Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale
It was a frustrating week in the golf, just past. Garcia looked to be getting a crack at a play off in Qatar, until Chris Wood decided he was fed up with spending lonely nights in the Pancake Factory and finished with an eagle to pip Sergio and Coetzee by a shot. I can’t begrudge Wood the win, just wish he’d have picked a different week. It’s the first time in over five years someone has made eagle to win on the European Tour, Goose was the last in 2007, in Qatar also, just my luck!
Then we go Stateside, where Tiger Woods goes from topping drives one week to winning at a hack cantor the next, horses for courses and all that. A lot of people were understandably quite excited about Tiger’s win but I’m not going to let myself think he can get back to Number One until he dominates around a course that doesn’t suit his eye so well. That’s the 23rd time he has won on the PGA Tour by four or more shots, that would put him in 27th position, on the all time PGA Tour win list; ridiculous!
Sneds finished runner-up to Tiger, which wasn’t much use to me as I had him backed to win only. He shot himself out of it on Friday when the bad weather set in on the South Course; he had a good weekend though. And Phil, what can you say about him? He was at his erratic best. I think he worked out that the best way around his current tax problems was to earn as little money as possible!
Anyways, onto this week in Phoenix. The Waste Management is one of the more fun events on the schedule, lots of aggression from the players and lots of interaction with the fans. The stadium course at TPC Scottsdale isn’t a bombers paradise, it’s more risk reward with your approach shots. The last few winners haven’t been long of the tee, Perry *(48th), Mahan (57th), Wilson (143rd) and Stanley (73rd). *Brackets are their end of year ‘Driving Distance’ ranking, for the year they got their respective win.
My main selection this week is one of the previous winners above. After a solid week at Torrey Pines I expect Hunter Mahan to have a successful week in Phoenix. After missing out on the Ryder Cup last year he will think he has a bit to prove this season. He’s obviously done a bit of work on his wedge game over the off season, although still in January he finds himself top of the tree in the rankings for approach shots of 75-100 yards. That’s a plus for this week. Another plus is that he tends to be very fast out of the traps, he had picked up two wins by the time the Masters came around last year.
My next bet is for a Top 10 finish. The reason for this punt is Kevin Na’s got course form but you wouldn’t trust him to get over the finishing line without leaving the back nine on Sunday littered with pancakes. He’s had three Top 5’s in the past five years. The fact that he’s missed his previous two cuts before coming here doesn’t really bother me, he’s like an Asian Phil Mickelson, inconsistent, but can make birdies for fun. I wonder what his views on taxes are? He’s had missed cuts before coming here in the past. He’s ranked 1st in approaches from less that 100 yards and 7th in Total Putting, in 2013, so it doesn’t take Columbo to work out why he’s missed his last two cuts. He’d win the Par 3 tourney at Augusta doing handstands.
Now just to complete the randomness of my blog post this week, I’m doing a First Round Leader (FRL) bet. FRL bets are something I never get involved in, but I know a few of you do like the market. One thing I always think is that it’s best to be out early, I’d say most people have a similar thought process on that. Kevin Streelman is a Scottsdale resident and will have the luxury of sleeping in his own bed for the week. Though he doesn’t have a particularly good record here he is arriving in solid form. In his last outing he finished T-10th at the Humana Challenge. Stats wise he’s in the Top 10 in GIR (mainly because of his wedge play) and 3rd in Total Putting. So he’s an each way bet for me in the FRL market.
In the ‘One and Done’ this week I’ve went with Lee Westwood to win the Dubai Desert Classic. Mainly because he’s been pretty vocal regarding the amount of practising he got done in his off-season, since he moved to Florida. Due to the format of the ‘One and Done’ it’s best using him now as he doesn’t play on the European Tour until May again.
Be Lucky!
My Selections:
Hunter Mahan each way @ 35/1 with Stan James
Kevin Na for a Top 10 finish @ 8/1 with Bet365
Kevin Streelman each way for FRL @ 100/1 with Paddy Power, Bet365 & Coral
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