It's markedly easier than last week, where he was a good bit shorter to see off a field which featured Scottie Scheffler, Tom Kim and Sam Burns, and while disappointing in an event he likes, it generally pays not to place too much stock in performances in multi-course pro-ams. That means a lot of shots played from the rough, where those with higher swing speeds and shorter irons are able to throw their approaches high into the air and hold what are small, firm targets. Hopefully that experience is one he can learn from quickly as this big-hitter who pounds greens looks an ideal fit for Amata Spring, providing that is he can straighten up the driver. Subsequent top-10s by the coast in Mexico and Scotland confirmed what we saw both here and when he qualified for the Open Championship in the summer of 2019, that playing by the coast often brings out the best in the Stanford graduate. USPGA Tour, Stroke Play. It's been going for almost a century, and their stranglehold has only ever been broken by golfers from Australia, Fiji and Canada, so history if nothing else is against those two European Ryder Cup players and in favour of Spieth. Find Camper On Site in Sports & Recreation | Find new & used sports & recreation equipment and items for sale. Nicolai Hojgaard didn't even flinch #RakGolfClassic pic.twitter.com/EzWGnYDt5N. Perhaps the form book will right itself here in Thailand and the course certainly should help. He comes into this on the back of a low-key effort in the AmEx, but he's a similar price in a markedly weaker field as a result and I do think this tougher test will suit a player who almost won the Phoenix Open (no shootout despite appearances) and went so well at Muirfield Village and in the Valspar Championship. The last four winners of this have been the best tee-to-green players that week, so there is loads to like about him. Perhaps that's because players in this field will have to take on three rather than one or two, making it hard for newcomers to learn all they need to early in the week. Hideki Matsuyama is another who comes with a fitness asterisk at the best of times and his approach play caught my eye at the Sony Open, but for all he enjoys the South Course and poa annua greens he's only once properly contended for this title, which is a modest return for a regular visitor of his undoubted class. In the WGC example, they had international invites but struggled to create narratives from them. Our golf expert Ben Coley has a range of selections including five outright tips for this week's Challenge Tour event. If that's the case he can go really well on his course debut, with the fact that he too is a former winner of the Price Cutter Charity Championship potentially also in his favour. Day returns to Torrey Pines on the back of five top-25s in his last six starts, the only blip along the way a poor first round at the RSM Classic. When doing so he won at River Highlands, a course which as mentioned correlates well with this, and there seems every chance that he gives backers a real run for their money at a nice each-way price. I feel like I can visualise the balls going in really well and the putter's been working pretty good.". Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org. 02 Mar - 05 Mar. The idea that course form stacks up here clearly doesn't mean we have to focus squarely on the favourites, because the format also lends itself to strange results such as wins for Ted Potter, Vaughn Taylor, Nick Taylor and DA Points. No television pictures here in the UK, no shot-by-shot updates, no worthwhile data, a high probability of leaderboard errors, and a field which probably doesn't feature the next Tony Finau or Viktor Hovland. Brendan Steele is another high-ball hitter who flushed his way through the weekend of the AmEx, shooting 14-under at the Stadium Course. His French compatriots David Ravetto and Jeong Weon Ko both drive the ball superbly and must also make the shortlist, but I'll head just a few steps back up the market to find DAN BRADBURY. MacIntyre appeared to drive the ball well, although strokes-gained data for the tournament is based on caddie calculations and is therefore unreliable. Things did pick up as the week developed, however, and after another eight early on Sunday, he finished with a real flourish: six birdies in 15 holes on a tricky day. What those tournaments also told us was that when classy players drop in grade they often dominate, but that's not been the case over the past fortnight as the favourites have fluffed their lines. Pre-pandemic, this was the most exclusive event of the year, open only to those who had won during the preceding 12 months. Andrew Putnam at 28/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8), 1pt e.w. Knox's iron play has been right back to its best this season and especially so either side of Christmas, a period during which he's also shown flashes of promise with the putter. Golf expert Ben Coley previews the Puerto Rico Open, where Dylan Wu looks primed to go close to landing a first PGA Tour title. Kyoung-hoon Lee at 90/1 (Betfred 1/5 1,2,3,4,5), Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook. This next month on the west coast could be make-or-break and he's built a platform for success. Hadley's course form is really strong, three top-10 finishes including a career-best performance in the 2019 US Open, and he spoke there of having played Pebble Beach more than 50 times. Low-scoring conditions certainly suit too given he can be prolific in the birdie stakes and I really liked his display in Singapore, where he kept