Furyk could prosper at Tour Championship
Apart from offering slightly grudging congratulations to Colin Montgomerie on his outstanding achievement of winning the Order of Merit for an incredible eighth time, there's no more golfing business to deal with in mainland Europe for a few months now. As we await the imminent start of the ANZ Tour and the European Tour's 'Far-East Swing', this week sees the big money finale to the PGA Tour in the US, the Tour Championship, along with the low key Southern Farm Classic.
The Tour Championship is open to the top 30 on the US money list and is this year being staged at East Lake for the third time in the last five years. With Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson absent, and huge question marks surrounding Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia, this looks an outstanding opportunity for TIGER WOODS to land yet another prestige event. The case against Tiger rests on his persistent inaccuracy off the tee, an extremely rare missed cut last time out and the fact that he has rarely been seen at his best on par-70s. On the other hand, in the prestigious tournaments that matter to the great man, Woods has simply been awesome once again this year. As for the par-70 argument, this particular one is also longer than most so plays into Woods' hands on that count and he has finished runner-up here twice before. Winner of the Masters, British Open, NEC and Amex Championship, and placed in the other two Majors, Tiger remains very much the one to beat and impossible to leave out of the staking plan.
If he'd come into this in any form, defending champ Goosen would have been my selection but after an eagle on the first hole last week, his play was extremely shoddy - a comment that applies even more so to Singh who has now missed two consecutive cuts. Garcia remains in great form, and capable of bursts of unbelievable golf as we saw on his back nine on Saturday at Valderrama, but he must be devastated to have blown another winning chance in that tournament. The fact that he played poorly on his previous visits to East Lake also suggests the mercurial Spaniard is one to avoid this week.
So with Woods' immediate rivals unlikely to prosper, this week could offer a good opportunity for the next batch of players in the world rankings. In particular, JIM FURYK will surely be right at home on this tough par-70 track where he finished a close third in 1998. Jim comes into this week fresh having had a couple of weeks to recover from his shock last-gasp defeat to Wes Short at the Michelin Championship. Interestingly, the last time Furyk blew a tournament like that was at the Barclays Classic in June but he bounced right back from that disappointment to win the following week.
DAVID TOMS also looks highly likely to be there or thereabouts at a tasty 28/1 and looks a fair each-way bet, even though there are only four places on offer in this limited field. DT has finished in the top-11 on all three previous East Lake contests and looked in consistent form prior to last week's missed cut. Others I could make a case for here are TIM CLARK and BEN CRANE but prefer them in speciality markets.
With the top-30 at East Lake, the Southern Farm Classic looks a very low grade affair and one to keep stakes to a minimum. For an interest, I recommend a couple of small each-way bets on JOHN HUSTON, who won here in 2003, and the promising VAUGHAN TAYLOR. Huston has bounced back to somewhere near his best this year after a spell in the doldrums. His long game has looked in excellent shape and has resulted in four top-20 finishes in his last seven starts. In such a poor field, Huston's chance looks obvious.
Taylor remains very much on my players to follow list. He hasn't missed a cut since July and looks well capable of adding a second victory to his maiden success at the Reno-Tahoe Open. Regular readers will no doubt understand how infuriating watching Carl Pettersson win at the weekend was for me having tipped him at least three times recently at huge prices. That's all part of the mindgames that go with the territory of gambling, especially in golf tournaments where a player can perform well week in, week out and just miss out on the places. Taylor very much comes into this category, as does Bo Van Pelt who just missed out again at the weekend. Nevertheless, I'd be kicking myself if I didn't back at least one of the pair in this weak company.
Good Luck!
