CareerBuilder Challenge Recap: Swafford Claims First PGA Win

While the Falcons were winning by 20-plus, and the Patriots soon followed with another blowout win, an actual close sporting competition was unfolding in the California desert.

Sure, the annual PGA Tour stop near Palm Springs can't match the NFL. Heck, it doesn't even have the cache as it had when named for Bob Hope. But the CareerBuilder Challenge aptly described what was taking place on Sunday, as a bunch of lower-tier golfers were looking for the next – or first – big moment in their careers.

Hudson Swafford was the one to emerge, parlaying a string of three late birdies for his maiden PGA Tour victory, by one shot over Adam Hadwin. Despite an impressive run of made cuts that had made him well known among gamers, Swafford was ranked just 204th in the OWGR; the win moved him to No. 89.

As for the other contenders, Hadwin had been ranked just inside the top 200, Brian Harman was 136th, Chad Campbell was outside top 200, and Bud Cauley and Dominic Bozzelli were both outside top 300. No, not a speck of chalk dust in sight.

Here were their DraftKings prices:
- Swafford - $7,900
- Hadwin - $7,500
- Harman - $7,600
- Cauley - $6,000
- Bozzelli - $5,900
- Campbell $6,500

(The past two weeks in our DraftKings preview, we had shied away from top names – there weren't a lot of them, which caused lesser golfers to have inflated prices, and there was just too much other randomness, such as a lack of course history at the CareerBuilder. Tellingly, the only guy in the top-11 costlier than Swafford was Brendan Steele at $9,300 and he tied Campbell for sixth. Swafford and Hadwin were two of our value picks.)

No, there wasn't a Tom Brady or Matt Ryan superstar to be found, but there was no garbage time, either. At one point, 10 golfers were within two shots of the lead on the back nine. It made for a compelling finish, except maybe if all your guys were toast by then.

Swafford made his 19th straight cut in his 93rd career event but oddly had never really contended for a title. Even in his sterling run of cuts made, Swafford didn't have so much as a top-10. But to say this win came out of the blue wouldn't be accurate, either. Swafford was T13 last week at the Sony, having begun the final round in the mix before a fast fade, and this field was far from strong.

While Swafford will savor his win, gamers always want to know what's next for him. For one, he heads to the Farmers Insurance Open. We were fading Swafford (a bit) even before his win, as Torrey Pines was the second-hardest track on tour last year and it doesn't really suit his game, despite an impressive T13 last year. It's hard for a golfer to not exhale after his first career win, so Swafford could take a few steps back, maybe miss some cuts.

But for now, the former Georgia Bulldog had a day every bit as good as Ryan and the Falcons. No, Swafford is not going to the Super Bowl in two weeks, but he'll be going to the Masters in April.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Adam Hadwin

Hadwin shot a 59 on Saturday and, as one of the top putters on Tour playing on an easy course, he was as good a candidate as any to do it. He tied for sixth last year at PGA West, so he loves this tournament. He didn't have much success after that in 2015-16, but he's clearly showing signs his sophomore year will be better. After a season-opening MC, he's been no worse than 27th in his next four starts. His putter will always make him a good DFS consideration, at least to make the cut.

Brian Harman

Harman is another Georgia Bulldog and another premier putter. He missed a lot of cuts last season (10 out of 31). He's already missed two cuts this season, but he also has three top-20s, including Sunday's T3. In other words, Harman is often a dicey play, especially on longer tracks, which is what Torrey Pines is.

Bud Cauley

May I have a moment? … Ouch! … Sorry, that was me kicking myself -- for dropping Cauley two days before the tournament began. Was rooting desperately against him, and at least he didn't win. He tied Harman for third. Cauley missed all of 2014-15 on the PGA Tour following left shoulder surgery. He played only 14 events last season, but noticeably had three top-10s and five top-25s (along with five MCs). I targeted him for the annual RotoWire auction draft earlier this month, knowing there would be no other interest, and got him. Dirt cheap. And then he missed a fourth straight cut, badly, and I gave up on him. Too soon. And that serves as an endorsement. Not necessarily to be great, but to be decent.

Dominic Bozzelli

The rookie was a wonderful story all week, atop the leaderboard for much of it, before finishing solo fifth. This was only his sixth career start, and he had gone T35-T57-MC-MC-MC. So, as poised as Bozzelli was, and as well as he putted, we'll take a wait-and-see approach on him, as tournaments get significantly tougher going forward.

Chad Campbell

Unlike the other guys in contention, Campbell has had a darn good career, with almost $25 million in earnings and four career titles. It's just that the last one came 10 years ago. Now 42, Campbell is still a great ball striker, strong tee-to-green. He just can't putt, although his biggest problem on Sunday was a triple-bogey on the par-3 sixth. He surely has value in DraftKings, maybe more this season, as he's 7-for-7 in cuts. The past two years, he was paltry 35-of-65.

Scott Stallings

A lot of gamers are going to connect these dots: 1) Stallings finished eighth at the CareerBuilder. 2) Stallings has gone T25-P2-1 the past three years at Torrey Pines. We, on the other hand, see a disconnect. Since that T25 last year up until Sunday, Stallings had made only eight of 24 cuts with zero top-10s. It's too much to forget a year of poor play based on four rounds. The three previous years, Stallings had been playing much better heading to San Diego.

Emiliano Grillo

When we saw this tweet from Grillo on Wednesday, we sensed a warm-weather player not looking forward to playing in not-so-warm weather.

For real? In California? Gotta be wrong 🙄 pic.twitter.com/HRQ5kmpZTT

— Emiliano Grillo (@GrilloEmiliano) January 18, 2017

Grillo shot 74-69-72 and missed the cut. It's supposed to rain the early part of the week in San Diego but be dry for the tournament. Grillo missed the cut last year in his lone Torrey Pines appearance. The South course is the longest the golfers will see all year at nearly 7,700 yards, and we're thinking Grillo won't be happy for a second straight week.

Dustin Johnson

Playing in Abu Dhabi, Johnson began the final round a shot off the lead and that's also where he finished. Only he was trailing Tyrrell Hatton on Saturday, Tommy Fleetwood when the tournament was over. Surely a good week for Johnson, but a win would've taken him past idle Rory McIlroy for No. 2 in the world, with a shot at overtaking No. 1 Jason Day with a win this week at Torrey Pines. Now, Day is assured of remaining on top no matter what, although Johnson can still overtake McIlroy with a runner-up. We're not fans of traveling halfway around the world and playing again the very next week. Of course, elite golfers' travel is about as seamless as possible. Still, we're not super high on Johnson, who has had only one top-10 at the Farmers, a T3 in 2011.

Tyrrell Hatton

Hatton had the lead but blew up to a 75 to tie for 13th at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. The Englishman seems like a budding star, up to No. 23 in the world and having shown a lot last summer in some big tournaments. This was a step back. Yes, he has won on the European Tour. But Hatton has yet to convert opportunities such as this one against a top-flight field.