grinding after a poor start, and played the final 54 holes in 13-under with just two dropped shots along the way. In an event like this, one of the handful for which Arizona-based Lashley will ever appeal, I'm very happy to do so. Have a great one @harryhiggs1991 Credit: James BluntRTs & YouTube subscribes (https://t.co/xdFaxMIROH) appreciated! Besides, when any event has been won 10 times by Woods and Mickelson combined, that's immediately going to create a misleading trend. Gavin Green at 80/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7), Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook. He's back on the DP World Tour now and came as close as he has to winning at this level in South Africa, so following an improved display in Singapore where he made 24 birdies but just a few too many mistakes, it's not surprising to see money come for him at big prices. It's not likely to have a lasting impact on anything except perhaps the career of one player. Certainly, wild shots risk being punished by tall fescue grass and these greens . Marker in Puerto Rico which traces the routes taken by the Godspeed, Susan Constant and the Discovery and which commemorates their stopping in Puerto Rico from April 6 to 10, 1607 No wonder he also labelled it his favourite course in the world. There aren't many in here with his scope and while Stevens is certainly one of them, Wu has finished ahead of him in their last two tournaments and for now probably deserves to be the shorter of the two in the betting. Not only on the golf course, but off the golf course as well. As Sam Ryder showed last week, patience and perseverance is sometimes required if you're prepared to back golfers at big prices, and in that spirit I'll chance NATE LASHLEY again at 100/1. I really would rather not be putting up market leaders and the fact that it's been big-priced place money which has kept things ticking over of late isn't lost on me. Experience does tend to be important and it's 15 years since a debutant won the title, with multiple champions fairly common. Had the PGA Tour been stricter over the last two years, we might have had two different winners. First, Nicolai Hojgaard and Adrian Meronk both surrendered hugely promising positions at Al Hamra, and then last week both Ryan Fox and Robert MacIntyre were beaten before UK viewers sat down for breakfast. Brandon Wu at 175/1 (Sky Bet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8), 1pt e.w. Hideki matsuyama at 33/1 (1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) golf betting previews & latest golf odds from. @Hank_Lebioda's strong play continues @JDClassic.He's 40-under par in his last 12 rounds, the best stretch of his TOUR career. Golf Tips: Ben Coley's best bets including 28/1 BMW Championship play Ben Coley / Golf / 6 months ago Golf Tips: A 22/1 punt tops our best bets at FedEx St Jude Championship & ISPS Handa World Invitational Ben Coley / Golf / 7 months ago Golf Tips: A 14/1 shout tops our best bets at Wyndham Championship & Cazoo Open Nick Hardy and Will Gordon are two other maidens who made some appeal, particularly the latter, but I can't let GARY WOODLAND go unsupported at such a big price. Woodland finished 39th here last year on the back of a missed cut at the AmEx but went on to record five top-10s in his next 22 starts, so he's been very close. Only in the final round of the Farmers has he really struggled this year and, crucially, his driving has improved a heck of a lot. Our master tipster Ben Coley gives us an insight into how he picks his golfing bets whilst playing a few shots on a golf simulator. It's a Wednesday start for the Farmers Insurance Open, something to do with the gridiron according to my spies in the United States, and whether that's good news or bad for Jon Rahm is open to debate. Spieth was never at the races in the Hero Challenge, which so often provides a good guide to this event, having carded an eight and two sixes in his opening round to languish towards the back of the field. As such I found Taylor Montgomery more appealing but rather than take 28/1 about a Korn Ferry Tour graduate in an event which will still be hard to win, I'll mark his namesake TAYLOR PENDRITH down as the bet of the week at 80s. "Still some of the stuff, the old stuff is in there still, but I kind of got to work through that slowly. It seems highly likely that nobody here can afford to be left behind on the greens unless a zephyr turns into something more. However, he wasn't all that far off making the weekend here during a miserable spell and perhaps that's not surprising, because as well as that major performance he managed to sit eighth at halfway on his debut in this event, very early on during his professional career and before he'd won anything of note. Jordan Spieth at 33/1 (Sky Bet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6), 1pt e.w. Doug Ghim and Luke Donald made some appeal along with Greyson Sigg, who has amateur form here and played well for a couple of rounds on his debut in the event, but I'll break from the USA-all-the-way theme to include RUSSELL KNOX, who looks like he's close to producing a really big performance. He'll need to play better than he has in his last two starts, but at the end of the previous season he was striping it before that fabulous performance at Quail Hollow, and we might just need his putter to warm up again for a big run at big odds. That he could contend on his way to third place as recently as last year, when he'd gone almost than six months without a top-20 finish, tells you everything you need to know