Senior PGA Championship

A new venue - the first time in twenty years that the event as moved out of Florida - but a fitting course for the oldest major championship in Senior Golf (1937). The Ridgewood Country Club was originally founded in 1890 and has been listed by the USGA as one of first 100 clubs established in the U.S. This is a classical golf course with tree-lined fairways and deep rough. Just as a major should be!

The defending champion is Doug Tewell and he also holds the honor of having won the first major this year, the Countrywide Tradition. His toughest challenge should come from Hale Irwin who has won this event three times in five years, but with his odds still very low despite the doubling of the size of the field, he is passed over. In fact, the fact that 156 players are competing for this title should have little effect on contenders, history has shown that the same old faces appear week-after-week and this event is no different.

The three selections this week are Gil Morgan, Allen Doyle and Dana Quigley. Morgan does not have a particularly impressive record in this event, just one top-10 (3rd in 1998) in his four starts, but he has shown that while he has not won for a couple of months, he is still very competitive at this level and still finishes in a top-5 position in over half of his tournaments. He should at least repeat that this week.

Allen Doyle is one who has yet to win this year, but is the model of consistency. He has finished in the top-10 in 15 of his last 18 tournaments. On a course that requires accuracy over length, his game is ideal and as a former winner of this event (1999), another good week is expected. The same can be said for Dana Quigley who returned to form last week with a 2nd place finish at the TD Waterhouse Championship. Last week he was the defending champion and raised his game on his return to a scene of former glory. This week, the course is different, but the event is one in which he has excelled in recent years: 6th (1998), 5th (1999) and 2nd (2000). Wouldn't mind that trend continuing this year!

Outright plays:

Gil Morgan to win 14/1 e.w. @ Simon Bold

Allen Doyle to win 20/1 e.w. @ Surrey

Dana Quigley to win 50/1 e.w. @ Surrey

72-hole plays:

Allen Doyle to beat Bob Gilder -115 @ Five Dimes [2 units]
Gilder's form has certainly improved over the past month and he has recorded top-10 finishes in his last three events, but Doyle's record of finishing in the top-10 has already been mentioned and that included the first major of the year. As a holder of this title from two years, it would take an extremely high finish to beat Doyle in a matchup

Vicente Fernandez to beat Lanny Wadkins -111 @ Simon Bold [2 units]
Wadkins has been a profitable go-against this year as doubts over his commitment have been raised. He finally secured a top-10 finish two weeks ago - only his 3rd in his Senior PGA carrer - but he faces Fernandez who has been 2nd in two of the last five events and whose career record in this event reads: 3rd, 35th, 6th, 2nd and 6th

Tom Jenkins to beat Jim Holtgrieve -111 @ Simon Bold [3 units]
Jenkins has been a model of consistency of late. He has always been just outside the leaderboard without threatening to secure a top-5 place. He has finished in the top-25 in his last five events and is heavily favored over a player who struggled to finish in the top-half of the field each week

1st round plays:

Vicente Fernandez to beat Lanny Wadkins -160 @ Five Dimes [2 units]

Tom Jenkins to beat Jim Holtgrieve -170 @ Five Dimes

1st round update: 1-0-1 and +2.00 units

Belated update as it is quite farcical that there is no live scoring for the full leaderboard for this event! Not even on the official site [www.pga.com]   No wonder Five Dimes didn't/couldn't put up lines for the 2nd round! For the 1st round, Fernandez beat Wadkins by two shots, while Jenkins and Holtgrieve were as bad as each other and a tie was something neither deserved. In the other play for the 72-hole matchups, Doyle trails Gilder by two, but is very much in contention for the title along with Quigley; they finished the day in the top-10. Morgan didn't play.

Final update: 2-2-1 and +0.48 units for the week

Split the week's matchups as Doyle is edged out by Gilder by a single shot and Fernandez loses to Wadkins by four shots. At least Jenkins secured a nine-shot victory over Holtgrieve in the top play of the week.

Update on outright plays: 1-1 and +1.00 units

Doyle briefly shared the lead at the start of the final round, but thereafter failed to make any impact and finished 4th for a place win. Quigley had faded in the 3rd round and finished 16th.