The PGA Tour
Wells Fargo Championship @ Quail Hollow
Phil Mickelson, as usual, will be the fans favourite this week and he
is turning up at a tournament he clearly loves. His form figures for his last
eight starts here are T5-T7-35-3-12-5-2-T9, one word, impressive! His tourney
form is obviously a massive plus, but his form this year isn’t too shabby
either. Mickelson last teed it up at Augusta where he finished 3rd
and has had a win (Pebble Beach) and two other Top 5’s this year. I still think
his putting display on the final day at Pebble Beach was the best on show
anywhere this year on a Sunday. Phil’s putting has always been the thing that
influences his week, sure he drives the ball all over the place at times but
with his recovery game you don’t tend to worry too much! His putting is a worry
at times, he tends to miss a few short putts at the wrong times and that’s not
something you can do when you are playing in a strong field, but this year
Mickelson is ranked 3rd in strokes gained through putting and that
is the key to his good play so far this year. With the media chasing after Rory
and Tiger all week, Phil will want to make sure that everyone will be chasing
him on the back nine on Sunday, especially Tiger.
Phil Mickelson looking as relaxed as usual
Zach Johnson is coming off a 2nd place at the Heritage
last time out and I fancy him to go well again this week. Sixth last year was
his best finish at this event and hopefully with the progressive year he is
having he can better that come Sunday. Zach is one of these players who consistently plays
well without really contending for many titles, he’s made 10 cuts out of 10
starts this year, returning four Top 20 finishes as a result. Johnson is one of
the shortest hitters on tour, but for what he lacks in distances he makes up
for in accuracy (6th straightest on tour). The ranking for ‘Birdies
or better on Par 5’s’ is a ranking you would assume is dominated by big
hitters; Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, JB Holmes etc etc, and why wouldn’t you,
length usually plays a big part. But Zach Johnson is actually ranked 8th
in this performance stat, and there’s one main reason, his wedges! From 100 yards
in, he is as good as it gets. He best displayed this when he infamously laid up
at every Par 5 at Augusta the year he won his Masters title. There’s a little
lesson there for all you aspiring golfers, it’s not all slap, bang wallop,
sometimes it’s all about scrambling when out of position, another thing that
Zach does well (ranked 9th). Zach seems to rely a lot on his
scrambling at times because unfortunately his iron play isn’t as accurate as
his driving, ranked 101st in GIR (Green in Regulation). Hopefully
Johnson can hit a few more greens this week and take the pressure off his short
game, if he does; he could get the ‘W’ on Sunday.
Lucas Glover is not having the finest of seasons so far and
will almost certainly not win this week but as the old saying goes “horses for
courses.” He is the defending champion this week and on top of that victory
last year he was runner up in 2009. He has also had top 10 finishes in the form
of a T-4TH finish in ’06 and a T-10th in ‘04. In the off
chance he turns up this week and gets back into his comfort zone the 9/1 on
offer for a Top 10 finish could be tasty.
My Selections:
Phil Mickelson @ 11/1 Outright with Bet365
Zach Johnson @ 33/1 each way with Sky Bet
Lucas Glover @ 9/1 Top 10 finish with Paddy Power
Open de Espana @ Real Club de golf de Sevilla
This week in Spain is sure to be emotional. It’s’ Seve’s
anniversary. Seve was everything that was great about Spanish golf and the natives
will be looking to put on a real show this week and hopefully get a Spanish
winner.
In the hope that there is a Spanish winner I am siding with Rafael Cabrera-Bello. My selection is someone who I have
been keeping a close eye on since his triumph in Dubai at the start of the
season. I have previously tipped him up on the blog; at the Open de Andalucía
where he didn’t performance as I had hoped (finished 47th) but I am
going to stick with him this week. He has tourney form (11th last
year and T6 in ’09) but not course form as they have moved the tournament. It’s
being played at the ‘Real Club de golf de Sevilla’ where they also played in
2010 and 2008. Every time I read up on this guy I like him more (swear I’m
straight). The most recent interesting stat is that he won his national
championship every year from Under 7 to Under 18 level, *protégé! Since my blog
post about him in March he has notched up a 3rd place finish in
Malaysia so I haven’t completely put the kiss of death on him! As stated at the
start of this paragraph I do think a Spanish player will win this week and I am
hoping I have sided with the right one!
On the off chance (giggles) that I am wrong and the winner isn’t
Spanish I am hoping that they come from another hot European
country...Scotland! Paul Lawrie has been good to me this year (40/1 winner in
Qatar) and has contributed to my retirement fund but I think he could make me a
few more dollaaa! On the back of that win Lawrie broke into the Top 50 in the
world again and subsequently got to Augusta (finished 24th) and I
think he will win again this year at some point. As I am not Mystic Meg I can’t
tell you exactly when but I will have an educated guess at this week! Unlike my
other selection Lawrie has both course form and tourney form, the course form
coming when he finished in a T-6 in 2010 and adding his 5th place
finish last year that tells me he likes Spain in May!
My Selections:
Rafael Cabrera-Bello 50/1 each way with Sporting Bet (5
places)
Paul Lawrie 28/1 each way (General) (5 places)
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