Tag: PGA Tour

PGA Tour Preview – OHL Classic at Mayakoba

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The intense travel schedules of PGA Tour professionals are again on display this week at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, Mexico.  Each week, the players move between States, Continents and Countries, all for the lucrative dollars and FedEx Cup points.  The prize money is enough to remove any sympathy on my part, and when they can follow the tournaments with an all-inclusive week in Cancun, the players will be fine.

The OHL Classic at Mayakoba is to be played on the Greg Norman designed, El Camaleón GC.  The course knows how to accommodate PGA Tour players as it has hosted six previous events; it also rolls out the welcome cenote on the first tee.  Wind and heat are the norm here, so look out for players with low trajectories who can control their ball flight to perform well.

The sixth tournament of the fall schedule will see five players back up for a sixth consecutive start.  However, it’s unlikely that any of those will be in contention.  Rather, the FedEx Cup high flyers and previous 2014 PGA Tour winners Ben Martin and Robert Streb will be.  Add to that list defending champion but form slump stuck Harris English, exciting Mexican rookie Carlos Ortiz, and former golfing superstar Charles Howell III.

All will compete for 500 FedEx Cup points and a share of a $6,100,000 purse.   But don’t expect it to be easy, the players (and depending where you put your money this week) are potentially in for another tense finish.  Three of the previous seven editions have been decided in playoffs.  Will we see Bubba Watson type playoff heroics?

Look Out For

Hudson Swafford – $51 – Ladbrokes Australia

Carlos Ortiz – $126 – Sportingbet Australia

Billy Hurley III – $81 – Sportsbet

Winner

Robert Streb – $23 – Luxbet

A win and two top tens on the PGA Tour.  He just keeps getting better.  Is matching Jimmy Walker’s fast start from last season, so I’m picking him to win.  As FedEx Cup front pager though, the win is not paying much.

PGA Tour odds courtesy of Luxbet, Sportingbet Australia, Ladbrokes Australia, and Sportsbet.

PGA Tour Round Up

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Two tournaments to review this week on the PGA Tour.  One featuring a classy field at a difficult Shanghai course, and the other, a rather boring field at a relatively unnoticed second tier event where a 17-year-old (Camden Backel) commanded the biggest gallery.

WGC HSBC Championship

A par five eighteenth makes for a gripping conclusion to golf tournament.  That’s the conclusion from the recently concluded WGC event in Shanghai.  Oh, and Bubba Watson is crazy; we also concluded that.

The 18th was the theatre of an epic ending to a tournament for the most part of the week seemed to be heading the way of Graham McDowell.  However, the leader in all of the first three rounds succumbed to some breathtaking shotmanship from the unorthodox Bubba Watson who made eagle down the 72nd and then birdied the first playoff hole to beat South Africa’s Tim Clark.

In fact Bubba’s last five holes included an eagle, a birdie, a par, a bogey and a double bogey as he did his best to butcher the two shot lead he held on 16.  To avert disaster Watson needed something special.  A 60 yard downhill bunker shot for eagle was exactly the tonic.  The eagle helped him tie Tim Clark, and when Martin Kaymer (73); Rickie Fowler (70); and Hiroshi Iwata (72) all failed to make an equalling birdie the field became two.

Watson birdied again after Clark had left his 25ft birdie putt short to win his seventh PGA Tour title.  In doing so he became the 14th player to win a major and a WGC event.  The winnings also included 500 FedEx Cup points and $1.4 million.  The Watson win means he becomes the highest ranked American golfer.

Watson joked with his caddie before holing the final bunker shot; his caddie is quoted as saying “It’s been a miserable couple holes here, but this will change everything if it goes in,” an approach that is likely to be adopted by amateur hacks in their weekend games.

Sanderson Farms Championship

The regular PGA Tour event was far more sedate.  A quiet two shot victory to Canadian Nick Taylor failed to match the golfing pyrotechnics that the best in the World were putting on in Asia.

