Booz Allen Classic

(Please note: Andy is on holiday and will be back for The Open at Royal Troon)

72-hole plays - Final update: 2-2; -0.53pts

Durant/Cox WON by 5
Leonard/Daly LOST by 4
Van Pelt/Gay WON by 7
Stankowski/Slocum LOST by 6

All plays decided at the cut. Pity as Daly shot 76-77 over the weekend so there would have been a good chance of victory if Leonard had made the cut.

Further 72-hole plays (1.5pts):

Bo Van Pelt to beat Brian Gay -105 @ Carib
Gay may have the better course history, but they are playing at two different levels at the moment. Van Pelt has finished ahead of Gay in their last four common events and leads him 8-3-0 h2h in 2004 as a whole. In the relatively unimportant category - for this week because of the small greens - of putting, Gay has the edge over Van Pelt, but there is a big difference elsewhere. Van Pelt ranks 10th in total driving; Gay is 153rd. Van Pelts ranks 23rd in greens in regulation; Gay is 151st. Van Pelt is a totally different player this year and should finish near the leaderboard.
(also available at Aces)

Paul Stankowski to beat Heath Slocum -115 @ Five Dimes
Not too many cuts between these players recently, but Stankowski certainly has the edge. He has finished ahead of his opponent in four out of their last five common events and at least he has made cuts around Avenel with two top-15 finishes in his last five visits. As with the previous match, the selection leads his opponent in all the important core stats.

Round One Matches: 1-3; Loss = 1.9pts

Tim Herron to beat Tom Scherrer and Brent Geiberger @ 2.1 Hills WON
Anything above 2.0 is value here and Hills have obliged. A low price but a big gap in quality.

Tim Clark to beat Pat Perez and Pat Bates @ 2.25 BlueSq LOST
Clark is as low as 1.90 with Corals and a fair reflection on his current form. 2.25 is an adventurous quote.

S McCarron over Mike Heinen and Brian Gay @ 2.62 SkyBet LOST
Flip-flop favourites where some have McCarron as the jolly but Skybet have got this wrong and put Gay fav.

K Jones to beat B Mayfair and Tom Byrum @ 3.25 Victor Chandler LOST
Big price on what is virtually a take-your-pick 3 ball. Mayfair has last week to recover from and possibly shouldn't be favourite.

72-hole plays (1.5pts):

Joe Durant to beat Kris Cox -111 @ SIA
This is a short, tight course with small greens so the driving accuracy and greens in regulations are important this week and there is quite a difference between these two players. While Durant lies 5th and 2nd in these categories on Tour, Cox lies 154th and 126th. Add in the fact that Cox has not played this course and Durant finished 2nd last year and this should be a win for Durant.

Justin Leonard to beat John Daly -120 @ Bet365
It is amazing to think that Daly is ranked 2nd in All-Round Ranking on the Tour, but he is still being opposed anyway. They are in comparable current form, but there is a huge difference between them on this course. Leonard won this event in 1997 and has had four top-5 finishes in eight visits, while Daly has missed four of his last five cuts here. The rest of his game has improved enormously this year, but he is still wild off the tee and that will be penalised around Avenel.