The form guide showed up strongly last week. Tiger Woods ad Bubba Watson were T1 in our table of players with the best finishing positions in the last 3 results and then of course duly went on to finish 1st and T4th respectively.
I think recent form is less strong a factor this week; the course is easier than last week's classic tests and so players can come here out of sorts and potentially find their game. Phil Mickelson produced a stunning weekend last year to win the event, as he cruised through the field on Saturday and pulled away on Sunday. In terms of form entering the event, Phil had done very little up to that point in the 2011 season. Indeed, none of the top 5 had irresistible form entering the event. That said, I still want to trust form players more than those entirely out of sorts.
My tips will be published tomorrow as I collate a few final thoughts before settling on my final few. Form table below as usual with thoughts on some players below, who have been dismissed by the layers despite showing decent form of late
Chris Stroud - Followed up a 5th and 9th with 15th last time out. Solid rather than spectacular GIR stats of late, Stroud sits in the top 10 for scrambling and will be feeling confident ahead of this week.
Kevin Stadler - Progressive results all year for Stadler with a form line of 102nd, 70th, 25th, 24th, 16th, 9th and 7th.. The 7th last time out owed a lot to a hot putter, which will be desired here. GIR stats not so good last time out, but 7th in the field the time before. Could make a run this week.
Vaughn Taylor - Interesting proposition here. For the man currently sat 150/1 and 6 places with Ladbrokes. Taylor finished 2nd in a play-off to Antony Kim and so can clearly handle the course. Taylor has not played for a few weeks and is decent form. 15th in his last two strokeplay events for GIR, Taylor could be a dark horse if he starts to roll some putts again early
William McGirt - A regular in this feature, McGirt is overlooked by the bookies, largely due to his aibility to turn potential in to paying places come Sunday evening. Regressive form last week - McGirt needs to find a big improvement to feature this week.
Mark Anderson - Solid but unspectacular from Anderson this year. No real signs in headline stats that this week will bring the step change required.
Brian Harman - A MC in sandwiched between two top 15 finishes for Harman. One of the few to produce a good final round last time out, Harman's game is in good shape. Harman ranked in the top for both greens and putts per round at Bay Hill. At 150/1, it is easy to like the 37.5/1 place terms as it feels his chances are a little better than that this week.
Nate Green - 30th for green here last year is decent, with an opening 67 a reminder that he can certainly play the course when on form. Despite that and notwithstanding 300/1 is a big price, I won't be making a hero call on Green this week
No comments:
Post a Comment