However, for web.com graduate Taylor, the manner of the victory won’t matter in the slightest.  His low final round was the catalyst for a three shot lead heading down the 18th.  He would make bogey, sign on a 66, and win his first PGA Tour event.  Taylor’s putting was the star of the show on Sunday; his birdie putts either dropped or burned the cup, and was in stark contrast to the efforts from pre-round favourites John Rollins (73) and William McGirt (72).

FedEx Cup leader Robert Streb had a decent week too.  He finished eight to solid his position at the top of the

Of our predictions over both events, none came through for the win but we did have a top five from Rickie Fowler.  Of the other picks William McGirt looked good throughout but faltered, finishing 7th.  Danny Lee was T51 , and Nicholas Thompson T35.  At the WGC HSBC, we chose Rickie Fowler (T3), Jordan Speith (T35), and Thorbjorn Olesen (T6).

Check back in later in the week for the PGA Tour Preview focusing on the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in Mexico.

Ryan Repeats at PGA Tour’s CIMB Classic

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Ryan Moore successfully defended his CIMB Classic title in the PGA Tour’s Malaysia stopover last week, shooting a final round five under 67 to win by three from Gary Woodland, and the highest ranked player in the field, Sergio Garcia.

Moore’s fourth PGA Tour win makes him the first player to successfully defend a title since Tiger Woods achieved it at the Arnold Palmer Invitation in 2012/13.

The 31 year old mixed eight birdies and three bogeys on route to the win, withstanding a final round challenge from familiar foe Gary Woodland.  Woodland finished runner up here last year (losing in a playoff to Moore) and again mounted a strong late challenge, but missed puts on 16 and 18 prevented him from putting serious pressure on Moore.

Third round leader Kevin Na saw his challenge fade at the 17th, after burning chances throughout the final round after a rapid start, Na put his tee shot on the 17th into a plan tree and couldn’t recover.  South Korea’s Bae Sang-moon (69) was tied for fifth with 21-year-old Australian Cameron Smith (68).  Smith has huge raps on him as a young player to watch; his week proved the undoubted potential.

FedEx Cup winner, Billy Horschel, finished tied for 37th.

Two events this week, one PGA Tour, one WGC.

Sanderson Farms Championship

The PGA Tour takes a reduced field to the Country Club of Jackson, a 7,354 yards, par 72 course founded in 1914.  Missing the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings (they’ll play in Shanghai) the event offers up a lower than norm 300 FedEx Cut points.  Without the big names the tournament again becomes one of FedEx Cup priority.  Players will be chasing cheap points and this season’s winners Robert Streb and Ben Martin will be looking to pull away from the pack.

The field is a true lucky dip of players.  Aside from the two above (Martin is the highest ranked player at 57), Padraig Harrington, Woody Austin (as last years winner), and John Daly are the main draw cards.  That’s quite saddening.

Predictions

Stay clear of this one.  It’s too tough to pick a PGA Tour winner at the best of times, let alone a limited field.  It might be quite tricky to find a bookie taking it on too.  But if you have to, consider:

Nicholas Thompson ($101), Danny Lee ($61), William McGirt ($56) or Charles Howell III ($36) all at bet365.

WGC HSBC Championship

The spotlight on Asia continues during the Sheshan International GC (West) hosted World Golf Championship event starting on the 6th of November.  Tiger Woods once called the course “the crowning jewel of all of Asian golf”, so it’s only fitting that only the top 50 players in the World make the trip.  Some will use the tournament to mark their returns to competitive golf for the first time since the FedEx Cup concluded.  Four of the top six golfers, and 12 of the top 20 join the field in competing for 550 FedEx Cup points and a ton of money.

Picking a winner here is equally tough given the quality in the field.  In fact, most of the odds I’ve seen simply list the world rankings and odds in descending order.  For example, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia, and Justin Rose are the favourites; matching their World rankings.

