As we get ready to begin the Hyundai Tournament of Champions tomorrow, here are a few random thoughts I’ve developed after being around a lot of the players for nearly a week now.

1. Bubba Watson is my pre tournament favorite, having played 8 rounds on the Plantation Course since last Thursday.
2. Billy Horschel is not going to be a one hit FedEx Cup wonder…he is really maturing both as a person and as a player.
3. Climate change is real and the Plantation Course changes with it. Once again the dominant trade winds of twenty years ago will not be seen and the course won’t play the way it was designed(firm and fast), but soft and slow.
4. The defending champion Zack Johnson is one of the most underrated players in the game to the golfing public. But in the locker room, he is not….the players know how good he is.
5. Chesson Hadley and his wife Amanda are two of the nicest young people I have met in a long time.
6. Geoff Ogilvy thinks the Plantation Course is one of the best on the PGA Tour period…and given the extreme piece of land it was built on, maybe the best.
7. Heading into 2015, Hunter Mahan has a whole new outlook and air of confidence about him. Armed with a new sponsor( Ace Hardware) that he really likes, and with a second child to born in a month or so, Hunter seems to be in a really good place….and I am looking for him to have a huge year on the course.
8. In order for this event to thrive the eligibility and overall number of players in the field absolutely has to be expanded.