By Golf Channel Digital
May 3, 2016, 12:34 pm
It's officially anonymous player poll season.
The same survey that gave "overrated" Rickie Fowler some extra motivation heading into The Players a year ago is back, as Sports Illustrated recently questioned a cross-section of pros from the PGA Tour, LPGA and PGA Tour Champions. Here are a few of the highlights:
- While Tiger Woods hasn't played since August, respondents were generally optimistic that he will win again on the PGA Tour. Forty-three percent of PGA Tour and 72 percent of Champions players polled believe he'll lift another trophy ("Don't know" got 31 percent of the PGA Tour vote), while 64 percent of LPGA responses were that he has already won his last event.
- Forty-nine percent of PGA Tour players polled think Phil Mickelson will make a better Ryder Cup captain than Woods, while 44 percent sided with the 14-time major champ.
- While Jordan Spieth currently has two fewer major titles to his credit than Rory McIlroy, a slim majority of respondents believe that Spieth will win more majors from here on out (56-44 percent PGA Tour, 48-45 percent Champions).
- If in a bar fight, the PGA Tour player most would want to "have their back" was Ernie Els (15 percent), followed by Keegan Bradley, Angel Cabrera and Pat Perez.
- Only 67 percent of PGA Tour players polled believe that a caddie deserves to earn 10 percent of the prize when his player wins a tournament.
- Given the choice, 71 percent of PGA Tour players would rather win the PGA Championship than an Olympic gold medal, but 76 percent would take a gold medal over winning the Valero Texas Open.
- Adam Scott was deemed to have the "prettiest swing" on the PGA Tour