South Georgia Classic

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The eighth South Georgia Classic begins this week in Valdosta, Georgia at the Davis Love III designed Kinderlou Forest Golf Club. Opened in 2004, Kinderlou is a Par 72 monster that plays a huge 7,781 yards off the tee and is a course of two completely different sets of nine holes. The front nine holes lay claim to flowing, open and forgiving fairways while the back nine plays through a mature pine forest that significantly narrows the fairway, it is most certainly a ball strikers golf course. There are plenty of natural hazards such as creeks and ravines throughout the 18 holes as well as 73 bunkers and tricky rolling terrain for players to negotiate. Given the length and variety of challenges presented, it is no surprise that Kinderlou's scoring average for the last four years reads - 2013 - 72.740 (+0.740), 2012 - 72.190 (+0.190), 2011 - 72.441 (+0.441) and 2010 - 73.187 (+1.187). There are also four huge Par 5 holes, two of which are over 600 yards in length that will be key to scoring here. Evidence for this can be found in 2012 winner Luke List who managed to post a score of -13 through the 16 Par 5s on his way to a final score of 16 under while 2013 winner Wil Wilcox still scored a vital -6 on these important holes.

Armed with this information I will be focusing my picks on players who rank highly in Total Driving, Ball Striking, Scoring Average and Par 5 Average/Performance. Obviously length off the tee will be a huge advantage so when looking at the Total Driving stat it would be sensible to discount any player who is well positioned due to a high Drivingin Accuracy but low Driving Distance ranking. It is also worth noting that while it does not usually play a major factor in the negotiation of this course, the wind can pick up at Valdosta so a player adept to blowy conditions could have the edge.

I dont have enough time this week to do in depth reasonings to my picks so apologies but please find my selections below:

Daniel Berger 1pt e/w @ 33/1

Fabian Gomez 1pt e/w @ 50/1

Derek Fathauer 0.5pts e/w @ 80/1

Luke List 0.25pts e/w @ 150/1

Nathan Tyler 0.25pts e/w @ 150/1

Jorge Fernandez Valdes 0.25pts e/w @ 250/1

Chase Wright 0.125pts e/w @ 750/1

Mackenzie Hughes 0.125pts e/w 1500/1

Total staked: 7pts