FINAL RESULT: 2-1; +13.88pts

Scott 1st
Goosen 4th
Pampling 14th

Very impressive performance by Scott to win this event at ease. Finishing the PGA Tour season on a high will certainly help during the long off-season!

Outright plays (total stake per play: 1.5pts)

Adam Scott to win 14/1 e.w. available generally
With just 27 players in the field and no Tiger or Mickelson, the odds are not going to be particularly large on any player this week, but Scott is certainly playing well enough to join the list of recent champions at East Lake, which includes Mickelson, Singh and Goosen. Driving accuracy is not important this week, rather it is good iron play that will decide the winner around this par-70 track and that was the hallmark of those past champions. Scott did miss the cut last week, but that will be of little concern and he had finished 1st and 2nd in his previous two starts. In terms of course form, he finished 7th last year, but that was after an opening 73 left him in 26th place. From that point onwards, no-one shot a lower score than Scott around the East Lake course and that is a good pointer to his return to the course this week.

Retief Goosen to win 16/1 e.w. available generally
Did consider Singh, a fellow former winner on this course, but Goosen at 16s offers better value than Vijay at 10/1. Like Scott, he missed the cut last week  in his first Tour event in the U.S. in over a month so it is not a concern and, like Scott, he had won and finished 2nd recently. He has overcome the swing problems that he had earlier in the season and then there is his East Lake and Georgia record to consider. He has played here on three occasions, finishing 9th, 1st and 4th and has played in Georgia four times in the last eighteen months, finishing 4th or better on every occasion.

Rod Pampling to win 50/1 e.w. available generally
For these Southern Hemisphere players, their playing schedules extend far beyond this week and that means proper Tour events, not just invitational-only, "silly season" ones. And so their schedules have been much lighter over the last month or so for all three selections and for Pampling, that means that he has played just twice since the Bridgestone Invitational in the last week of August. Such freshness will be important this week and he clearly showed last week that he has shaken off any competitive rustiness by shooting the low round of the day on Sunday to finish 6th. He is making his debut in this event, but having finished 5th and 16th in his last two starts in Georgia and in the top-10 in seven of his last 25 starts in the neighbouring States of Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, he can clearly play well in this region.