Others to Watch

Jordan Speith – $29 – Unibet

Rickie Fowler – $21 – Luxbet

Thorbjorn Olesen – $71 – bet365

Playoff Poise Enough For PGA Tour Win

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The McGladrey Classic

Robert Streb became yet another surprise winner on the PGA Tour in the recently concluded McGladrey Classic.  Streb needed two extra holes to see off Brendon de Jonge and Will MacKenzie in a tight final day; Streb’s approach to four feet on the second playoff hole delivering him his first PGA Tour victory.

Much like Ben Martin’s debut win last week, Streb’s fast finishing final round 63 was the catalyst for a win that comes with a two year exemption on the PGA Tour and a likely invite to Augusta in April.  The win betters Streb’s previous best result of a runner-up finish at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last season.  It also once again proves how difficult golf tipping can be; my predicted winner failed to make the cut for the second week in a row.

Of the others in last week’s field Brendon de Jonge had the best chance to overtake Streb’s clubhouse 14-under; de Jonge had four birdie putts inside 25 feet to take the lead but wasn’t able to capitalise.  Ken Duke also had his chances until settling in a share of fourth with Russell Henley, Kevin Kisner and 2013 McGladrey winner Chris Kirk.

Streb’s win comes after making a double bogey on his first hole of the tournament, proving even the pro’s get the first tee woes.

CIMB Classic

Globetrotting golfers now travel to Malaysia to participate in the CIMB Classic; the PGA Tour’s fourth event of the wrap-around schedule.  Hosting the event is the Kuala Lumpur G&CC (West), home of the European Tour’s Malaysian Open in 2006 for the past five years.  The CIMB Classic sees a further 500 FedEx Cup points on offer to anyone that can withstand the heat (genuine atmospheric heat and leaderboard pressure heat).  The field features a return to top golf for Sergio Garcia.  He tends to travel very well and plays a lot of his best golf outside of America; whack him down as a favourite.  Billy Horschel will give it a nudge; a slimmer Jason Dufner will look to soak it up; and similarly shaped Patrick Reed will be a force too.

Interestingly, Guan Tianlang is making his seventh PGA TOUR start this week.  You may remember Guan as the 14 year old who made the at the Masters at age 14.

Top Predictions

Gary Woodland – $21 – bet365

Sergio Garcia – $10 – Sportsbet

Patrick Reed – $26 Ladbrokes

Lee Westwood – $17 – Tom Waterhouse

Charl Schwartzel – $17 – Unibet

Winner

I’ll play it safe and choose the best player in the field;  Sergio to win.

Ben Martin Shrines on PGA Tour

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If you’re lucky, one of the takeaways from a trip to Las Vegas is a massive wad of cash (the unlucky, is undoubtedly an invoice from a night of what you thought was reciprocal passion).  Ben Martin understands the financial beauty of Vegas now, as the winner of the PGA Tour’s Shriners Hospital Open last weekend he walked away with $1,116,000 (USD).  The jackpot also came with 500 FedEx Cup points, which skyrockets Martin up to 1st equal in the FedEx Cup standings.

The win capped off a remarkable turnaround for unheralded Martin.  During a run in April Martin missed seven of eight cuts.  In the 2014/14 PGA Tour opener he was the second worst player in the field.  Even at the Shriners he was scrambling poorly (only got up and down 4-of-13 times), and in the final round was struggling with the putter (until 16 he had only made one putt over 3 feet – he then bombed an eagle and closed 18 with a 19 footer).

Of note:

– Rookie Tony Finau played well again.  The huge hitter is right at home on the PGA Tour.  T12 at the Frys.com and T7 at the Shriners.

– Two time leukemia battler Jarrod Lyle used a sponsors exemption nicely to again make a cut.  He finished T42 and now heads to Australia to compete in the popular Triple Crown (including Rory McIlroy defending his Australian Open title).

– Wes Roach birdied 8 of his first 9 holes on Thursday at the Shriners.  The run didn’t last though; he made just 10 more over the rest of the week to also finish T42.

