Rust-Oleum Championship

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The newly named Rust-Oleum Championship is hosted by Lakewood Country Club in Westlake, Ohio this week. The course is highly regarded as it is an old school test and despite being relatively short (just over 7,000 yards) only yielded a winning score of -14 last year. The course designer A.W. Tillinghast has also designed Winged Foot, Baltusrol and Bethpage Black golf courses so it will be worth looking to those for any sort of cross form.

Bud Cauley - 1pt e/w @ 45/1 - This is Cauley's first appearance on any tour since September last year owing to a shoulder injury. He has been reguarly tweeting his progress and has not rushed back, now claiming that his game is taking shape and how he wants to use the Web.com as further practice before re-emerging on the PGA. I think he is a great talent and is a cut above the rest of the field, reflected by the fact that he is a previous winner on the Web.com and has placed as high as 3rd on the PGA(when a younger and less experienced player). He has no course form to speak of here but did manage to finish 10th in the Barclays in 2012 at Bethpage Black, another A.W. Tillinghast course and hopefully should find Lakewood easy to adapt to. 

Dawie Van Der Walt - 1pt e/w @ 60/1 - I was quite surprised to see that the South African was such a big price this week owing to the fact that he is already a winner this year on the Web.com (Chile Classic) and was the runner up in this tournament after an 11 hole playoff last year. Admittedly, his form has dropped slightly since his win back in March, missing the cut for the first time on this tour last week in Dallas. However, despite this MC, he did post a 2nd round score of 67 after a disastrous 1st round and back at the Rex Hospital, opened with a 65 - he can score and given his closing rounds here last year were 65 and 66 respectively, I am backing him to fly again.

Luke List - 0.5pts e/w @ 100/1 - Another player who has form on a A.W. Tillinghast design, finishing 2nd to Ryan Moore at the 2004 Amateur Championships at Winged Foot. List has somewhat lost his way a little since his breakout season back in 2012 where he recorded a win and 6 top 10s on his way to graduating to the PGA. This year he has been sporadic, with a host of missed cuts but also a 4th and 6th which indicates that he is on his way back to finding some sort of form. I am hoping that a return to a course where he made the cut last year and where he posted all four rounds of par or better will aid in that return to form.

Trey Mullinax - 0.25pts e/w @ 250/1 - Young Trey is quite obviously priced wrongly this week with Corals, a player of his calibre should not be high triple figures. He has conditional Web.com status and has taken advantage so far, making the cut in all but one tournament in 5 outings. The finishes haven't been spectacular but at the same time he hasn't finished worse than 33rd. What appeals to me is his scoring average, he ranks 3rd with 69.22 and around a tricky track like this it should hold him in good stead. I am expecting him to breakout and win/challenge at some point and will continue to back him if he continues in similar form and is at a triple figure price.

Total Staked - 5.5pts