18-Hole Match Picks - PGA Tour

Tipster: Stanley

Odds: 2-Balls

Odds: 3-Balls

2-2; -3.00pts  (system plays: 15-9-3) 

Round 1 play (2pts):

Jhonattan Vegas to beat Brendan Steele +110 @ The Greek [also available @ 5Dimes, Pinnacle, Carib and WSEX]  WON by 1
All the pressure is on Steele as he ranks 126th in the FedEx Cup standings and only the top-125 after this week progress to the Playoffs. With neither player having played this course, but with Vegas having a 12-6 h2h record aginst Steele over the past 12 months, including winning seven of the last nine and 11-5-2 in the 1st round only, I don't see why he is such a clear underdog in this matchup.

[unofficial rd1 system plays: Howell tb Kirk -105 (L); Garcia tb Schwartzel +106 (T)]

Round 2 play (4pts):

Gary Woodland to beat John Daly -130 @ The Greek and WSEX [also available @ 5Dimes, Pinnacle and Carib]  LOST by 6
It has been good to see Daly playing well again - four top-20 finishes since June, including the PGA Championship, is a huge improvement on his previous form. However, those good finishes have been borne on a fast start: he has been 4th and 6th after the opening round in the last two weeks; in the other top-20 finishes, he had been 7th and 26th after rd1. But today, he starts the 2nd round in 116th place. Since the start of 2008, he has been outside the top-100 after rd1 on 29 occasions and made the cut just once - he still ended up withdrawing from the 2010 Texas Open - On just two of those occasions, has he broken 70 in rd2 from this position, so I can't see it happening today. Woodland is playing well - he ranked 5th and 6th in driving accuracy and greens in regulation yesterday - and looks far more likely to score well today.

[unofficial rd2 system plays: Clark tb Stallings -155 (W); Stenson tb Kirk -120 (V); Cauley tb Ishikawa -125 (W); Watney tb Schwartzel +100 (L); Walker tb Matteson -125 (W); Woodland tb Yang -125 (L)]

Round 3 play (4pts):

Ryuji Imada to beat Russell Knox +100 @ 5Dimes  LOST by 1
Opposing a player who ranks 185th (of 195) in 3rd Round Scoring Average on the PGA Tour - he has broken 70 just once in rd3 on the PGA Tour this year and he has finished the 3rd round higher on the leaderboard just once on the PGA Tour this year. So, it is no surprise that he has yet to shoot a lower 3rd round score than Imada in any 3rd round. Neither player is in contention for the win and neither is in contention to make it to the Playoffs, so I don't see any change in their normal scores today.

[unofficial rd3 system plays: Every tb Matteson +100 (T); Yang tb Overton -105 (L); Haas tb Colsaerts -125 (W); Kelly J tb Villegas +100 (W); Haas tb Clark -120 (T); Appleby tb Cantlay -110 (L); Pernice tb Dunlap -120 (L); Love tb Streelman -105 (W); Garcia tb Clark -110 (W); Snedeker tb Colsaerts -125 (W)]

Round 4 play (4pts):

Carl Pettersson to beat Harris English -138 @ Ladbrokes and Boyle Sports [available generally]  WON by 2
Both players are in 4th place with one round to play, but there are big differences in expectations of these two. English has one top-5 finish in 21 starts this year and the only previous time that he started the final round in the top-5 (Honda Classic), he shot 77 that day. Pettersson, however, has won this event previously (2008) and secured three top-5 finishes in the last five years here, plus he is coming off a 3rd place finish in the PGA Championship and has already won once this season (The Heritage) and finished 2nd on two other occasions.

[unofficial rd4 system plays: Dufner tb Simpson +105 (W); Dufner tb Clark -138 (L); Walker tb English -116 (W); Walker tb Leonard -110 (L); Schwartzel tb Gates -161 (W); Walker tb Stallings -140 (W); Cauley tb English -135 (W); Love tb Every -120 (W); Garcia tb Cauley -110 (W); Claxton tb Lee R -150 (L)]