Chiquita Classic

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The new Chiquita Classic golf tournament, which will be played at the Club at Longview for the first time this week, marks the beginning of the Web.com's four event playoff series which will determine which players earn PGA tour cards for next season.

Longview is a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course with rolling hills, tree-lined fairways, a number of elevation changes throughout and a wide variety of water features. A six mile creek runs through the course and can come into play on seven holes while small lakes also come into play on seven holes. As a result there will be a premium placed on accuracy this week so GIR and DA will feature prominently in my selections. Being just over 7000 yards I feel it isnt essential to be a big hitter, especially with trees lining the fairway that could cause a problem and numerous bunkers protecting the landing areas at, or around the greens. i am also going to focus on those who rank highly in Par 3 performance as we find an above average four Par 3 holes here a Longview.

My picks are as follows.

David Mathis - Sitting at 125th on the PGA Tour money list, Mathis has taken the step down this week in order to try and maintain his PGA status. While his stats dont jump out at me, ranking just 69th in DA, 182nd in GIR and 157th in Par 3 performance, it is his performances early on the PGA Tour that attract me to him. Mathis can boast five top 25 finishes including a 10th in the Zurich Classic and while he has a number of missed cuts (most coming more recently) he has managed to make the cut in his last two outings. What also draws me to this player is the fact that he is a North Carolina resident, born and raised and will be more than acclimatised to the course and the region as his two top 10 finishes in two appearances at the Rex Hospital Open show. 0.5pts e/w @ 70/1 Various

Cliff Kresge - One player whos stats stand out to me and who seems slightly overpriced is veteran Kresge. On the Web.com Tour he sits in 35th for DA, 22nd in GIR and 4th in Par 3 performance over the last three months. Throw into the mix the fact that Cliff has a 2nd and 3rd place finish to his name on the tour, the 2nd coming as recently as the beginning of this month and I think he has been overlooked on the back of his missed cuts the last two weeks. He sits 33rd on the Money List and will need a big week to break into the top 25 which undoubtably will be an incentive. 0.5pts e/w @ 90/1 Sporting Bet

Matthew Goggin - Another player who has made the step down to the Web.com this week is Goggin who, on the face of it, may not have had the best of seasons missing nine cuts and finishing no better than 36th. However, on closer inspection despite his poor record he actually ranks a respectable 54th in GIR and 89th in Par 3 performance amongst much greater company than he will find here. He dominated the Nationwide Tour last season with two wins, a second and three other top tens and I'm hoping the step back down will see a revival in his game. 0.25pts e/w @ 200/1 Various

Darron Stiles - I cant quite see why Stiles is such a big price this week with him sitting 13th on the money list and needing a good finish to cement his PGA card for next year being the most prominent reason. Also, his stats seem tailored to this course with his ranking of 4th in DA, 17th in GIR and 11th in Par 3 performance over the last three months, not to mention the added bonus of being ranked 3rd in par 3 birdie of better leaders. Stiles has won already this year in Tennessee and significantly finished 10th in another North Carolinan tournament, the Rex Hospital Open. One last thing to mention is the fact that Stiles currently resides in N.C. so should be accustomed to the area and no doubt the course. 0.5pts e/w @ 100/1 Bet365

Andy Winings - A bit of an outlandish pick on the back of his sterling set of stats - 10th GIR, 36th DA, 8th par 3 birdie or better leaders and 2nd in par 3 performance over the last 3 months. However, on closer inspection Winings managed to achieve a rather 'under the radar' finish of 3rd at the Price Cutter Charity Championship last month and while his other results are nothing to write home about, seems enough to warrant a small wager each way at a large price. 0.25pts e/w @ 250/1 Sky Bet

Total Staked - 4pts