about how well suited he is to this particular challenge and it's worth saying that this year's field is a good deal weaker. Both events feature strong golf courses, but are lacking the depth of field to make them the most exciting events. With plenty of experience in Thailand and none of the quirks of Laguna National to deal with, this looks the right time to chance one of the form players of the second half of 2022 at generous prices. It can't always transcend. Tony Finau is the biggest threat but priced accordingly and the one I wanted to be on was Max Homa, but with his price contracting all the time I've narrowly come down on the side of JASON DAY. Support our local businesses and check out the new mural painted on our headquarters There's just not that much new evidence to hand, yet Spieth is twice the price he was to win the last major championship he played in. Players used to talk about what qualifying for this means and by qualifying, I mean winning. That he kept the wheels turning to take part in the QBE Shootout also helps, as it should ensure he's ready to go. Speculation is required as to the root cause, but we only need look at the Dunhill Links and the AmEx for hard evidence. Fifth on his first try here when leading the field in strokes-gained tee-to-green, Im probably ought to have ended that debutant drought only to putt horrendously, and then backed up that effort with eighth place last year. If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133. Very marginal preference is for SUNGJAE IM, a player who I think might just enjoy a coming-of-age season which potentially starts with a bang here in Hawaii. The PGA Tour splits in two this week with most of the world's top players competing at . Shop around and you should get a fraction more than 10/1 the pair. "Feeling really comfortable, but you can never let your guard down, it's a big course. He's got three top 10s in his last six starts and this is his favourite tournament and course on the PGA Tour. The only cut he's missed in the USA since April came at Colonial in May, after he'd won and then played in a major and was surely out of gas, and having flushed it when third to McIlroy at Congaree he simply looks an improved player at the very top of his game. Putnam said he felt a little rusty in Hawaii so the eight rounds he managed across that and at the AmEx should have him fully tuned up for a return to what could be more favourable conditions, these poa annua greens certainly familiar to a player hailing from Washington. Ultimately he's putted badly the last fortnight and there's been a two-year problem with that club, but Hahn does at least spike from time to time and as a proven winner in this grade he looks well overpriced given we've only one area of weakness. That's certainly part of the thinking for taking a chance on JORDAN SPIETH, who has questions to answer but is a big price at 33/1 and demands inclusion as a result. I think and hope it might be. Taylor Pendrith at 80/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8), 1pt e.w. He had to stay home to look after the dog all week. @DPWorldTour pic.twitter.com/8HFGZuSqKI. Rahm is 4/1 to follow up Sunday's narrow victory in another event he'd won before, the clip from 6/1 justifiable by field strength alone never mind the fact he won again, and there are either form (Justin Thomas), fitness (Xander Schauffele, Will Zalatoris) or psychological (Collin Morikawa) concerns next to the names of all bar a couple of his biggest threats on paper. After places at 25/1 and 50/1 last week on the PGA Tour, golf expert Ben Coley looks for more contenders in this week's event at the iconic Pebble Beach. Golf Tips: Best bets for Mexico Open and Catalunya Championship Get the best golf bets for Mexico Open and Catalunya Championship from Steve Rawlings, Dave Tindall and many more experts Get the best golf bets for this week's Mexico Open and Catalunya Championship from Steve Rawlings, Dave Tindall and many more experts. Remember, it's less than a year since he finished 14th in the Masters having been fourth in the 2021 PGA Championship, while he's twice been runner-up on the PGA Tour including in Bermuda at a course which offers good form clues for this one. A winner at the RBC Heritage since, again having drifted to this kind of price at a course he enjoys, Spieth is just that bit too good to ignore. Alex Smalley is one to watch but experience generally pays here, so between Brendon Todd and JAMES HAHN I'll opt for the truly speculative option to round things off. Seamus Power is already there and looked for 36 holes last year as though he'd make this the scene of his second win. SOLUTION: Having consistent marketing going out to your prospective and ideal clients every week without you having to invest hours of time every week to make it happen. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose. Looking forward to a good week. He'd be preferred to Justin Rose at the odds, though the latter has offered plenty of promise, but I can't see a great deal of value at the front end of this market. Senekal signed for a third round of 69 to lead on 18-under par. This time, we appear set for the course to play pretty soft and what breeze there is should be manageable for the most part, so when set against the weaker-than-usual field we might be in for a high-teens winning score. Single-figure prices reveal much about this field, as do odds of 16/1 about Maverick McNealy, so I'll make ANDREW PUTNAM the confident headline selection as he bids for redemption following a poor finish last year. This is our best chance of an upset in February and I'll happily throw some darts in that direction. pic.twitter.com/Mgdai6Hb3A. For the most part that's down to the sheer length of the South Course, but it's also because its fairways are hard to hit at just about any distance. