What to Look For: 2018 CareerBuilder Challenge

The Tour returns to Palm Springs for the 58th CareerBuilder Challenge (formerly known as the Bob Hope Classic). This has been a long time Pro-Am event. For years it played second fiddle to the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but it used to not be that far behind given Mr. Hope’s popularity and Palm Springs being much closer to Hollywood and with usually better weather than what Pebble Beach would have the following couple of weeks in Northern California.

This is probably one of the most difficult events to project winners because it’s a birdie-fest and it often comes down to a wide variety of players that just happen to hit their irons well and putt well that week. It’s an extremely low scoring event as the courses are fairly wide open with little fairway and the ball travels further in the high elevation. But more critically to the low scoring is the extremely receptive and flat greens. This event usually posts the closest field average proximity to the cup on Red and Yellow Zone shots as well as short game shots around the green. That means more birdie opportunities and more chip ins.


Projected Winning Score: -23


3JACK’S FAVORITES

John Rahm +800
Brian Harman +1,400
Kevin Kisner +1,800
Webb Simpson +1,800
Phil Mickelson +2,200


3JACK’S DARK HORSE PICKS 

 Patton Kizzire +2,800
Zach Johnson +2,800
James Hahn +5,000
Blayne Barber +20,000
Nicholas Lindheim +20,000




 3JACK