BMW Charity Pro-Am

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The  Nationwide  Tour travels to Carolina this  week for the BMW Charity Pro-Am. The  tournament  is being played  over three  courses, Thornblade Club in Greer, South  Carolina, The  Carolina Country Club in Spartanburg, South Carolina and Greenville Country Club, South Carolina. This will be the
fifth straight  year the  event is being held on two of these courses but the Greenville replaces North Carolina's Bright's Creek this year. The Cliffs Community in  Travelers  Rest, South Carolina hosted this tournament from 2001-07 so course form during that period will be largely irrelevant. The tournament features a different format for the Nationwide Tour,  pairing professionals  with  celebrities and  amateurs  in a  best-ball format  similar to the  AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA Tour.

When Justin Hicks won this tournament in 2010, he only missed five greens in four days so GIR will be of high importance this week. I'm also placing a premium on Driving Accuracy as looking at the Thornblade course guide on the club's website I notice that the common theme amongst nearly all the holes is the avoidance of the bunkers. In terms of the new course, Greenville, it ranks in the top five in Carolina with, 'many of the holes [having] challenging tee shots where you have to move it both left to right and right to left' Bill Haas, so here I will also favour the accuracy stat.

My picks are as follows.

Joe Durant - The veteran of the more senior PGA Tour finds his way into my betting plan this week on the back of his stellar Driving Accuracy stats this year on both tours. On the PGA he rates 2nd in five outings and on the Nationwide ranks 4th while leading in GIR on the latter and sitting a respectable 39th on the former. His performances this year have been nothing to write home about but he has only missed two cuts in eight tournaments and can boast no worse than a 28th place finish on the Nationwide. We have no course form for him to look upon but I'm willing to take the gamble on a player still plying his trade on the top tour, a wily shot maker who places a premium on accuracy. 0.5pts e/w 60/1 Bet365     NO BET - NON RUNNER

Travis Hampshire - Three missed cuts in six appearances may not stand out to someone looking for a form player but on closer inspection those three cuts Hampshire did make yielded two top 20 finishes. What stands out to me though is Hampshire's DA ranking of 3rd on the tour at 74.47%, with averages in the 80s in his last two outings (all be it missed cut performances). Throw into the mix his highly respectable ranking of 39th in GIR and the fact that he has course form with a fourth place here last year (made more impressive by a course record 60 on The Carolina Country Club) and I cant resist his triple figure price. 0.5pts e/w @ 125/1 SkyBet

Diego Velasquez - Promising Colombian youngster Velasquez is something of a wild punt by me this week soley based on the fact that he is a huge talent, ranking highly in DA (12th this year) and 11th in Putting Average which will most certainly help. He has made three out of seven cuts this year but comes to this tournament on the back of having missed four, however, one of these was a step higher on the PGA tour at the Texas Open, for this reason he is a massive price. 0.25pts e/w @ 400/1 Various

Charles Warren - Im replacing Durant with Warren this week following his withdrawal. Warren is an old scholar of Clemson University which is based in South Carolina so will be familiar with the surroundings, especially as the new course added to the tournament (Greenville)is his home course. He ranks a respectable 32nd in DA and an overall 1st in Total Driving, averaging over 310yds in DD, which will hold him in good stead on the long par 5 holes that the courses will present this week.He missed the cut here last year and has missed the cut in his last two tournaments but that doesnt particuarly worry me as his DA has always remained high and I choose to highlight the fact he placed 6th in Colombia in the Nationwide season opener. 0.5pts e/w @ 150/1 Various

Total Staked - 2.5pts