Seminole Skins Match: Don’t Count Out Underdogs Rickie Fowler And Matthew Wolff

When the players that will be competing Sunday at Seminole Golf Club for the TaylorMade Driving Relief skins match were first announced, golf fans were giddy. But once that initial rush of excitement wore off, the next thought for many was ‘why’d they make the team’s so uneven?’

Even the most casual follower of the game could tell you that Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson look like the prohibitive favorites. You’ve got the World No. 1 and a former World No. 1 with 38 PGA TOUR wins between them squaring off against Rickie Fowler (27^th on the OWGR) and Matthew Wolff who just turned pro last summer.

But, it’s been two months since the pandemic caused the Players Championship to be halted after the first round of play and a layoff that long will disrupt golfers’ rhythms.

On a conference call Thursday Dustin Johnson admitted to playing his first golf hole since TPC Sawgrass just this past Sunday.

“I figured I probably should play a little bit of golf before we tee it up here this Sunday. But I’ll be ready. Don’t you worry,” said Johnson.

Rory has also only very recently got back to hitting balls and working on his game. So, don’t count out the pair of OSU alums.  Factor in that Matthew Wolff, fresh out of college, is used to toting his own bags (there will be no caddies at this event) and that Fowler has been back to playing golf for a few weeks now and could be the most ‘ready to go’ of the foursome and suddenly this match starts to look at lot less lopsided.

“Obviously you look at it on paper and Rory and DJ are nothing short of impressive. But we have a lot of these two-on-two games at home, whether it’s during this time or weeks off throughout the year, and any given day, I think you see it, as well, out on TOUR, the depth of golf over the last few years and even past that, on any given day it’s such a fine line,” said Rickie Fowler.

“We’ll take the underdog spot, but when that day comes, basically it’s a toss-up on who has got the hot putter. It could be just a battle throughout the day.”

“If you want to bet on this type thing, I’m always going to bet on the underdogs in it just because there are no actual stakes for Rory and Dustin. It’s relatively close to a coin flip in these situations said Joshua Perry, a golf handicapper with Action Network.

“All things considered, there are probably going to be four rusty golfers out there that are going to be struggling for birdies. Fowler is the better putter so he might sneak in a couple and Matt Wolff hits farther than any of them so there’s opportunities there to make it closer than the odds are suggesting.”

Perry likens the odds dislocation to what happened during 2018’s Tiger Woods vs Phil Mickelson head-to-head when Woods was the prohibitive favorite and Mickelson ended up winning the contest.

“Given that there is not much going on, when people who are not betting golf very much see the names Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlory, they’re probably going to back those name guys. If you don’t follow the PGA Tour every week you don’t know Matt Wolff.”