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. Who will be King of the (Bay) Hill? Helligkilde's putter is also firing and with just one round costing him a top-five or so in each of the last two weeks, he looks primed to put things together at a course which shouldn't take a lot of figuring out. LIV last week was dull because it was a procession; the more players you have, the better your chances of excitement. He played well at The Open at Carnoustie four years ago, that's one of the courses they use this week. Johnson's victory here in 2018 was one of his finest, bettered perhaps only by his 11-shot romp in a FedEx Cup Playoffs event a couple of years later. It's one of the tougher ones out here I've got to imagine. Theegala wouldn't be among the very longest hitters around but he's well above average and, given his propensity for a wild one from time to time, it's to his benefit that everyone will have to play from the rough for a good deal of the week. We saw evidence of that when Luke List joined Day, Rahm, Justin Rose and Bubba Watson on the roll-of-honour in an event long dominated by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson before that, and you'll often find bigger hitters among the also-rans. That is a significant plus along with pretty sparse rough, and perhaps these slower greens will help him putt a little better than he has done so far in 2023. He played nicely in the Bahamas and is in better form than when just outside the top 10 as a 12/1 shot last year, has won a couple of times since, and is probably the safest conveyance among the top five in the market. Lee was down the field on his first look at Kapalua but that's not uncommon, and neither is a big jolt of improvement for the look around. That club threatened to ruin his career, but he ranks 77th in strokes-gained off-the-tee, up from 196th at the end of his last full season. He's made nine cuts in 10, he's got six top 30s, a couple of top 20s, but he's never been in this kind of form. Higgs is precisely the type of player to click for a drop in grade and, with a background on the LatinoAmerica Tour where he won in Peru, conditions shouldn't be an excuse. Kim was a persistent contender at Korn Ferry Tour level last season, this is not much tougher, and there's no reason at all he can't stick it out for the full 72 holes. Ben Coley previews the first full-field event of the year on the DP World Tour, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Always special playing Pebble Beach, thanks for being a great Pro Am partner @CondoleezzaRice! Also in our favour is the fact that we know plenty about the course and how it's likely to play. Identify 2. His tally for 2022 passed 500 points thanks to a golden summer including winners ranging from 25/1 to . I've mentioned already how advantageous big-hitting is here, but to spell it out more starkly I think this is pound-for-pound the best tournament of the year for the longest drivers on the PGA Tour. Also significant is that when Wu's form did turn last year, it came in Puerto Rico, where he finished third. As with Hadley and Wu, he played well in the US Open here and in Lashley's case, it sparked a dream week on his next start as he dominated the Rocket Mortgage Classic to win by a wide margin. There are of course reasons for that, not least his fabulous Open record, but having won on his second Kapalua start he loves it here, too. Many will consider an each-way double with Rory McIlroy something of a bet to nothing this week, but 20/1 about two golfers winning is never likely to appeal and I'll be taking both of them on. He'll have them here, and with his approach work showing signs of improvement, Wu can go well. He also made very few mistakes, dropping shots on just four of his 36 holes, and my strong suspicion is that we can write off a frustrating couple of days on his return and expect a good deal better over the coming fortnight. All of which makes him a likely candidate to go close and that's a word he used when discussing his health and his swing last week, after producing a fabulous second round on the toughest of three courses used. Never are things as straightforward as fag-paper analysis like that can suggest, and it's worth saying that there are only one or two shorter hitters priced at less than 100/1 anyway, but those with an extra 10 yards have got ideal conditions to put that to use and Pendrith is one such player, among the longest around in fact. In 2020, when Justin Thomas won for a second time, scoring was difficult. Thomas might just have emerged from an approach play funk which meant for a quiet end to 2022, but he hasn't putted well since June and that fact alone means I can resist taking 12/1 about the man who started last year's tournament as the clear favourite. I would expect the professionals to get closer to 20-under and perhaps even beyond, which the winner did in four of those five editions of the Thailand Golf Championship. Tempting as it was to join in, he's short enough and I'll finish off with a player we know has what it takes to threaten at this level, HANK LEBIODA. Course form figures of 2-1-3-9-21 admittedly look a little regressive, but when ninth he putted horribly, and last year he was still getting to grips with fatherhood having played awfully at the Hero