August 3rd – PGA Tour Golf
All eyes int he golf world are at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio for the World Golf Championship and it’s a hot field with the World’s top 80 golfers accepting the invitation. TIGER WOODS ($5.50) heads the field as he makes his return to the game after a, close but no cigar, effort at the British Open a few weeks ago. Woods won this event comfortably last year before going on to lose the PGA Championship the week after in stunning circumstances to Y.E. YANG ($151.00). Interestingly Yang performed reasonably here as well finishing 19th finishing with 2 strong rounds of 66 suggesting he took a while to get used to the layout of the course. Tang’s issue here will come from his length off the tee which is very important here on the South course which boast a number of long Par 4’s and one of the biggest Par 5’s in the game. The 16th hole “The Monster” is 667 yards. When you look at the results from last year you can see how important driving length is with good drivers filling the top spots in ROBERT ALLENBY ($81.00), PADRIAG HARRINGTON ($21.00) and ANGEL CABRERA ($81.00). Allenby has been hanging in very well after injuring himself a few months ago. One can only think what might have been for him this year had he kept himself fit. Cabrera has missed the cut in 2 of his last 3 starts, however, they were on courses that didn’t suit him so I wouldn’t be too concerned there. As always with Angel you take him on faith as when he is on he is very good but when he isn’t it can be sickening to watch. This track really does suit him though. Harrington’s record is incredible this year. He has produced some very good results, without getting a win on the board but anyone who watched him play last weekend in Europe couldn’t back him with any confidence at all. Whilst at times he played with incredible brilliance his driving was incredibly bad. He had a driving percentage of 46% for the week and to be honest I am surprised it was that high. I think he is a great LAY Bet this week and next week were driving distance and accuracy is important. PHIL MICKELSON ($13.00) has to be considered because of this stat even though he’s not driving it as well as he has in the past. He has the length to get right on top of things here. 4 top 5 finishes in his past 7 events is hard to ignore. DUSTIN JOHNSON ($51.00) appeared to have shaken off his blowout at the US Open a month ago with a strong 14th place finish at the British Open and a comfortable 19th in the Scandinavian Masters where the track really didn’t suit. This guy bombs the ball out there and is usually extremely accurate for his length. A real contender here. RORY McILROY ($26.00) is another who’s been up the leaderboard in recent events but he’d want to keep his head at this course which could really damage him if he gets too aggressive with it. If he keeps his head under control he should be another who is really suited here. Finally I have to mention the TopPunter favourite in MARTIN KAYMER ($41.00) who is playing some awesome golf at the moment and although he is yet to convert it on the PGA Tour if he is going to do it anywhere it will be at Firestone. He’s recorded a number of top 10 and 20 finishes in his past 7 events and loves getting the ball a long way down the course.
Our Selections are:
LEE WESTWOOD to beat Padraig Harrington at $1.80 (Sports Managed Fund 10% Bet)
MARTIN KAYMER to beat Paul Casey at $1.97 (Sports Managed Fund 5% Bet)
DUSTIN JOHNSON to beat Hunter Mahan at $1.92 (Sports Managed Fund 5% Bet)
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