Originally a Korn Ferry Tour stop the Corales Puntacana R&C Championship is a bit of a mouthful of a title, but it's also another of the PGA Tour’s Caribbean stops that offers players outside the elite a good winning chance – and shrewd punters a decent opportunity too. That’s not to say that this is an easy puzzle to solve but, like the visits to Puerto Rico, Bermuda and Mexico, we have come to notice that a certain breed of player thrives. The track is relatively new, designed by Tom Fazio and built in 2010. It’s wide and the rough isn’t penal, but that doesn’t mean it is a pushover necessarily because wind is a factor, especially on the six holes right by the sea. It’s a par-72 that can stretch to a huge 7,666-yards if the officials so choose; the back nine is over 4,000 yards and has two par-5s at over 600 yards. Last week’s winner Matt Jones said of Corales: “The fairways are pretty wide here so you should have a lot of iron shots out of fairways.” Paul Dunne, the Irishman whose form has dropped off a cliff, but who featured here in the past, said: “It’s one of the widest courses I think we’ll ever play, so a couple loose drives that would normally cost me I can get away with here.” But he also added a key factor: “It’s tricky around the greens, which plays into my strengths.” And Jhonattan Vegas agreed, saying of the greens: “When you go to grasses like this, like Paspalum, that it’s slower and you have the wind, it’s hard to commit mentally to make sure that you hit it hard enough to get it to the hole. So it takes some adjustment.” First PGA Tour winner here Brice Garnett has five top 25 finishes at El Camaleon, his successor Graeme McDowell has three himself including a win, and last year’s winner Hudson Swafford has none but he is 5-for-6 at making the cut there. El Camaleon, like Corales, is blustery, by the sea – and it has those Paspalum greens. Angles to consider 1/ Putting We have no putting data from the two KFT renewals, but in the three since the tournament graduated to the main tour performances on the greens has been important. Garnett and McDowell topped the Putting Averages, Swafford was fifth. The top three finishers in 2018 ranked 1st-19th-6th, in 2019 they were 1st-3rd-6th, and last year 5th-20th-7th. 2/ Form on similar courses El Camaleon is important, but Puerto Rico and Bermuda are similar. Waialae, Sea Island and Harbour Town too. Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Charles Howell III There’s no point pretending he’s a brilliant putter, but he’s very strong on the courses that matter this week. He has 14 top 20s at Waialae, eight at El Camaleon and five at Sea Island (including a win) – and he has gone below a 1.70 Putting Average multiple times at the first two and when winning at the latter. He was also a decent T9th last time out at TPC Sawgrass. Camilo Villegas The Colombian threatened to win at Sea Island last November and was T8th last week at PGA National. He’s got three top 20s at former, five at the latter and three at Harbour Town. Another dodgy putter, but he did dip below 1.70 at Sea Island and El Camaleon in November. Aaron Baddeley Has finished second at Waialae, been a winner at Harbour Town and also finished T7th here. He’s also a brilliant putter, no questions asked. His last two starts are T30th in Puerto Rico (1.67 PA) and T23rd last week in Louisiana. Tips: 0-3; -6.00pts 1pt e.w. Charles Howell III at 30/1 (Bet365 1/4 1,2,3,4,5) 28th 1pt e.w. Camilo Villegas at 80/1 (Unibet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) mc 1pt e.w. Aaron Baddeley at 90/1 (Unibet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) 48th
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