Golf: Arnold Palmer Invitational

[kevshat]

This week's golf offering across the pond is the Arnold Palmer Invitational, formerly the Bay Hill Invitational. Nothing for me outright to begin with but I'll come back with a couple of 3balls for tomorrow :ok

[RussP]

Re: Golf: Arnold Palmer Invitational Looking at the first round 3-balls, there are 3 bets for me: Kenny Perry (5pts @ 6/4 Stan James) to beat Stewart Cink & Adam Scott Tee time: 12.36 Quite a demanding course and looking for someone who is decent tee to green. Kenny Perry fits that bill, and is long off the tee which could prove crucial with some really tough par 4's. Generally hits lots of birdies which bodes well and is going well this term with 6 Top 25's from 7 starts, making all 7 cuts. A good starter usually with 3 opening rounds of under 70 and 2 more of 70. Not bad from just 7 starts. Goes well here, having won & finished 2nd in last 6 years. Both Cink & Scott are not great off the tee, missing fairways often and, from 9 starts between them this year, only once has their opening round broke 70. That's enough to make Perry the bet here at 6/4. Brian Gay (5pts @ 12/5 Paddy Power) to beat Retief Goosen & Trevor Immelman Tee time: 17.06 The outsider of the 3 here but surely on name alone? Immelman played well last week but really faultered in the last round - could have dented confidence. Not great tee to green and neither is he that hot with the putter. Immelman is not noted for a fast start either so I'm happy to discount his chances. Goosen, meanwhile, won the Transitions last week but that may have taken its toll. My main concern for Retief is that he is often wayward and this course will happily swallow you up for poor accuracy. Brian Gay looks the value here. Not the longest but stats wise, is 5th for driving accuracy and 12th for GIR. A repeat of those stats will see him go close here. Had a good run end of Jan but out of touch a little recently. However, if he can hit the green consistently and have a bit of luck with the putter, this price could look very generous. Cameron Beckman (5pts @ 11/4 Skybet) to beat Stuart Appleby & Fred Couples Tee time: 17.18 Again, going for the rag here. Appleby the favourite following a good finish last week but opposable as he isn't the most reliable, is poor tee to green and a slow starter. Fred Couples is still a force despite his advancing years but has been absent for a month so I'm prepared to bypass his chances here. Can be very long from the tee but not adverse to the odd wild one. If he gets going, he's a birdie machine but inconsistency is the issue here. Beckman is the selection here, a pretty consistent type. Had made all 7 cuts this terms and starts well with last 5 opening rounds of 68,68,70,66 & 69.