Zurich Classic from New Orelans, Louisiana

This week’s PGA tournament comes to us from Louisiana, for the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. This course has had a few alterations made to it over the last couple of years, all done to make the golfer have to make a choice. Go for it, or play safe. This was made all the more apparent at the 18th hole where the changes made the player seriously think about going for an eagle at the last, and has produced some drama as well. The 18th has a water hazard running all the way down the right hand side of the hole, plus a very inviting green to hit into. This just makes the golfer think about the reward he could get if he pulls it off, but hopefully he won’t damage his card if he bails into the water. It’s a fun course and the players that do play here like the challenge of the risk and reward holes it has on offer.

That is the golfers that do turn up to play here that is. It hasn’t really had the top named players play here for a while now. Mainly because its sandwiched in between next month’s Players Championships and the recently passed Masters tournaments. Most of the top players are now taking a little break from golf to get ready for the ‘5th Major’ next month and this has slightly devalued this tournament...

But some do play here and some do a lot better than others, Jason Dufner being one of them. He has gone 9th, 8th, T3rd and 1st in the last 4 years and I would not be surprised at all if he won here again this weekend. The previous 3 winners of Bubba Watson, Jason Bohn and Jerry Kelly have not made a top 10 showing in the past 4 years, and to be truthful not many seem to do well here year after year, but a few do…

Jason Dufner is the current holder of the Zurich crown and he has a great chance of retaining his title. Never been out the top 10 in his last 4 visits, so this course obviously suits his game… Current Odds 16/1…

Billy Horschel last 3 starts have been T9, T3 and T2 so the lad is on fire at the moment. He ranks 1st in total birdies, T16th in total driving, 46th in greens hit, 26th in strokes gained-putting and 12th in the all-around. These are good stats to have on your side, and could put them to use here at Louisiana… Current Odds 28/1…

John Rollins finished T7th last year and is playing good golf at the moment to compete at the top end of the leaderboard. He ranks 21st in total driving, 13th in greens hit and 38th in adjusted scoring coupled with 4 top 25’s from five visits, shows he has a liking for this course… Current Odds 66/1…

David Mathis seems to wake up when he comes here to Louisiana, and has posted 2 top 10’s in the last 2 visits when his form has been awful elsewhere. Last year when finishing T8th his form figures leading up to this event read T18th, Missed Cut, Missed Cut, Missed Cut, Missed Cut. In fact it was only his 2nd completed event up to this point last year. Similar events took place in the 2011 season with his form figures reading Missed Cut, T19th, Missed Cut, 69th and T58th. This year it has been the same with his last 5 showings all resulting in a Missed Cut against his name. Obviously the price reflects this but he has performed here on the last 2 years with form figures just the same. We shall see…

Jason Dufner @ 16/1…
Billy Horshel @ 28/1…
John Rollins @ 66/1…
David Mathis @ 300/1…

All done in the usual £2.5 e/w… PadPow pays ¼ odds for top 5 finish…

 

Top stuff red..I am going to have 2 small bets for this but undecided at the moment, i'll chalk 'em up later on here.

 

My darts are being thrown at...

Scott Piercy 50/1

Thorbjorn Olesen 30/1

Just did 5euro win bets,

Goodluck red.

 

hey guys,

my selections are as follows,

Brendon De Jonge - 40/1 - Surely time to string 4 rounds together - £3 ew

Nicolas Colsaerts - 90/1 - Only a matter of time before this guy finds his feet on the PGA Tour - £2 ew

Jordan Speith - 55/1 - This guy will become a star , very very promising - £3 ew

Goodluck All

 

Cheers lads... Good luck as usual...

 

Leaderboard after the 1st round...

Ricky Barnes @ -8

T6 - Billy Horschel............... -5
T36 - Jason Dufner............. -2
T36 - Nicolas Colsaerts........ -2
T85 - Brendon de Jonge ........ E
T106 - Thorbjorn Olesen....... +1
T125 - Scott Piercy............. +2
T137 - John Rollins............... +3
T137 - David Mathis............. +3
T144 - Jordan Spieth............ +4

Not the best of starts by the boys for the 1st round but lets hope that the advantage the opening groups got yesterday with the conditions can help the early starters today. The torrential rain that came before the start of the opening groups turned the course into target practice to which Rickey Barnes took full advantage. Long way to go but i think we need a bit of divine intervention to get a few into the 3rd day let alone top 10 at the end of the week...

 

Leaderboard after the 2nd round...

Leader - Lucas Glover @ -12

T12 - Billy Horschel .......... -6
T12 - Nicolas Colsaerts ..... -6
T57 - Jason Dufner .......... -3

Less said i think about this weeks efforts lads... 6 Missed Cuts out of our 9 picks...

Lets hope the ones left in can have a super, super, super next 2 days of golf... errr...

 

Haha pretty dire selections alright, can't win 'em all!

 

Biiiiilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy....

Did i say that someone had to have a very very good 2 rounds... Well good ole Billy Horschel has done just that shooting 64 in the final round following his 66 for the 3rd. These combined scores of -14 under means that he deserves to win the Zurich Classic in my eyes, and he bloody well did...!!!


I'll settle for me 28/1 win and a nice return of £92.50