Mercedes Championships

FINAL RESULT: 0-4; -6.00pts

Goosen 13th
Toms 8th
Byrd 13th
Garcia 10th

No-one really in with a shout. Byrd had been the highest placed when he was 2nd before finishing six-six in the first round, while the last play certainly put the hex on Garcia!

Further outright play (1.5pts):

Sergio Garcia to win 14/1 e.w. @ Coral and BetFred  * PRICE UPDATE: 16/1 now available at BetDirect *
In the six years that the Mercedes Championship has been played at the Plantation Course at Kapalua, the winner has been 1^st or 2^nd after 36 holes on all but one occasion. Low scores may be the norm around this course, but it doesn’t mean that catch-up is easier than elsewhere. The only exception to the above trend was in 2002 when Sergio Garcia was 18^th and seven shots out of the lead after 36 holes, but caught David Toms and beat him in a playoff. The way that Sergio is playing at the moment, he can certainly climb from 4^th and make up the difference of four shots on Vijay Singh. Alongside Els, it is Sergio Garcia who tops the greens in regulation stats. They have missed only two of 36 greens and with only a slight improvement in their putting stats would have been in the final pairing today. Garcia’s sole bogey in the tournament was courtesy of a 3-putt yesterday when he missed from inside 3-feet. His overall game is very impressive and particularly so as he has new clubs in his bag. He can at least draw on his 2002 win to believe that he is not merely fighting for the place finishes.

Outright plays (1.5pts):

Retief Goosen to win 11/1 e.w. @ Tote
Won the last tournament of the 2004 PGA Tour season and should have a good chance of winning the first one of 2005. He has a good record on Bermuda greens, ranked 1st in three-putt avoidance last year which should be relevant as the greens on the Plantation course are enormous and ranked 2nd in par-5 scoring which is commonly seen as important around this course. So no surprise that he has finished 4th in each of the last two years here and well-rested, he does look a very strong contender this week.

David Toms to win 30/1 e.w. @ GolfingGods
The next two selections are nowhere near as consistent, but have both shown that they can play well on this course and on these greens. The Louisiana resident should put a good record on Bermuda greens to his advantage this week. He has done in finishing 8th and 2nd in his last two appearances and after his injury-plagued first half of 2004, he did finish the season in much more consistent form with top-10 finishes in his last three starts and top-25 finishes in his last eight starts. With course experience so important this week and a large number of event rookies on view, these look generous odds for this type of player.

Jonathan Byrd to finish in the top-four 25/1 @ GolfingGods
Byrd can also compete on Bermuda greens and the first of his two Tour wins was on these greens in Georgia. He is very much a player who can blow hot as well as cold, but he did have two top-10 finishes at the end of last season, including 3rd in the 84 Lumber Classic, and he did close with a 10-under-par 63 to finish 6th on his previous appearance two years ago. That experience is very important this week and these odds really are too high for a place finish.