13-2; +8.94pts Pre-tournament plays: Dustin Johnson 12.5 18th Si-Woo Kim 90 mc Brooks Koepka 36 70th Tony Finau 200 12th Brandt Snedeker 50 48th David Lingmerth 170 mc Johnson missed the cut by seven shots in his last outing and that was four weeks ago, so this price looks rather short given that performance and the time away from the Tour Kim does have the form, having won last week, but it is extremely difficult to win back-to-back events and even moreso for someone makng their first event on the PGA Tour and against such a high quality field Koepka has managed a couple of top-10 finishes since he withdrew from the Bridgestone Invitational with an ankle injury, but he was clearly in discomfort in those events and hasn't played for three weeks, so looks opposable at these odds and against this field With just one top-10 finish this year and no previous experience on this course, it is easy to oppose Finau even at these odds There has been some signs of improved form in Snedeker's game over the last month, but he has struggled to find the form that saw him finish 3rd-2nd-1st in his first three starts of 2016; I'd price him a little higher than this Lingmerth won the Memorial Tournament last year, but has rarely looked like repeating the feat, but is one to oppose at this stage of the event. Pre-rd3 plays: BACK 1pt Rickie Fowler 8 7th Reed has finished outside the top-10 in the last two occasions that he has been in the lead after rd2, so 2nd-placed Fowler is in the best position to take advantage; being on the bubble for the Ryder Cup has certainly focused his game and as a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, he has proven that he can handle the added pressure. LAY 20pts Jordan Spieth 8.6 10th Sean O'Hair 95 2nd Jason Day 7 4th Ricky Barnes 120 53rd Billy Horschel 160 13th The odds on Spieth are far too short for a player four shots off the pace and ranked 54th in greens in regulation of the 79 who made the cut O'Hair is alongside Spieth, but given that his best finish this season is 10th, he needs a very good week just to make it to the next Playoff event And another four shots off the lead in 5th place, Day is the defending champion, but that was on a different course and he has been extremely fortunate not to be more punished for his errant driving; this suggests that these odds are too short Barnes is a shot further back in 10th place and has shown some form with a couple of 5th place finishes over the last month, but, like Spieth, he has struggled to find the greens this week so will need to play much better if he is to record another top-5 finish Horschel is much further back in 26th place, so I would have expected much larger odds, this he has at least made the cut in this event for the first time Pre-rd4 plays: BACK 1pt Adam Scott 6.4 4th Adding Scott to the portfolio with Fowler now taking a one-shot lead heading into the final round. With Reed falling back to 2nd place, Scott is in solo 3rd place and it the next challenger to Fowler, so it seems sensible to hedge with such a player in close contention LAY 20pts liability Emiliano Grillo 18 2nd Jason Kokrak 160 7th Grillo is three shots back in 4th place and has been in good form recently with plenty of top-15 finishes, but his sole PGA Tour win came in the Frys.com Open against a much weaker field so another winless, but high finish, looks likely for the Argentinean Kokrak is five shots back in 10th place and has been in poor form recently - no top-25 finish in over four months - so this has been a much better event than expected and I don't see either the form or the experience here to reach the summit in such a strong event |
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