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The Hero World Challenge, hosted by Tiger Woods, was born in 1999 and has seen four different venues down the years. The current host course is Albany in the Bahamas and this is the fifth straight it’s put the tournament on. Although not an official PGA Tour event, the tournament carries world ranking points and has produced a list of classy winners, the latest being Jon Rahm last year when the Spaniard shot 20-under. As usual, the field is limited to just 18 although the lack of quantity is compensated by quality. Rahm returns to defend while eight of the top 12 in the world rankings make the trip to the Bahamas. In order, that’s Rahm (3), Justin Thomas (5), Patrick Cantlay (6), Tiger Woods (7), Justin Rose (8), Xander Schauffele (9), Webb Simpson (11) and Bryson DeChambeau (12). Winning scores in the four years at Albany show -20, -18, -18 and -25 so, despite the course being exposed to wind, players have to go low. Angles to consider 1/ Par 5 scoring Albany has an extra long hole so the big hitters will be licking their lips at having five par 5s to go at. They come at 3 (572 yards), 6 (595 yards), 9 (603 yards), 11 (589 yards) and 15 (548 yards). All are reachable in two. 2/ Birdie Average With scoring low, bagfuls of birdies are required to keep pace. Last year’s winner, Jon Rahm, made 25 birdies on the way to victory. Rahm had ranked third in Birdie Average in the 2017/2018 season which had just finished. 3/ Current form Quite simply, arriving in the Bahamas in good nick has been a necessity. All of the four winners at Albany had posted a top four finish on their previous start. Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Jon Rahm Last year’s winner may be too hard to stop. The Spanish juggernaut is coming off a superb win in the DP World Tour Championship which landed him the Race to Dubai and he’s nice and fresh after a six-week break before landing the big money last time. Webb Simpson Simpson ranks 1st for Par 5 Scoring in the new 2020 season and 3rd in Birdie Average and if that seems too narrow a sample, he ranked 17th for Par 5s in the previous campaign. It’s his first look at the course but, more importantly, he finished runner-up at the RSM Classic two weeks ago and tied seventh in Vegas before that. Gary Woodland While he didn’t finish in the top four in his latest start (Dunlop Phoenix), Woodland already has a third and a fifth in the new 2020 campaign so is in good nick. Last season he finished fifth for Birdie Average and fourth for Par 5 Scoring Average so his game looks ideal. He finished eighth on his course debut last year. Tips: 0-3; -6.00pts 2pts win Jon Rahm at 4/1 (General) 2nd 1pt each-way Webb Simpson at 12/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power 1/5 1-2-3-4-5) 10th 1pt each-way Gary Woodland at 18/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power 1/5 1-2-3-4-5) 7th
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