Farmers Charity Classic

Course: Egypt Valley Country Club, Ada, Michigan
Yardage: 6960
Par: 72  (four par-fives)
USGA Rating: 74.1
Greens: Bentgrass & Poa Annua

GCSAA Tournament Fact Sheet

Weather Forecast

Best Players Last 10 Years

Past Winners:
2001 - Larry Nelson
2000 - Larry Nelson
1999 - Christy O'Conner, Jr.
1998 - George Archer
1997 - Gil Morgan
1996 - Dave Stockton, Sr.
1995 - Jimmy Powell
1994 - Tony Jacklin
1993 - George Archer
1992 - Gibby Gilbert, Sr.

Outright plays (2 units):

Larry Nelson to win 14/1 e.w. @ Stan James
No Irwin, Watson, Kite, Lietzke or Fleisher and the odds look very short this week. One exception though is Stan James' offering for Nelson; at least double the odds elsewhere. Has won this event for the last two years and has finished 3rd and 2nd in his last two events, the latter time as a 20/1 selection and with the last round cancelled because of bad weather. That makes two events out of four that I have backed the defending champion. Not usually a good play, but the fields in the Seniors and LPGA events are particularly thin this week.

Jim Thorpe to win 14/1 e.w. @ Bet365
I must be a very forgiving person to back Thorpe again. Four weeks ago he defeated Jacobs - an unofficial 66/1 selection - in a playoff to win the Tradition and last week, as a 20/1 selection, he lost his game completely on Sunday when he had been leading the event. With top-3 finishes on both his previous starts on this course, I'll give him another chance.

Sammy Rachels to win 28/1 e.w. @ Surrey
Three weeks too late for backing Rachels - he won Bruno's Memorial Classic at 125/1 that week - but he finished in the top-10 the following week and stands a decent chance against this field. A poor performance on this course last week, but he was not in the best of form at the time. A good price for a player who won twice in his debut year and has won once already this season.

Final update: 1-2; -3.00 units

Nelson 19th
Thorpe 4th
Rachels 7th

Thorpe never got any momentum during the final round and had to settle for a share of 4th place with 2 others. Nelson was never in the tournament and nor was Rachels until a closing 64 which left him one shot out of the place money.