By Travis Bremner

Staff Writer

The Byron Nelson golf tournament began on Thursday; it featured none of the 16 best players in the game, according to the world rankings.

It is becoming more and more popular for the top golfers to skip the Nelson, but why? Many players don’t like how the course plays; they opt for the Colonial Tournament instead, which is a week later.

Since golfers like to have a week off in between tournaments, especially when playing a major, which would seem to fit where the Nelson is on the schedule, two weeks after the Players Championship and two weeks before the Memorial. Perfect, right?

Even back when Bryon Nelson was alive, he had to recruit golfers to come play at his tournament, now the top guys just are showing up.

That’s why we get names like Cameron Beckman and Blake Adams atop the leader board through two days of action.