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Outright Picks - Nationwide Tour

Tipster: Bill

Odds: Outright

 
 
Panama Championship
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The season opener for the Nationwide Tour this week finds us at the Country Club de Bogota in Colombia. This is the third outing of this event on the tour with previous winners being Steve Pate (2010) and Brendan Papas (2011), all be it the former in a rain shortened 2 rounds.

With little in the way of stats on previous rounds on this course to mull over, I have chosen to make my picks on previous course form and the fact that being a Jack Nicklous designed course, accuracy will be of a premium. My picks are as follows.

Aaron Watkins - Boasting a 2nd in 2010 when he lost in a playoff to Steve Pate and a 13th last year here, Watkins most definately ticks the box in terms of course form. However, what really caught my eye was his ability to go low in Bogota with 4 out of 6 rounds being 67 or under. What makes this even more impressive is that last year he opened with a 73 and shot a 65 in the second round to ensure a 13th place finish. Unlike most of his Nationwide compatriots this wont be his first event of the season as he warmed up at the Pheonix Open (missed cut yes but in much finer company) so his game should be ready. One final thing that drew me to Watkins was a quote on the PGA Tour site where he talked about the Bogota course saying, "I'm a straight ball hitter. It's not a very long golf course and because we're up at altitude, everyone has to hit it in the same spot. I read the greens there very well. And just put myself in position on the greens. I've got a pretty good knack out there of knowing where to hit it on certain greens and pins and where to miss it. Knock on wood!" Sitting 27th in Driving Accuracy and 14th in GIR over the last 6 months backs this justification for me. 1pt e/w @ 60/1 Bet365

Adam Hadwin - Canadian Hadwin may just be a rookie on Tour having graduated from the Canadian Tour but he isnt short of experience in Colombia as he won the Canadian Tour Colombia Tour Championship with rounds of 66-66-62-69. The course wasnt the one we find ourselves on here this week but it was in Bogota and provided the same altitude difficulties we will see this week so Hadwin certainly knows what is expected of him. He played 5 events on the full PGA Tour last season, making the cut in all five and finishing in the top 10 in two of them, he won twice on the Canadian tour last year too, in short he knows how to perform. His 2011 stats on the PGA Tour site read 36th DA and 5th GIR while his Scoring Average was ranked 3rd. 1pt e/w @ 28/1 Sky Bet

Benjamin Alvarado - Runner up to Hadwin on the Colombia Tour Championship last year was Alvarado, a player who seems to be a serial performer in Colombia itself with form reading:

Pacific Colombia Tour Barranquilla - 2nd, Colombia Masters - 6th, Club Colombia Masters - 9th, Pacific Colombia Tour Championship - 2nd

The 6th and 9th placed finishes came on this Bogota course with only one out of 6 rounds coming in over par which demonstrates his ability to handle what the course can throw at him. He also finished 2nd on the Tour de Las Americas Order of Merit last year having only played 5 sanctioned events while having 4 top 3 finishes in 8 starts on the Canadian Tour and finishing 3rd on their Order of Merit. He like Hadwin deserves respect and seems too large a price to be ignored for me. 0.5pts e/w @ 100/1 Sky Bet

Total staked - 5pts