The McGladrey Classic

The move to Georgia this week is not to Augusta unfortunately.  However, the Sea Island Golf Club near Brunswick is still a beautiful PGA Tour venue.  The Seaside course is a picturesque oceanside layout featuring creeks, dunes and marshland.  Notwithstanding, the strong filed (of which 87 are making their third starts of the season), the test for the players will be in the difficulty in pulling away from the filed under the stigma of the McGladrey title.  In the four PGA Tour McGladery tournaments all of them have been decided by one shot or less; a playoff here looks a distinct possibility.

A local winner is also strong possibility; the field features locals Chris Kirk, Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson.

Top Picks

Chris Kirk – $17 – Unibet

Russell Knox – $34 – Tom Waterhouse (E/W)

Webb Simpson – $13 – Unibet

Zach Johnson – $26 – Centrebet (E/W)

Scott Brown – $34 – Luxbet

If anything Ben Martin’s stats from the Shriners prove just how difficult it is pick a winner on the PGA Tour.  But this week lets go with Russell Knox.  He makes the cuts at the Seaside course; led the field last week in Par 4’s and finished solo 3rd.

Bae-Leaves Field In His Wake On Route To PGA Tour Win

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To begin with some personal gloating, I predicted Sang-Moon Bae’s Frys.com win in my preview article last week.

The kid didn’t disappoint.  His efforts on Thursday and Saturday secured a huge lead heading into Sunday which he never relinquished despite closing out the tournament with a one over 73.  The disappointing 73 meant he became the first player to win a PGA Tour event with a final round over par since Ben Crane at the St. Jude Classic in June.  I doubt he will care though.

The fact is no one got within two of him on the final day.  Coasting in to victory and 500 FedEx Cup points was somewhat surprising for the South Korean 28-year-old given his relatively weak putting performance.  Bae ranked 44th in strokes gained putting for the week and took 31 putts in the final round; proving that some exemplary ball striking and scrambling can deliver wins.

Bae held off challenges from Steven Bowditch and several Ryder Cup notables in the field.  Hunter Mahan had the best finish (T3), while Lee Westwood finished T12, Matt Kuchar (T21) and Jimmy Walker a disappointing 63rd.  Bowditch’s second place was especially surprising, not because of his ability, but due to his wayward swinging that saw him T67 in fairways hit and T71 in greens in regulation.

There were some shakes.  Bae made bogeys at 11,13, and 14 during his final nine.  However he already looks mentally tougher than he has in devious years, and closed it out with four straight pars.

Some big names also jumped in on the first page of the leaderboard.  Joining Mahan in a tie for third was Retief Goosen, Hideki Matsuyama, Martin Laird and Bryce Molder.

Bae’s at it again this week in the PGA Tour’s next start.  More on that below

Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

The PGA Tour now moves to TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas.  The course is described as a 7,255 yard par 71 roaming through canyons and arroyos of the Nevada desert.  It’s well known for Tiger Woods’ first professional victory in 2006 , and it’s affiliations with pop superstar Justin Timberlake.

The most interesting stretch of holes should be from 15th home.  A drivable par four, is followed by another birdie chance at the par 5 16th, then comes the water logged 17th and the tight closing triumph.  That said, rounds in the 70s won’t win here.

No major changes to the field this week.  Although Billy Horschel makes his first appearance post FedEx Cup, loads of money, and a new baby.  There will be plenty of punter interest in his ability to reprise his feats of September.  Webb Simpson lines up again after his win here last year; so too does Martin Laird a winner here in 2009 and coming off the back of a tied third effort last week.

Top Picks

Billy Horschel – $16 – Unibet

Hideki Matsuyama – $21 – Betvictor

Webb Simpson – $29 – Sportsbet

Steven Bowditch – $101 – Luxbet

Tony Finau – $67 – Topbetta

Sang-Moon Bae – $56 – Bet365

Winner

Not mentioned above but I’m going for Cameron Tringale ($45).  Solid last week.  3 made cuts out of 4 at TPC Summerlin with a T11 in his first appearance in 2010.