Air Canada Championship

Formerly the Vancouver Open, this has been blighted by scheduling problems since its inaugural event in 1996. For the first three years it coincided with the NEC World Series of Golf and since then it has been played the week after the WGC-NEC Invitational; a time when most of the leading players are looking for a week off, especially in Ryder Cup year! Mark Calcavecchia has been a regular at Northview, but is absent this week. The list of winners is hardly inspiring either: Guy Boros, Brandel Chamblee and Rory Sabbatini, though Calc did win this event in 1997 when a shadow of this year's player and home favorite Mike Weir did make the event a memorable one two years ago. It was enough for him to be proclaimed the 'Canadian Tiger', though he has yet to really live up to that billing.

The course has undergone some significant changes since the 1999 event: 252 yards were added though it is still very short by Tour standards at 7,065 yards. To compensate, the rough was more than doubled in acreage and the formerly large, undulating Bentgrass greens were reduced to be well below the Tour average. The effect was a quarter-shot increase in the scoring average though it may have had as much to do with the weather. The course is built on blue-clay and when it receives heavy rainfall, the surface really compacts and the long-hitters hold the advantage. In turn, when it starts to dry down with sunny and windy conditions, the fairways and greens roll very quickly and the good putters hold the advantage. Such a contrast is clear from the course compatibility table. With the recent wet weather in the area, it should be a week for the long-hitters.

The three selections this week are Jesper Parnevik, Charles Howell and Steve Lowery. Parnevik heads the market with Weir and they are by far the highest-ranked entrants in the World Rankings - Lowery is the next highest at 40th - but Parnevik is playing the better golf at the moment. He does not have the burden of home expectation and can play freely in the knowledge that he will be in the Ryder Cup no matter what happens in Germany this week. The halfway leader last year, he should have a better weekend this year and profit from a weak field.

Charles Howell's prodigious length should be of benefit if the long-hitters are favored this week. He has finished in the top-25 of each of his last six Tour events and was in excellent position to secure his maiden win last week at the Reno-Tahoe Open. He had an indifferent final round to finish 4th, but as Calc is the only winner of this event to have won before, history suggests this could certainly be the week that Howell secures that maiden Tour win.

Despite Scott McCarron's length advantage, Steve Lowery gets the third berth on account of his current form. Ignoring the made-for-TV International, Lowery's last three Tour finishes have been 10th (GMO), 15th (John Deere) and 3rd (PGA Championship). Two years ago he was struggling to retain his card, now he is the 3rd-highest ranked player in this field. With decent course form - 10th and 13th the last two years - and confidence higher than it has been since 1994, he looks to have a decent shot at this title.

Outright plays:

Jesper Parnevik to win 14/1 e.w. @ BetSmart

Charles Howell to win 18/1 e.w. @ Sports.com  [17/1 @ Olympic]

Steve Lowery to win 28/1 e.w. @ Olympic

72-hole plays:

Jim Carter to beat Brandel Chamblee +100 @ Camelot
Chamblee may be a former winner here (1998), but he has missed the cut on his two other visits and missed the cut by quite a distance last week. One to oppose with the consistent Carter who has missed just two cuts in his last fourteen events

K.J. Choi to beat David Gossett -110 @ VIP Sports [2 units]
Choi has played well in the past month - 5th in the GMO and with the leaders in the PGA Championship for two rounds - he missed the cut by one shot after shooting 76-67 last week. With a top-10 finish on this course last year, he looks a decent bet to beat Gossett who has missed the cut in the two events since winning the John Deere Classic and also missed the cut on this course last year

Bryce Molder to beat David Gossett -115 @ Camelot [3 units]
Quite an impressive display last week from Molder. Showed few signs of nerves to finish 3rd and that follows an equally impressive 30th in the US Open. Should be a contender this week and easily defeat the opposable Gossett

Luke Donald to beat Jeff Quinney +100 @ Camelot
Donald missed the cut by two shots in his debut event as a pro last week. It was always going to be difficult following the win at Sea Island, but he did improve on his 1st round score by six shots and should be a much better prospect to make the cut this week. If Quinney makes the cut, it will be the first time in seven Tour events

Joel Edwards to beat Rory Sabbatini +105 @ Sportfanatik [2 units]
It has been a difficult year for Sabbatini since finishing 2nd in the season-opening Mercedes Championship. A 5th place at the Western Open is his only top-25 finish of the year and like Chamblee, when not winning this championship he has missed the cut. Edwards was a solid 19th last week and shouldn't need to repeat that to win this match

Andrew Magee to beat Gary Nicklaus -120 @ Camelot
Ugly matchup that should be decided before the weekend. Magee has missed five of his last six cuts, while Nicklaus has a best of 61st in his last nine events. It may seem a long time ago, but Magee finished 2nd and 10th on this course in 1996 and 1997 and together with his extra length off the tee, it is enough for him to get the nod in this match

Mid-point update:

Three plays are decided at the cut and only one is a winner. Donald beat Quinney by shot, but Molder lost by eight to Gossett and Magee dropped 3 shots in the last 4 holes to miss the cut by one and lose to Nicklaus by one. The standings in the rest: Carter/Chamblee 1 down; Choi/Gossett 6 down; Edwards/Sabbatini 5 up. Not much comfort from the outrights either. Parnevik and Lowery lie six shots back in 18th, while Howell is down in 60th place.

Final update: 3-3-0 and -2.75 units

A much better weekend, but still a loss on the matchups as the 3-unit play loses and the 2-unit plays are split. Carter beat Chamblee by eight shots and Edwards won the event on the way to beating Sabbatini by fourteen shots, but Choi lost to Gossett by eight.

Update on outright plays: 1-2 and +1.00 units

Great comeback from Lowery after his opening 73 to finish 2nd   Covered some of the losses from the heavily-backed matchups and the poor performances from the other outright picks. Parnevik finished 19th and Howell 43rd.