Bezuidenhout ready for his PGA breakout
Prized Pitino transfer Dingle peaking at the right time for Johnnies
Before we look ahead to this week’s 2024 Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, one note from Sunday evening which summarizes the chaos we’ve seen atop PGA Tour final leaderboards in 2024:
Through eight tournaments this year, Jake Knapp — who’d made just eight previous career starts on the PGA Tour — is the winner with the shortest pretourney odds so far.
Let that sink in. Chris Kirk, Grayson Murray, Nick Dunlap, Matthieu Pavon, Wyndham Clark, Nick Taylor and Hideki Matsuyama each had longer odds than Knapp, who entered the Mexico Open with exactly one top-25 result at the highest level.
With that in mind, let’s get to The Tournament Formerly Known as The Honda Classic at devilish PGA National, where long-shot winners are fairly commonplace. Over the past five editions of this event, we’ve seen three champions (Sepp Straka, Matt Jones and Keith Mitchell) with pre-tourney odds of 80/1 or bigger.
Partially based on that history, partially based on the odds of winners over the last two months and partially based on a few big numbers for players I really like, this week’s selection for outright winner with short odds doesn’t have odds very short, and this week’s selection for outright winner with long odds has odds that are pretty long.
Let’s get right to ’em.
Outright winner
Short odds: Christiaan Bezuidenhout (55/1) — if there’s one player I’m buying prior to the Florida Swing, it’s Bezuidenhout. In five starts so far this year, his Strokes Gained (SG): Approach numbers, per round, have been through the roof: +2.14, +1.38, +2.13, +1.26 and +1.16. That torrid iron play has resulted in four top-30 finishes, including a runner-up at the American Express, where he received the first-place check when Nick Dunlap won as an amateur.
Combine that with the fact that his bread-and-butter is actually putting — he’s gained strokes on the greens in three of those five starts and was just barely below field average in the other two — and being back on Bermuda surfaces in his adopted home state could be the key to another bigtime result.
Considering the lengthy list of unpredictable winners this year, I shouldn’t have to do too much convincing on anyone outside the favorites, but it’s hard not to love the fact that the 29-year-old South African already knows how to win, having done so three times on the DP World Tour and four times on the Sunshine Tour. He’ll be a popular selection in my previews over the next month, but PGA National might suit him even better than the other venues.
Long odds: Robert MacIntyre (100/1) — I was skeptical at first, but I love what NBC Sports is doing with its rotating list of guest analysts, especially those still involved in the game, such as Kevin Kisner and Jim “Bones” Mackay, each of whom have been terrific. We should have every reason to believe that level of excellence will continue over the next two weeks, as Luke Donald takes on the role. Thoughtful, well-spoken and prepared, don’t be surprised if you leave the impending fortnight wondering whom to contact at NBC, just to suggest they offer Donald a full-time gig.
Why am I writing about him in this section? Well, there’s obviously no direct correlation to the European Ryder Cup captain working as an analyst and one of his players getting into contention, but I could certainly see this turning into a win-win situation for all involved if it happens. We’ve received more evidence that Robert MacIntyre is ready to bring his best stuff stateside, as he finished T6 last week in Mexico and has now gained strokes both off the tee and with his approach shots in three straight starts. It was a bit of a slow start for the Scotsman in his PGA Tour rookie campaign, but he’s got things going in the right direction now.
INDIANAPOLIS — Jordan Dingle was aware of the expectations and he isn’t hiding from them. This season at St. John’s has not gone according to plan for him.
“I know that I’ve probably disappointed a lot of people in my performance up to date,” the graduate senior who was second in the country in scoring a season ago said. “I really didn’t want to let anybody down. I do feel terribly about it. But doubting myself, it really just wouldn’t make sense. I’ve played for a long time against so many different levels of players, guys who are in the NBA now, and I’ve proven that I can do it.”
At least lately, the Penn transfer is slowly changing the narrative. He’s coming off a big week, the kind of week that was expected out of him. In a pair of wins over Georgetown and No. 13 Creighton, he averaged 20 points and made 16 of 26 shots from the field, providing the needed scoring out of the shooting guard spot that has been lacking for the Johnnies.
Dingle credited the encouragement from teammates and coaches for his breakout, in particular words from associate head coach Steve Masiello that stayed with him.
“I hope he doesn’t get mad at me for saying this. Coach Masiello said something along the lines of sharks don’t climb trees and squirrels don’t swim,” Dingle, averaging a career-low 11.1 points and shooting 29.6 from 3-point range, recalled with a laugh. “Do what you do. Be a shark, go swim. Be a squirrel, climb a tree. Don’t try to do things outside of yourself. That’s just what I’ve been telling myself. Instead of trying to be out there making a whole bunch of home run plays, do the simple things that I know how to do well. It’s been a good mantra to say to myself.”
In other words, play your game. Stop overthinking. Stop worrying about making mistakes. Do what you do. It seems to have worked. Dingle, a 6-foot-3 guard from Valley Stream, N.Y., came up big in the Creighton win after scoring a season-high 22 points at Georgetown. He had the game’s two biggest baskets, a pair of jumpers that ignited a gamesealing 15-4 run late in the second half.
The second half had been trouble for St. John’s (16-12, 8-9). It had blown several leads after halftime, dropping winnable games to the likes of No. 5 Marquette, Providence and Seton Hall during a stretch that saw them lose eight of 10 games. Not on Sunday. Coach Rick Pitino implored his players to attack with a lead and ignore the scoreboard. Play to win rather than not to lose.
“I think there was a big fear of not wanting to make a mistake. Obviously, a lot of us are new to St. John’s and the majority are new to Coach Pitino,” Dingle said. “Part of the reason why [Daniss Jenkins] is a great leader for us is that he has never really let [making a mistake] affect him and he’s having an amazing season as a result of it. But all the great players say you have to have great short-term memory. If you miss your last seven shots, you have to think the next one is absolutely going in. You can’t be worried about the mistake you just made.”
The victory has given St. John’s NCAA Tournament life, although it has no margin for error. It has to win its final three regular-season games, starting with Wednesday’s trip to Butler, and then do damage in the Big East Tournament. But last week has given the Johnnies and their fans reason to believe that maybe this season can swing back in the other direction after that extended poor stretch.
There is still time left for this team to reach its goals. Dingle finding his game sure would help in that pursuit.