SAS Championship

Outright plays (2 units):

Gil Morgan to win 14/1 e.w. @ Stan James
Morgan has become a very streaky player over the past few seasons and with one win and two runners-up finishes in his last four events, he is clearly in the middle of another burst of form and these haven't necessarily ended once the win has been attained. He has good course form, including 2nd last year, and should be somewhere near the top of the leaderboard on Sunday.

Tom Purtzer to win 25/1 e.w. @ Centrebet and Stan James
Purtzer was a shot further back in 5th place last year and should certainly expect to repeat that feat this year. He has finished outside the top-10 only once in his last six events (16th at the Tradition) and has been in contention at some stage in all of those weeks. Plus, I'm giving him another chance because he still owes me for throwing away the championship on the penultimate hole at the 3M Championship!

D.A. Weibring to win 28/1 e.w. @ William Hill
Weibring has also become a semi-permanent fixture here as he continues to attract decent odds while still a winless Tour rookie. That means he has yet to play this course, but having, like Purtzer, finished in the top-10 in five of his last six starts, he has shown he can compete at this level despite the weekly lack of course experience.

Matchup plays (2 units):

Isao Aoki to beat Eamonn Darcy -115 @ Five Dimes
Better form and course experience. Aoki has finished in the top-20 in each of his last three events, while Darcy has finished outside the top-30 in his last three. Aoki has finished 11th and 12th in the last two years here, while Darcy has yet to play the course. Straightforward selection.

Graham Marsh to beat Walter Hall -115 @ Five Dimes
Marsh's form has improved considerably over the past couple of months with top-25 finishes in each of his last five starts and three top-10s in his last seven. Even though Hall did finish 7th last week, he hasn't been able to match that form and so the Australian who has a 7-2-0 h2h lead over the past three months is selected for the matchup plays again.

Gil Morgan to beat Tom Kite -115 @ Centrebet
Kite's form has always improved recently with four top-5 finishes in his last seven starts, but it still does not compare to Morgan who has finished 1st or 2nd in three of his last four starts and was 2nd last year. Kite didn't play here in 2002, but when he did in 2001, he still finished ten places behind Morgan. Backing the outright selection again.
(also available at Five Dimes)

1st round plays (2 units unless stated):

Bruce Lietzke to beat Hale Irwin -115 @ Five Dimes
Isao Aoki to beat Eamonn Darcy -115 @ Five Dimes [4 units]

1st round update: 0-2-0; -6.90 units

Lietzke/Irwin LOST by 1
Aoki/Darcy LOST by 6

2nd round plays (2 units unless stated):

Bobby Wadkins to beat Eamonn Darcy -108 @ Five Dimes [4 units]
Bruce Fleisher to beat Doug Tewell -120 @ Five Dimes [4 units]
Don Pooley to beat Fuzzy Zoeller -115 @ Five Dimes
Bruce Lietzke to beat Larry Nelson -125 @ Five Dimes [6 units]
Gil Morgan to beat Craig Stadler -115 @ Five Dimes [4 units]
Allen Doyle to beat Bob Gilder -120 @ Five Dimes [4 units]
Isao Aoki to beat Ed Dougherty -125 @ Five Dimes [4 units]

2nd round update: 3-3-1; -7.10 units

Wadkins/Darcy WON by 3
Fleisher/Tewell TIED (Push)
Pooley/Zoeller WON by 3
Lietzke/Nelson LOST by 2
Morgan/Stadler LOST by 1
Doyle/Gilder WON by 8
Aoki/Dougherty LOST by 1

3rd round play (2 units):

Tom Purtzer to beat Fuzzy Zoeller -127 @ Five Dimes

3rd round update: 0-0-1; +0.00 units

Purtzer/Zoeller TIED (Push)

Final update:

Matchups: 0-3-0; -6.90 units

Aoki/Darcy LOST by 8
Marsh/Hall LOST by 4
Morgan/Kite LOST by 9

18-holes: 3-5-2; -14.00 units

Outrights: 1-2; +31.00 units

Stupid game! A week after going 8-0-0 on the 18-hole plays on this Tour for 20 units profit, I give it all back in one event on the matchup and the 18-hole plays. And after a year of struggling to find a top-5 finisher on this Tour, I get a winner who appeared time and again to be out of contention while suffering from flu. It saves what was a very poor week!