NFL Golf Classic

Course: Upper Montclair Country Club, Clifton, New Jersey
Yardage: 6791
Par: 72  (four par-fives)
USGA Rating: 73.4
Greens: Bentgrass & Poa Annua

GCSAA Tournament Fact Sheet

Weather Forecast

Best Players Last 10 Years

Past Winners:
2001 - John Schroeder
2000 - Lee Trevino
1999 - Allen Doyle
1998 - Bob Dickson
1997 - Bruce Crampton
1996 - Bob Murphy
1995 - George Archer
1994 - Ray Floyd
1993 - Lee Trevino

Outright plays (2 units):

Allen Doyle to win 16/1 e.w. @ Stan James
Kite and Fleisher head the market, but without Irwin, Lietzke or Watson, it is hard to see why Doyle is 16/1. He has played this event three times and finished 1st, 3rd and 2nd. In the pro-am format, particularly with "celebrities", for the first two days, experience of the event should be important. Has been in decent form of late, if still a little shy of last year's achievements.

R.W. Eaks to win 33/1 e.w. @ Surrey
Ignoring event experience and siding with youth! Relatively speaking, of course! Came through Tour School at the end of last year and opened his season with a 7th place finish last week. Also considered Dave Barr for this spot, but Eaks is concentrating solely on this Tour and best to take advantage of the debutants while there is still value. Would have liked to back Hatalsky also, but not at 20/1.

Ray Floyd to win 80/1 e.w. @ Sean Graham  (online at last!) or Stan James (5 places)
Quite a disparity in price on Floyd ... Surrey go 25/1! Floyd's record in this event is surpassed only by Trevino who won this tournament twice and finished in the top-10 in eight of nine attempts. Floyd won this event in 1994, was runner-up in 1993 and 1995, but more importantly has finished in the top-5 in his last two attempts, 1999 and 2001. He has had some decent showings this year, including finishing 21st in the first major of the year, and with event experience of great importance - as shown by Trevino and Floyd - he could secure another top-5 finish.

Final update: 0-3; -6.00 units

Doyle 26th
Eaks 35th
Floyd 30th

Age obviously caught up with Floyd. When in a promising positions he dropped three shots in the last six holes on Saturday and six shots in the last seven holes on Sunday. He finished eleven shots behind the Monday qualifier, James Mason, who won the event. That makes five losing Senior events in a row, which is a surprising and worrying trend.