Sunday, May 31, 2009

US PGA TOUR ...........

CROWNE PLAZA INVITATIONAL COLONIAL

This tournament is interestingly poised:

-17 Tim Clark

-15 Steve Marino

-15 Jason Day

-15 Steve Stricker

-13 Vijay Singh

-12 Justin Leonard

-12 Woody Austin

No golfer has won more money on the US Tour than Tim Clark, without winning a tournament. He has over $12m worth of earnings in the bank and has still not taken a single winner's cheque !

It will not surprise those of you that know my thinking about the mental side of golf, that until he records a victory, I would be very loathe to take him at such short odds (circa 2.50), a two stroke lead can disappear in the blink of an eye and I doubt that he slept very well last night. If he wins, he will probably go on an take another title almost immediately, which is the nature of these things, but until he does, we should look elsewhere.

Day and Marino are also without a win and I prefer Singh and Stricker. We discussed Vijay last week, to say that he is a prolific winner, would be a massive understatement and he is the player that everyone else will be looking for on the course. If he can start well and begin creeping up the leaderboard, I could see a lot of panic setting in at the top.

Stricker is a four time winner on tour, but is playing as well as at anytime in his career. He was leader after two rounds, setting a tournament record score for 36 holes, he slipped a little yesterday but I am not entirely sure that he was too bothered by that. He doesn't like to lead going into the final day, he has commented on this before and blew a big last day lead at the Bob Hope earlier this season. He is a fantastic ball striker and when he clicks, is capable of shooting very low scores. He is a proven weekend player when in contention, ranked in the top three for day 4 scoring in both 2006 and 2008 and I expect him to go close today.

5 points Stricker to win 4.50 + ...... 5.0 exchanges.

3 points Singh to win 9.50 Stan James.... 9.80 exchanges.

Good Luck.

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