Golf: PGA Tour 2011 - Franklin Templeton Shootout

[Dougal]

Re: Golf: PGA Tour 2011 - World Cup & Australian PGA Championship World Cup - Wales e/w - 33/1 William Hill The Welsh team is Rhys Davies and Jamie Donaldson, I think they make a good pairing that complement each other well. Donaldson is an excellent ball striker who finished on the winning side in the Seve Trophy a couple of months ago, that experience of foursomes and betterball should stand him in good stead. He hasn't won this year but he has been very consistent and he tends to get a lot of birdies. Partner Rhys Davies has had a quiet year but came nicely into form with a top 5 finish in Malaysia last week. He's one of the very best on tour with the flat stick and if he can get his putter hot this week then he could take the Welsh team close.

[kevshat]

Re: Golf: PGA Tour 2011 - World Cup & Australian PGA Championship I'll take a couple in the World Cup and have a couple for first round leader too. 2pts ew South Africa to win World Cup 11/2 Stan James (1/4 1-4) I really like South Africa's chances this week and for me they should be favourites for the event when you consider that McDowell has been good round, bad round for a while now. Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen are both major champions and know how to get it done when things get tight and in Schwartzel's case he comes into this off the back of the Presidents Cup where he's been playing fourballs and foursomes for three days. I think these two will link up perfectly well. It's well known that they are good friends and hitting the ball straight and putting are the strengths of both so I fully expect them to perform well in both facets of the game. I look down the list of runners and I don't see another pairing as strong as these two should be in foursomes and I think that could well be the difference this week. At 11/2 South Africa are my main bet of the week. 1pt ew Scotland to win World Cup 28/1 Sportingbet (1/4 1-4) Scotland could just be the ones at a medium price to go well this week. Martin Laird hits the ball a fair distance while Stephen Gallacher has a solid game so I fully expect the Scottish pairing to be competitive over the four days. When they play the better ball rounds Laird will be able to attack the course which will really help and like the South Africans, in the foursomes I would expect these two to keep the ball in play almost all of the time and with their quality on the greens I would expect them to bring some birdies to the party in foursomes. There might be one or two nations just that bit stronger than Scotland but I don't think they'll be too far away when the week is concluded. 1pt ew Sweden First Round Leader 14/1 Stan James (1/4 1-4) The opening round of the tournament is fourballs or better ball as it's commonly known so we can expect to see lots of birdies in this format. In fact there was a 59 in better ball last time this event was staged so we will see some low scoring. There looks like there are plenty of birdies in this Sweden side with Robert Karlsson one of the better players in the game when it all comes together and Alexander Noren both confident and lengthy. Karlsson has previous history when it comes to winning this event so he will know what it takes in the better ball golf and I expect this Swedish side to provide us with a lot of birdies and they look good value to take the lead after the opening round. 1pt ew Spain First Round Leader 16/1 Stan James (1/4 1-4) If a side is going to have birdies in it, it has to be this Spanish side. Miguel is about as experienced as they come in the better ball format and he'll keep everything together and produce birdies of his own but if Quiros goes well then as a pair they could rip this course apart. Quiros' length will give him a lot of birdie chances while Miguel's aggressive nature will see him go after the pins he needs to go after. As long as Jimenez ensures he's in each hole then Quiros can really attack and so I expect Spain to go low in this format as well. At 16/1 they look a decent enough bet for first round leader too.

[kevshat]

Re: Golf: PGA Tour 2011 - World Cup & Australian PGA Championship Just the one match bet for me in the opening round. 4pts USA to beat Netherlands 4/5 Stan James Match tees off at 01.15 GMT. I quite like this American pairing and if their outright or indeed first round leader odds were a bit higher I might well have found myself taking them in that market but they're not so I'm going in this one instead. Matt Kuchar is an extremely good player to have in a format like this. Not only is he a fantastic matchplayer in his own right but his game is so solid that the USA are always going to have a ball in play and that can release the big hitting Gary Woodland to cut loose and give the USA side even more birdie chances. With the strokeplay scoring system involved in this event it's absolutely vital to keep bogeys and bigger off the card and the USA will do that with Kuchar and then between the two of them it's about making as many birdies as possible. The Dutch side have the in form Joost Luiten in their ranks but Robert Jan Derksen isn't in much form and pulled out of the Singapore Open after the first round so could have fitness issues which won't be helpful. Given Derksen's form it could be that Luiten needs to play a bit more cautious than he would like in a better ball format to make sure he keeps the bogeys and worse off the card. With Woodland having the back up of Kuchar I'm confident that the USA side will shoot a lower score than the Dutch in the opening round.

[Aidymac]

Re: Golf: PGA Tour 2011 - World Cup & Australian PGA Championship

Steven Bowditch I think this man has a good chance this weekend in the Australian PGA. He has had some decent finishes this season without winning, and in a field like this on home soil, he should be good for an extra few shots. He has had a few Top 20's this season, 18th in the Greenbrier, 18th in The Viking, 16th in the Miracle Childrens Hospital Classic, 16th in the Crowne Plaze and 9th at Pebble Beach, you should see this guy use the driver off the tee, he hits it an absolute mile, and his driving average is a staggering 308 yards, although his accuracy has often let him down! It all comes down to the tee-off with this guy, if he can hit a straight ball off the tee he has a major chance this weekend, if he strays into the rough, he is not the best scrambler in the world so he has to hit them fairways, and if he does he has a big chance on his home turf! He did win last season also! E/W @ 70/1 Betfred - 1/4 odds 5 places

Well an impressive start, he had 8 birdies and 2 bogeys! His putting was all over the place in the first 3 holes, as he 3-putted two of the first 3 greens but he quickly got his act together and finished with a flourish, birdieing the 17th and 18th. His driver is on song, which is vital and the key to him, his short game is poor as expected but if he keeps up playing like he is playing he will be in with a squeak on the final day, currently Tied for 1st on -6 after Round 1!

