NEC Invitational

FINAL RESULT: 1-2; +58.88pts

Furyk 22nd
Cink 1st
Riley 43rd

The incredible run continues for another week. Cink was a very impressive wire-to-wire winner and will not be 66/1 for some time yet!

Outright plays (1.5pts):

Jim Furyk to win 40/1 e.w. @ Sportingbet, Sporting Odds and Ladbrokes
Siding with three Ryder Cup players, though only Furyk was assured of a place yesterday morning. He was always going to lack consistency after a long layoff and a missed cut last week is not a problem. He has still posted two top-10 finishes in his last three PGA Tour starts and he does have a particularly good record around Firestone. Against a field that is tired from the PGA Championship, I expect him to have one of his better weeks this week.

Stewart Cink to win 66/1 e.w. @ SIA
Cink's form this year has been deserving of a Ryder Cup place and it would have been a far weaker team had he been left out. He may have been tired from the PGA Championship and the effort to earn enough points to get into the team automatically, but his wildcard selection will surely revitalise him and provide him with further self-confidence, for one week at least. A solid record around Firestone including a final round 63 in 2000 also suggests that he should not be such a large price.

Chris Riley to win 80/1 e.w. @ Bet365, Sportingbet, Sporting Odds, Victor Chandler and Ladbrokes
Riley's bogey on the last hole yesterday cost him a place in the playoff, but any letdown would have been offset by the realisation that he had played himself into the Ryder Cup team when he was very unlikely to be a wildcard selection. So I expect him to play like a Ryder Cup player this week, just as he did last year when he finished 4th around Firestone. Might still find it tough to win in this company, but his self-confidence will have received an enormous boost in the last few days.