Panama Championship Tip: Joshua Creel

The Central American swings begins this week with the Panama Championship and it is an unusual test by Korn Ferry standards. Panama GC measures 7,157 yards and is one of the few venues where driving accuracy is more important than distance. The course usually plays firm and fast and scoring is not easy.

Joshua Creel can testify to that having shot 80 in his second round last year to miss the cut. However, that experience will serve him well because plenty of the field will be visiting Panama for the first time and conditions can catch them out.

Creel has started the season well with finishes of T39-T23, big improvements on his finishes in the Bahamas twelve months ago which read 70-MC. It shows he is already putting his experience to good use and we can therefore overlook last year’s missed cut in Panama in expectation of better things.

One of the straightest hitters on tour, Creel finished last season 10th in driving accuracy and he has one of the better short games (ranked 10th for scrambling) to help him save par when matters invariably go wrong. It normally takes a month or two for things to settle down on the Korn Ferry Tour but this week it’s worth rolling the dice.