Zurich Classic of New Orleans
The Zurich Classic of New Orleans will be the fifth event held at TPC Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina. The course like most other places in New Orleans suffered damage and subsequently got altered before the course hosted the tournament in ’07. TPC Louisiana measures 7.520 yards and is essentially a shot maker’s golf course, this highlighted no more so when Bubba Watson won last year.
One of my old favourites has plenty of tournament form and I expect after a renaissance to his golf game of late that he will be there or thereabouts come Sunday. Charles Howell III hasn’t missed a cut in 9 appearances in the tournament and has twice been Runner-up (’06,’09). His driving is his Achilles heel and usually dictates his position on the leader board, but regardless of his poor driving stat (142ndin Driving Accuracy) his previous tourney form is a big positive. Howell III is in the Top 40 in GIR (Greens in Regulation) which is pretty good considering he doesn’t seem to get the chance to hit his approaches from too many fairways!
Charles Howell III during his third round last year at TPC Louisiana
Jason Dufner is my other selection in New Orleans this week. Dufner reminds me of a young Freddie Couples with his stress free approach to golf. Ironically playing with Freddie at Augusta seemed to be a hindrance and Dufner dropped down the leader board after a very promising start. Since the Masters, Dufner has teed it up at the Heritage where he finished in a T-24. Again, like Howell III, Dufner has solid tourney form with Top 10’s in each of his last three appearances at TPC Louisiana. As a person who likes his stats it was pleasing for me to see that Dufner is inside the Top 10 in the ‘all round ranking’ on the PGA Tour, this gets calculated from your GIR, Driving and Putting stats. It should be noted that putting is far from his strength and he hasn’t actually been in the Top 100 in the putting stats in four years! But Dufner has had a real progressive year, after missing the cut in his seasonal reappearance he has made his last ten on the trot, racking up Top 25 finishes in the last four events he has started.
My Selections:
Charles Howell III 45/1 Each way and 4/1 Top 10 Bet365
Jason Dufner 28/1 each way with BetFred
European Tour
Ballantines Championship
This week’s “European” Tour action comes from Blackstone GC in Seoul, South Korea. Lee Westwood has chosen not to come and defend his title this week and has therefore left Adam Scott at the head of the betting. Scott has a great record in Asia and is a previous winner so he is a deserving favourite this week with the book makers. Although I am a massive Scott fan, as my readers well know by now, I am going to avoid him this week as he hasn’t shown me anything this season to have me put some hard earned (in case the bosses are reading) cash on him at a single figure price.
At a bigger price I fancy Jbe Kruger to go well. The South African is a fiery little man, who only stands 5’5” tall but has still managed to average over 300 yards off the tee this season. He already has a ‘W’ this season, this coming when he won the Avantha Masters in India. He finished seventh in this event last year on his only appearance and hopefully has some fond memories. Kruger has notched up three other Top 20 finishes outside of his victory. As stated above he hits the ball along way but also boasts an impressive GIR percentage, averaging nearly 75% so far in 2012.
Thorbjørn Olesen is another player trying to establish himself as a European Tour player. He finally got his victory that many had touted in the Sicilian Open. Olesen has huge potential and many regard him as a future Ryder Cup player, whether Medinah comes too early or not, he will certainly feature sooner rather than later. The key to his performances so far this season has been his putting, averaging only 28.46 putts per round he’s sure to make up a couple of strokes on the field each week. With three Top 10’s already this year he has certainly settled in nicely on tour and I think he will most definitely notch up another victory this season, let’s hope it’s this week!
My Selections:
Jbe Kruger 40/1 each way with Will Hill
Thorbjørn Olesen 40/1 each way with BetVictor
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