Farmers Charity Classic

Only the Senior PGA Tour could have two majors in three weeks! Sandwiched in between the US Senior Open and the Ford Seniors Players Championship is the Farmers Charity Classic, but also a national holiday on the 4th of July. Not exactly a good spot for this event to be moved to on the schedule! Naturally, most of the leading players are not playing this week, with the exception of Larry Nelson who will be defending his title, and two more have withdrawn late in the week: Jim Thorpe and Tom Jenkins. The books have yet to realize this and so there is a little more value than usual.

This is the 7th time that Egypt Valley Country Club has hosted this event, with Dave Stockton being the dominant player in its time here. He may well repeat his form of last year (he finished 2nd), but time is not on his side. The course is fairly open and easy on the front nine with long-hitters holding an advantage, but ponds and bunkers in strategic positions on the back nine force drives to be faded or drawn. That said, it should be a low-scoring event and that will be welcome relief for the players after last week.

The three selections this week are Allen Doyle, Dana Quigley and Walter Hall. Doyle could have won last week had there been a 5th round. He played the best golf from Friday to Sunday, but couldn't quite recover from an opening 78. To finish 4th though was a great achievement and continued his incredible run of form: 16 top-10 finishes from 19 events this year. He only finished 12th last year, but in this form, against this field and with the momentum from Salem, he can finally win his first event of the year here.

Quigley was another of last week's selection to be retained. He played some excellent golf to stay with the leaders until the very last day when the pressure of the major became just too much for his game. He should be heartened by his performance last week though and with a decent course record here, he should once again be a very strong contender for a place finish.

Following Jenkins' withdrawal from the event, Walter Hall gets the 3rd pick berth and is another who is in good form at the moment. He as finished in the top-20 in nine of his last eleven starts, including 2nd at the Las Vegas Senior Classic. He hasn't finished in the top-5 as many times as he should have done, but against one of the weakest fields all year, he should be able to reach that mark. Winning may be another matter though, he has had six 2nd place finishes in his Senior PGA Tour career, but never won.

Outright plays:

Allen Doyle to win 8/1 @ Surrey or Simon Bold

Dana Quigley to win 25/1 e.w. @ Surrey or Simon Bold

Walter Hall to win 50/1 e.w. @ Stan James [5 places option]

Update:

Not too bad shape with one round to go. Hall lies 3rd and just three shots behind the leaders, Quigley is one shot further back in 6th, while the only assured loss is Doyle who is 18th and seven shots out of the lead. Have liked nothing from Five Dimes' offerings so far this week until now. The odds might be ugly, but I like these plays.

3rd round plays:

Larry Nelson to beat Bob Gilder -180 @ Five Dimes

Allen Doyle to beat Rodger Davis -150 @ Five Dimes [3 units]

Final update: 2-0-0 and +4.00 units

Ugly odds, but two easy wins. Nelson beat Gilder by five and Doyle beat Davis by four. No other plays on the week, so a small sweep at least

Update on outright plays: 2-1 and +6.13 units

Nice to reach double-figure profits on the week, but would have been nice if Nelson hadn't beaten Gilder by so many! He won the tournament and finished two ahead of Quigley and Hall who were both 3rd. They were the sole leaders after half-a-dozen holes, but not when it mattered. Still a decent return on the week even though Doyle's charge last week seems to have taken more out of him than I thought. He finished 16th.