summerlin for the Shriners, where the strongest non-major field of the 2021 Tour season so far will compete. Despite having the higher strength of field total than the BMW PGA Championship (The European Tour's equivalent to The Players Championship), The Shriners will play second fiddle in terms of awarding of Official World Golf Ranking points, due to the elevated status awarded to the event in England. The last two champions, Danny Willett and Francesco Molinari, have both become somewhat the forgotten men in golf. This tournament actually has an odd history of doing this to the champions. Chris Wood and Matteo Mannassero have both won here since 2013, cracking the Top-30 of the world in doing so. Both, currently, languish outside the world's Top-900.  Is this a cursed championship? Perhaps not - but ...