Mercedes-Benz Championship

[hornet_18]

With forgiving fairways and four decent par 5s (none over 600yds) this is a birdie makers paradise. Big hitters have generally fared well with good GIR and putting stats being seen as important too. I'll be looking at these as well as current and course form for some picks. Nick Dougherty @ 26 - this guy is all about his course form. It's impeccable. His last four visits to this course stand at 2-6-WD-3 so the price looks stand out to me. His current form isnt too bad either with a T2 finish in the Scandinavian Open only two starts ago. The only reason I can see for this price is that he finds it hard to get over the finishing line, however, he has proven his class this year and he may finally be able to do it on a course he loves. Ricardo Gonzalez @ 67 - a streaky player and a big hitter. However, should he get going this guy could run away with it. Quite a typical Argetinian player it seems. Has been playing better recently with a great T7 in the Johnnie Walker Champs two starts ago. He also has a decent course form here. 10-17-19-7 in his last four visits here. Could give you a good run for your money especially at these odds and should thrive on the par 5s. Charl Schwartzel @ 67 - a massive hitter, decent iron player, great putter and likes courses that give birdies. While he hasnt played much golf recently he still looks like a fantastic price. Earlier in the season the bookies saw this man as hot property - what's changed? In my opinion not much. While he didnt make the cut at the USPGA, at his last start he played in Germany and finished T20. This is a course which suits his style and in 2005 he finished T26 with a card of 67-72-72-67. He is now a far better player and could go a lot better this week. Daniel Vancsik @ 301 - just the one real long shot. This man won the Madeira Open at a cantor out of nowhere. He is a huge hitter and that seems about it. However, having missed 13 out of 15 cuts since this win, he finished T25 last week at the European Open and while he hasnt played this course before, should he start playing the par 5s well (which should suit him) he definitely has the ability to start firing into contention and this price is too big to give up. Two more players that tempted me were Graeme McDowell and Robert Karlsson but the odds were that bit too short. GL

[Dougal]

Re: Mercedes-Benz Championship Jesus, the leaderboard is like a who's who of losing your bottle, so who can out last the others? It's about time Soren Hansen won a tournament but he's bottled two this season already, Bjorn has a habit of throwing away tournaments from better postions than this, Forsyth is on very unfamiliar ground and won't handle the pressure and Westwood is ill and feeling sorry for himself (again) That leaves Richard Green, two off the lead and ready to win again, Green has bottled many tournaments himself but finally got over the line in Austria a few months ago and now he has that monkey of his back... 14@ betfair. :hope