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3-9; +18.63pts Pre-tournament plays: BACK to win 20pts Paul Casey 20 11th Casey keeps putting himself into contention, both on the PGA Tour and in previous years on this course, and while his conversion rate is poor for someone at this price, it really should be only a matter of time before he wins again on the PGA Tour Marc Leishman 24 38th In terms of putting himself into contention, no-one can match Leishman at the moment with one win and two very close runs in his last four starts; finishes of 9th and 11th in his last two visits suggest that this course suits the most in-form player in the field Brooks Koepka 26 2nd A good price for the U.S. Open champion. Admittedly, eh finished 40th on his debut last year, but his game has moved to a new level this year and he should be fresh after a break since his last outing in the Presidents Cup Henrik Stenson 30 2nd It has been an even longer break for Stenson who hasn't played since the BMW Championship, but a win in the Wyndham Championship and a 2nd place finish here last year suggest that he could be a serious contender this week Pat Perez 42 24th Making his debut, but in very good form at the moment - his last five finishes read 6th-12th-16th-1st-5th - with these last two finishes in Asia, so ideal preparation for this event Matt Kuchar 42 31st Kuchar prepared for this event by playing in Japan last week so if he can continue his rate of securing top-10 finishes, he should be a contender at some stage this week Francesco Molinari 44 46th Molinari won this event in 2010 and, more recently, finished 6th last year. Another player in good form - 2nd in the PGA Championship, 12th in BMW Championship and 6th last time out in the Italian Open - there are good reasons for his odds to be shorter Adam Scott 50 50th Following the birth of his second child, Scott has had a relatively light schedule recently, but returned to the Tour to finish 25th in the CJ Cup last week. He has plenty of experience on this course nd could be a challenger if the Tour rustiness is not a factor in his second week back Rafa Cabrera Bello 70 5th Cabrera Bello is another who seems to always contend when he plays - he has won on the European Tour and finished 10th and 11th in the last two weeks on the PGA Tour in Asia, so I would expect his price to be much lower during this week LAY 20pts liability Dustin Johnson 9.2 2nd Johnson won here in 2013 and he did win The Northern Trust, but he hasn't been playing like the World #1 for some time and he needs to in order to justify single figure odds for a WGC event Hideki Matsuyama 12.5 50th Matsuyama is the defending champion, winning by seven shots after a masterclass on the greens, but he endured a slump in form after the PGA Championship and while he finished 5th in the CIMB Classic last time out, he never looked comfortable in the pressure of Sunday play Pre-rd3 plays: Justin Rose 13 1st Johnson leads the event by one following his 63 in a round in which he made a lot of putts. Given that he has been trailing different putters and only tried out today's putter 20 minutes before he teed off, it appears unlikely that he will have the same kind of day on the greens tomorrow. With Rose in 3rd and place and in a much more consistent run of form (and therefore confidence in his game) with top-10 finishes in each of his last four starts, he looks to be the player most likely to join Koepka in putting the leader under some pressure over the weekend. No pre-rd4 plays.
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