a few weeks earlier. That's in contrast to last year, when he just couldn't keep up with the relentless pace having been off for an additional month, and he should be sharper this time. Tenth in strokes-gained approach last week, he'll enjoy the extra space off the tee here in Puerto Rico and has the ability to go ahead and contend on Sunday. Ben's selections are over 1500pts in profit. First, Harris English won his first title for seven years in the event that was meant to be restricted to winners during the past 12 months, and then Smith won it, his qualifying victory having come in a pairs event. While he can be wild at times, the one I'm most excited about here is CHESSON HADLEY, who would fit the bill were he to go on and bag his second PGA Tour title. Never been so excited to play a course in my life! There are numerous has-beens and some players who simply aren't good enough to realistically expect to contend even at this lowly level, so I'm keen to have a crack at that second tier of the betting which provides real potential for a winner at a nice price. I don't think so. It's a view MacIntyre expressed himself and it's why I can't resist taking 22/1 (or 24/1 win-only with bet365), not far short of the price he was to beat far (far, far, far) stronger fields in Abu Dhabi and Dubai before last week's hiccup. BRANDON WU also has fond memories of the 2019 US Open, finishing mid-pack as an amateur on the day of his graduation, and this Californian youngster looks like he's really finding his feet as a professional. Four top-30s is a good return from 11 starts and we saw what he can do under conditions similar to these when leading the Bermuda Championship with an opening 62. On Green, if you remain unconvinced, not sure there's anything I can say to change that. It's where he proposed to his wife. Si Woo Kim had gone well before beating Patrick Cantlay. THU February 16, 2023 Ben Coley produced profit on the DP World Tour with a big-priced. Long off the tee, that's a definite weapon in the expected conditions and as with my main selections, he'll cope just fine should the breeze that's forecast for Thursday and Friday materialise. He's not alone in that view but not everyone translates it to the kind of record he has, which has seen him better the field average at the host course in six of his eight starts in this event, 18th place in 2020 a more recent form line than back-to-back top-10s at the very beginning of his career. Of that bunch, Stroud was hardest to eliminate having placed in the RSM Classic before Christmas and continued to hit the ball well since then. Towards the head of the market, Sam Stevens and DYLAN WU appealed most and with the former well-found in the market, I'll take Wu as the best bet. Fresh off another winner with Thobjorn Olesen last week at 20-1, Tom and Brad are back to break down the Hero Indian Open and the Honda Classic. His putting improvement for a move away from poa annua resulted in his first solo top-10 at this level and he produced fireworks on similar greens in the AmEx, where a third-round 61 propelled him 50 spots up the leaderboard before a quiet Sunday. We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Create the strategy 3. The left-hander contended for three tournaments in a row in 2021, settling for finishes of fifth, fourth and eighth, and before that had been 13th behind Sam Burns in the Valspar. Still, he's a Californian with course form courtesy of third place on his debut in the event, and one who has gone on to win twice at top-class courses. Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org. THU February 02, 2023 After places at 25/1 and 50/1 last week on the PGA Tour, golf expert Ben Coley looks for more contenders in this week's event at the iconic Pebble Beach.. He's got a good record in the UK and Ireland and in links golf in general. THU January 26, 2023 The Farmers Insurance Open begins at Torrey Pines on Wednesday and. Hojgaard will at some stage destroy a field like this if he finds a hot putter and as with MacIntyre, a big carrot is being dangled: this is weaker than Al Hamra by quite some margin, yet he's exactly the same price. He's only managed a best of 17th in this event but was the third-best scorer at the South Course in 2017, so watch for him if the change from bermuda to poa annua greens does spark him into life. The Version table provides details related to the release that this issue/RFE will be addressed. Remember, he's chosen to come to Asia rather than seek an invite for the Genesis Invitational, in which he played so well last year, and with Ryder Cup points so precious he can't afford to be off the pace again. We are committed in our support of safer gambling. That's kind of yielded into, I feel like, a better motion at it out here on the golf course. On his current trajectory, Kim is on course for his first above-average year with his driving and that's going to open up some opportunities given that we know he's capable of high-class performances in all other departments, for all that the putter has been a little bit quiet on the whole. The tips are provided by a maths expert who has built a special algorithm that uses all of the stats available these days like strokes gained tee-to-green, driving accuracy etc to compile a list of potential picks. We're still learning about him but so far it's the modern blend of power hitting and good putting which is doing the donkey work and again it's serious going to be beating the field off-the-tee every week, which he's done.
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