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
4pts win TIGER WOODS @ 11/4 (SKYBET, UK BETTING, VCBET)
3pts win JIM FURYK @ 14/1 (LADBROKES, UK BETTING)
2pts ew DAVID TOMS @ 25/1 (BET DIRECT, TOTE, VCBET, HILLS)
MATCHES, 2-BALLS AND SPREADS
SUPPORT TIM CLARK
SUPPORT BEN CRANE
SOUTHERN FARM CLASSIC
1pt ew JOHN HUSTON @ 40/1 (GENERALLY AVAILABLE)
1pt ew VAUGHAN TAYLOR @ 40/1 (STAN JAMES, TOTE)
The Tour Championship is open to the top 30 on the US money list and is this year being staged at East Lake for the third time in the last five years. With Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson absent, and huge question marks surrounding Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia, this looks an outstanding opportunity for TIGER WOODS to land yet another prestige event. The case against Tiger rests on his persistent inaccuracy off the tee, an extremely rare missed cut last time out and the fact that he has rarely been seen at his best on par-70s. On the other hand, in the prestigious tournaments that matter to the great man, Woods has simply been awesome once again this year. As for the par-70 argument, this particular one is also longer than most so plays into Woods' hands on that count and he has finished runner-up here twice before. Winner of the Masters, British Open, NEC and Amex Championship, and placed in the other two Majors, Tiger remains very much the one to beat and impossible to leave out of the staking plan.
If he'd come into this in any form, defending champ Goosen would have been my selection but after an eagle on the first hole last week, his play was extremely shoddy - a comment that applies even more so to Singh who has now missed two consecutive cuts. Garcia remains in great form, and capable of bursts of unbelievable golf as we saw on his back nine on Saturday at Valderrama, but he must be devastated to have blown another winning chance in that tournament. The fact that he played poorly on his previous visits to East Lake also suggests the mercurial Spaniard is one to avoid this week.
So with Woods' immediate rivals unlikely to prosper, this week could offer a good opportunity for the next batch of players in the world rankings. In particular, JIM FURYK will surely be right at home on this tough par-70 track where he finished a close third in 1998. Jim comes into this week fresh having had a couple of weeks to recover from his shock last-gasp defeat to Wes Short at the Michelin Championship. Interestingly, the last time Furyk blew a tournament like that was at the Barclays Classic in June but he bounced right back from that disappointment to win the following week.
DAVID TOMS also looks highly likely to be there or thereabouts at a tasty 28/1 and looks a fair each-way bet, even though there are only four places on offer in this limited field. DT has finished in the top-11 on all three previous East Lake contests and looked in consistent form prior to last week's missed cut. Others I could make a case for here are TIM CLARK and BEN CRANE but prefer them in speciality markets.
With the top-30 at East Lake, the Southern Farm Classic looks a very low grade affair and one to keep stakes to a minimum. For an interest, I recommend a couple of small each-way bets on JOHN HUSTON, who won here in 2003, and the promising VAUGHAN TAYLOR. Huston has bounced back to somewhere near his best this year after a spell in the doldrums. His long game has looked in excellent shape and has resulted in four top-20 finishes in his last seven starts. In such a poor field, Huston's chance looks obvious.
Taylor remains very much on my players to follow list. He hasn't missed a cut since July and looks well capable of adding a second victory to his maiden success at the Reno-Tahoe Open. Regular readers will no doubt understand how infuriating watching Carl Pettersson win at the weekend was for me having tipped him at least three times recently at huge prices. That's all part of the mindgames that go with the territory of gambling, especially in golf tournaments where a player can perform well week in, week out and just miss out on the places. Taylor very much comes into this category, as does Bo Van Pelt who just missed out again at the weekend. Nevertheless, I'd be kicking myself if I didn't back at least one of the pair in this weak company.
Good Luck!
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP
4pts win TIGER WOODS @ 11/4 (SKYBET, UK BETTING, VCBET)
3pts win JIM FURYK @ 14/1 (LADBROKES, UK BETTING)
2pts ew DAVID TOMS @ 25/1 (BET DIRECT, TOTE, VCBET, HILLS)
MATCHES, 2-BALLS AND SPREADS
SUPPORT TIM CLARK
SUPPORT BEN CRANE
SOUTHERN FARM CLASSIC
1pt ew JOHN HUSTON @ 40/1 (GENERALLY AVAILABLE)
1pt ew VAUGHAN TAYLOR @ 40/1 (STAN JAMES, TOTE)
posted by Paul Krishnamurty at 1:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home