Drop Zone: Drop Score Week 2 Recap / Week 3 Preview

Week 2 Recap

The Hayt and Lamkin Invitationals went from close team tournaments to run away victories for Texas and San Diego State, respectively.  We saw some lower individual scores than in Week 1.  Two users picked Luke Potter in the Hayt and nine users picked Justin Hastings for the Lamkin. Perhaps some users, like me, were reluctant to pick Hastings as he was just in Puerto Rico competing on the PGA Tour.

At The Hayt, Jake Peacock was the top pick though he was the only over par score amongst the top 6 most popular picks, all of whom scored all three rounds.  Tommy Morrison was the first pick with a dropped score.  Overall, 85% of users made it through the first event unscathed.

The pick distribution for the Lamkin was more heavily concentrated, with nearly 60% of the picks coming from Notre Dame's Jacob Modleski, Cal-Poly's Baron Szeto and Colorado's Dylan McDermott.  Peter Kim of BYU was the first pick with a dropped score, his first of the year in 18 rounds. 81% of users made through the second event unscathed.

All in all, 68% of users picked players that counted for all six rounds of Week 2, up from 58% last week. That leaves us with 40% of the user community that are 12 out of 12 to start the Drop Score season.

Obviously a bit late to jump in now and compete for one of the prizes, but if you're looking for a good excuse to follow the college golf season closely, feel free to sign-up and join for Week 3 and beyond.  New users can signed up for a Drvn.Golf account here. 

Leaderboard for Week 2 & Overall

You may want to take my Drop Score preview picks with a grain of salt, as (full confession) I'm not even the best college golf handicapper in my own household.  My wife Sue won Week 2 with her David Ford / Justin Hastings combination and sits in second place overall after two weeks. If she keeps this up, we're going to have to ask her to write the next DZ column.

Note: We'll look to build out the user pick-history and leaderboard functionality in the weeks to come.  Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or clarifications about your picks and current standings.

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Week 3 Preview (Entries Open)

Drop Score now turn its attention to The Pauma Valley and Linger Longer Invitationals. The Drop Score craze is literally spreading coast-to-coast this week.  Let's dive in.

Pauma Valley Invitational

March 17-18, 2025
Pauma Valley CC – Pauma Valley, CA

All I can say is Wow: six of the top seven ranked teams will be competing at Pauma Valley this weekend.  Arizona State, Ole Miss, Texas, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and LSU.  There's sure to be a wide range of Drop Score picks this week.  And be sure to check out San Diego, who finished second as a team last year behind Vanderbilt.

Year-to-Date Performance

Six players in the field bring a perfect counting rate into Pauma Valley, including two from host school Loyola Marymount. Luke Potter and Justin Hastings are both coming in off of wins in Week 2 and have counted for their respective teams in all but one round this season.

Last Year

Three players from last year's Top 10 are likely back with their team this season, including Ethan Fang last year when he was at Cal.

My Pick: Ethan Fang, Oklahoma State
Backup Pick: Justin Hastings, San Diego St

Linger Longer Invitational

March 16-18, 2025
Reynolds Plantation at The Landing – Greensboro, GA

Reynolds Plantation in mid-March sounds like a wonderful place to be for golf. Alabama is sure to have great vibes coming into this tournament, after a dominant performance last year with the top three individual performers.  Jonathan Griz will be a popular pick for anybody who hasn't picked him yet.  He's the defending champ and has counted for every round for the Crimson Tide so far this year.

Year-to-Date Performance

Seven players bring perfect counting rates coming into the Linger Longer, and about 20 others sports a counting rate above 90%. There is a good mix of top golf programs and mid-majors to choose from.

Last Year

Three players from last year's Top 10 are likely back with their team this season:

My Pick: Jonathan Griz, Alabama
Backup Pick: Garrett Risner, Elon

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Note the deadline for Week 3 is the start of the Linger Longer on Sunday March 16th.  See Entry Form here.

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