Hotel Fitness Championship

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The Web.com Tour now hits its second edition of the Finals after the introduction of the four tournament conclusion to the tour last year. The top 75 on the Web.com money list have qualified for the post season as have those who finished ranked 126-200 on the PGA Tour. There are some big names out there this week looking to tie up their PGA Tour card for next year by finishing in the top 25 over the next four weeks. As there are so many quality players in the field this week it will be hard to narrow it down, there are numerous players I would consider backing but I have tried to narrow it down to those who I feel offer value.

Sycamore Hills is a Jack Nicklaus designed course so I have tried to focus on players who typically perform well on other Nicklaus courses. Here we have a Par 72, 7,275 yard track with rolling hills and a course which makes use of the abundance of trees and natural river and waters that ruun through it so a premium will be placed on GIR. It is also worth noting that last year the players who took the step down from the PGA seemed to fare better here than those on the Web.com.

My picks are as follows:

Bud Cauley - 1pt e/w @ 45/1 - I found it hard to believe that Cauley needed to drop down to the finals to secure his card as the youngster had four top 25s and most notably, a 4th at the Greenbrier Classic. However, 50% of missed cuts meant he finished 143rd in the standings and was forced to return to Sycamore Hills where he finished 5th last year. He is a streaky player and he comes here on the back of a MC at the Wyndham but I am willing to overlook that as he sits 35th in GIR on the PGA and wont want to give up the card he has held for three full seasons. 

Chad Campbell - 0.5pts e/w @ 50/1 - I backed Campbell here last year at much shorter odds (35-1) and he comes here this year with, arguably, better form than he did in 2013. He managed to finish 7th at the Travelers Championship, 13th at the John Deere and 14th at the Barracuda Championship at the beginning of the month. He is a four time winner on the PGA and two of those wins came on Nicklaus designed courses (Viking Classic and Bob Hope Chrysler Classic) and although his performance here last year only yielded a 55th place, he now has the experience to push on. Campbell also ranks 1st in GIR on the PGA Tour which will stand him in good stead this week.

JJ Henry - 0.5pts e/w @ 50/1 - Another player to step down from the PGA in order to try and secure his card is Henry and quite impressively he ranks overall 4th in GIR on the PGA Tour. He only has six missed cuts in 18 appearances on the PGA this year and can boast a highest finish of 13th at the St Jude Classic back in June. He finished just outside of automatically keeping his card (128th) and will be desperate to secure another season with the big boys where he will have a chance to add to his two wins on tour.

Richard H Lee - 0.25pts e/w @ 125/1 - Lee is a classy player who seemed to lose his way at the end of the season after a relatively explosive start, finishing 4th at the Puerto Rico Open. A mixed bag of mediocre finishes and missed cuts were split by an 11th at the Quiken Loans National back in June but since then he has been well off the radar. His putting has always been his forte as he sits 32nd in Total Putting and 18th in Strokes Gained Putting so hopefully they will come into force this week.

more to follow....