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After weather trouble delayed the finish of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, players will hopefully get a better deal in a traditionally sunnier part of California, Pacific Palisades near Los Angeles. That said, there’s some rain forecast for Thursday’s opener and temperatures are definitely on the cool side. First played in 1926, the tournament once again marks the end of this year’s West Coast Swing before the tour heads to the different grasses of Florida. Host course Riviera has staged the event 56 times previously and, barring 1998, every year since 1984. There are several quirks and trends here. The 7,322-yard par 71, designed by George Thomas, has Kikuyu grass which leads to balls sitting up in the fairways but getting grabbed harder than usual in the rough. The greens are bentgrass and much smaller than average, the sixth hole has a bunker in the middle of it and players will often go for the green at the short par-4 10th. International players (South African, Australia and Canada) won six of the eight editions from 1999 to 2006 but home American players have taken the trophy home in 11 of the last 12 years. Also, it’s an event which both Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus have failed to win. Tiger will aim to put that right this week as he makes just his second start of 2019. Angles to consider 1/ Augusta form Starting from 1992, Fred Couples, Craig Stadler, Nick Faldo, Mike Weir, Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson have all both won this tournament and the US Masters. Mickelson (2008 and 2009) and Watson (2014, 2016 and 2018) are multiple winners here and also multiple winners of the Masters so the links are strong. There are numerous examples of players having near-misses at both so the correlations are strong. Both are tree-lined course which require shot-making. 2/ Greens In Regulation The greens at Riviera are hard to hit. Even harder to find when playing from a long way back so that might explain while power players have done well. If they miss the fairways, they have a shorter iron in and thus are still able to find the dancefloor. Four of the last five winners have ranked in the top seven for GIR. 3/ Scrambling When players do miss the putting surfaces, getting up and down is vital. Every winner starting from 2010 has finished in the top 20 in Scrambling for the week and a couple of those - Aaron Baddeley (2010) and Bill Haas (2011) - ranked 1st in that category for the week. Last year, the two runners-up (Tony Finau and Kevin Na) both ranked in the top five for Scrambling whilst top-rated Cameron Smith took T6. Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Jordan Spieth While Bubba is tempting, his record here when defending is very different to when he isn’t. So, let’s go for another modern-day Augusta National master in the form of Jordan Spieth. The American has a ridiculously good record at The Masters – 2-1-2-11-3 – and a promising one here too with a fourth, ninth, 12th and 22nd in his six starts. He’s still struggling to put four rounds together but it’s coming - fifth at halfway at Pebble and T18 after 36 holes at Torrey Pines despite going on to finish T45 and T35 respectively. This could be the week where it all clicks. Charles Howell III Charles Howell has ranked 1st for Greens In Regulation in his last two events despite only finishing T20 at Torrey Pines and T34 at the Farmers Insurance Open. He was also 1st for GIR at the RSM Classic in November and, on that occasion, it helped him to the title. That was his first win since…. this very event in 2007. Also runner-up in his early days at Riviera, Howell was T15 two years ago so has plenty of excellent memories here. His strong GIR stats and T8 in the Sony Open last month suggest Howell III can have a big week. Xander Schauffele Looking at the latest Scrambling figures in the player stats and Xander Schauffele’s short game is superb. He ranked 1st for Scrambling at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, third at Torrey Pines and eighth at the Sentry TOC. He won the latter event and took T25 and T10 in the other two. The American was also 1st for Scrambling in the HSBC in China, going on to win that tournament and claim his first WGC title. That should stand him in good stead at Riviera and tied ninth there on debut last year points to a title challenge this week. Tips 1-2; +2.10pts 1pt e.w. Jordan Spieth at 28/1 (Unibet 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6) 51st 1pt e.w. Charles Howell III at 66/1 (Boylesports, Coral 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7) 6th 1pt e.w. Xander Schauffele at 25/1 (Ladbrokes 1/4 1-2-3-4-5) 15th
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