[kevshat]

Re: Golf: PGA Tour 2011 - World Cup & Australian PGA Championship That was pretty annoying with a USA bogey as well as a birdie on the tough 18th from the Dutch denying me the match bet. You really shouldn't make a bogey in better ball golf :@. Then Spain finished one shot off a place in the first round leader market too which has left me -8pts overall. Scotland are in a tidy position for me though and I'm hoping in the rain they can play well today too. One bet for the foursomes. 3pts Denmark to beat USA 9/4 Coral Match tees off at 03.26 GMT. I watched a lot of USA's round on Thursday having had a bet on them and I wasn't overly impressed with what I saw really. Kuchar wasn't at his best and while his ball was always in play he didn't threaten birdies too much which at the end of the day in team golf is the name of the game. Gary Woodland bombed his tee shots as you would expect but for the most part, considering the clubs he used with his approach shots, there weren't many that were that close to the pins or certainly not as close as you would expect them to be. Denmark have a couple of very capable golfers particularly in this format in Anders Hansen and Thorbjorn Olesen. Hansen hardly ever puts his ball in awkward positions while Olesen is playing good golf and keeps the ball in play as well. The Danes looked solid with their irons yesterday as you would expect and I fancy them to give themselves a lot of good birdie chances. They may lack a bit in the length department but in accuracy they certainly make up for it and if the Americans are as slack in their approaches on Friday as they were on Thursday I would expect the Danes to shoot a lower round in the opening foursomes round.

[Aidymac]

Re: Golf: PGA Tour 2011 - World Cup & Australian PGA Championship

Steven Bowditch I think this man has a good chance this weekend in the Australian PGA. He has had some decent finishes this season without winning, and in a field like this on home soil, he should be good for an extra few shots. He has had a few Top 20's this season, 18th in the Greenbrier, 18th in The Viking, 16th in the Miracle Childrens Hospital Classic, 16th in the Crowne Plaze and 9th at Pebble Beach, you should see this guy use the driver off the tee, he hits it an absolute mile, and his driving average is a staggering 308 yards, although his accuracy has often let him down! It all comes down to the tee-off with this guy, if he can hit a straight ball off the tee he has a major chance this weekend, if he strays into the rough, he is not the best scrambler in the world so he has to hit them fairways, and if he does he has a big chance on his home turf! He did win last season also! E/W @ 70/1 Betfred - 1/4 odds 5 places

Round 2 turned out to be extremely frustratig for me. Bowditch started superbly with 3 birdies from the first 6 holes, but on the back 9 he had a bogey on a par 5 followed by an 8 triple-bogey on another Par 5, shocking stuff. Finished the day 1 over on -5 in a Tie for 17th place, 6 shots behind the leader Marcus Fraser. Work to do now! :\ Disappointing as he was up at -9 at one stage last night

[Aidymac]

Re: Golf: PGA Tour 2011 - Chevron World Challenge Hunter Mahan e/w @ 14/1 Ladbrokes - 1/5 odds 4 places I love having a big bet in small fields, like Bill Haas earlier in the year, and with 4 places on offer Mahan is a standout bet to me! Im surprised he has not won in 2011, but he wont have a greater opportunity than this! He will be on a high after USA winning The Presidents Cup and on tour he was 2nd at Pebble Beach and 2nd at the Tour Championship, had 7 other Top 10 finishes this season also. His scoring average is 69.98 which is very good, his driving average is 291 yards, accuracy of nearly 63% which is all above average, GIR is at about 69%, again well above average, and scrambling is at 58%, again well above average! He had 2 tour wins last season and he is due one this year, and in a field of just 18 players with 4 places, i think 14/1 is a great price. Im going to have a big e/w bet

[Aidymac]

Re: Golf: PGA Tour 2011 - Chevron World Challenge Rickie Fowler WIN @ 22/1 Stanjames Having a back-up bet on Rickie Fowler due to the amount i put on Mahan! Foweler captured his first win not so long ago and 22/1 is too big a price for the young talented golfer!

[bigson22]

Re: Golf: PGA Tour 2011 - Chevron World Challenge

Hunter Mahan e/w @ 14/1 Ladbrokes - 1/5 odds 4 places I love having a big bet in small fields, like Bill Haas earlier in the year, and with 4 places on offer Mahan is a standout bet to me! Im surprised he has not won in 2011, but he wont have a greater opportunity than this! He will be on a high after USA winning The Presidents Cup and on tour he was 2nd at Pebble Beach and 2nd at the Tour Championship, had 7 other Top 10 finishes this season also. His scoring average is 69.98 which is very good, his driving average is 291 yards, accuracy of nearly 63% which is all above average, GIR is at about 69%, again well above average, and scrambling is at 58%, again well above average! He had 2 tour wins last season and he is due one this year, and in a field of just 18 players with 4 places, i think 14/1 is a great price. Im going to have a big e/w bet

Agree with you Aidy, think Hunter has a great chance this week. Too many holes can be picked in other ppls games, the shockingly low priced Tiger included. Only got him at 12's with WH myself so it seems there must be a bit of money on him. Fingers crossed!! Like the look of Keegan Bradley @ 25-1 with Stan James as a wee outsider in a small field! He has had a break through year winning a Major and can finish the season with a bang!