Buick Classic

The 24th staging of this event and, as ever, at the Westchester golf club. Two years ago this event was moved to its current position, the week before the US Open and it's ideal preparation for what lies ahead next week. Hence the strong field despite the unwritten maxim that you don't want to win the week before a Major. The course is very short by pro standards 6,779 yards, though with tee movements it could reach the 7,000 mark. But as with any US Open-style course, it is not the length that matters. The greens are said to be as fast as the pros will face this year and will be hard to hold as well as being small. This is not made any easier by the narrowness of the fairways and the hilly terrain. Ideal preparation for next week.

A confirmation of treating this as a US Open-style event is provided by looking at the record of the course form players. Els won here in 1996 and 1997 before a bad back meant only nine holes were completed in 1998. If we also ignore Tom Lehman's 35th place finish last year as he was suffering from a shoulder injury at the time, his finishes read: 5th, 14th, 2nd and then 3rd on this course. Jeff Maggert's record since 1996 reads: 2nd, 2nd, 5th and 18th. Jim Furyk has had two top-three finishes in the last three years. Much more than current form, course form shall predominate this week.

Looking for Lehman and Love to provide this week's banker bets in the matchups, though Sportingbet's 20/1 and 12/1 e/w respectively look decent enough value for a top-four finish and for the outsider, Brad Faxon @ 80/1. Faxon has finished in the top-15 in five of last six years here, so again the e/w bet should provide the best chance of making a profitable investment on him.

Will have matchups plays later this evening.

72-hole plays:

Jim Furyk to beat Sergio Garcia -111 @ Easybets
Course specialist against course novice. The fast greens may suit Sergio, but this is a course on which Furyk should prosper

Steve Flesch to beat Sergio Garcia +100 @ Intertops
Late withdrawal last week for unknown reasons is sufficient reason to worry, but otherwise Flesch is in a very rich vein of form and did have a top-10 finish last year. If fully fit, a genuine title contender

Tom Lehman to beat Vijay Singh +105 @ WSEX
Vijay did win this event in 1993 & 95 and has been impressive here since, just as Lehman has been, but current form is deadfully poor for such a player

Craig Stadler to beat Gary Nicklaus -120 @ WSEX
Been troubled by sore ribs since sorry playoff loss six weeks ago, but very capable, if fit, of another fine finish. Too many missed cuts for Nicklaus jnr. this year - shouldn't be a threat to the leaderboard

Chris Perry to beat Duffy Waldorf -125 @ Easybets
Consistent improvement for Perry in last four years: 24th in 1996, then 17th, 10th and 3rd last year. Now where does that leave this year! Should finish a whole lot higher than he does, but against Duffy, he should merely have to finish in the top-40 despite last year's victory

Kevin Sutherland to beat Jean van de Velde -125 @ Easybets
Top-20 in three of past four visits and a consistent top-30 finisher this season, should be ample to beat the Frenchman back from a successful stint in Europe but who now has Majors firmly in his mind

1st round update:

Furyk and Flesch both lead Garcia by four, Stadler leads Nicklaus by five, Sutherland and van de Velde are tied at one-over, but Lehmans trails Singh by two and Perry trails Waldorf by three.

No 1st round plays and just one 2nd round play [do like Love to beat Waldorf but odds too short]:

Jesper Parnevik to beat Vijay Singh -115 @ Five Dimes

2nd round update: 1-0 and +1.00 units

Parnevik defeated Singh by one shot despite dropping three in his last three holes. Glad I backed out of the Love bet because of the short odds - he would have lost!

Of the six 72-hole bets, three were decided at the halfway cut. Lehman was a loser, missing the cut by one after some woeful putting; he lost by four to Singh. But Stadler and Sutherland were both early winners as their opponents missed the cut. Stadler defeated Nicklaus by nine, Sutherland defeated van de Velde by two. Of the other three, Furyk leads Garcia by four, Flesch leads Garcia by three and Perry trails Waldorf by just one.

Back in the morning with 3rd round plays

3rd round update:

No 3rd round plays and 72-hole plays rather worse for wear after Garcia's 65. Furyk now trails Garcia by seven after 76 and Flesch trails Garcia by five after 73. In the other play, Perry still trails Waldorf by one, even though he now lies 2nd [behind the leader, Waldorf!]

4th round plays:

Ernie Els to beat David Duval +105 @ Bowmans

Sergio Garcia to beat Steve Lowery -130 @ the Starnet books

Shigeki Maruyama to beat Skip Kendall -125 @ Carib

Chris Perry to beat Skip Kendall -125 @ Moneyplays

Phil Mickelson to beat Duffy Waldorf -120 @ Moneyplays

Final update: 4-1-0 and +3.00 units for the day; 8-4-0 and +3.89 units for the week

The six week slide is finally over! Have lost over 20 units in that time, so this one sweet feeling! Kendall's 4th round frailties were exposed again with an 80 - Perry won by eight, Maruyama won by four. Garcia should have won by more, but still beat Lowery by four, while Mickelson tried to lose the matchup against Duffy, but still couldn't even get that right today - he won by one. Els was the only loser, by three to Duval.

Of the three remaining 72-hole plays, Garcia inflicted two losses with an eleven shot win over Flesch and a twelve shot win over Furyk. Chris Perry was a three shot victor over Duffy Waldorf

Update on outright bets: 0-3 and -3.00 units

Not a very good start to posting these plays! Lehman missed the cut, Faxon was a lowly 68th and Love was out of the picture back in 12th place. Could have been different though, Love had been 2nd after the 1st round.