The second leg of the Florida Swing gets underway on Thursday with the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral.
No less than 49 of the top 50 golfers in the world will be taking part, the only omission is Brandt Snedeker, the FedEx Cup title holder and recent US PGA Pebble Beach National Pro-Am winner, who is resting sore ribs.
A Major in all but name, it is a 7,334-yard par-72 course known commonly as TPC Blue Monster. As its name suggests, there is plenty of water around. The tees, fairways, greens and rough are all Bermuda grass. And with 110 sand bunkers and 11 water hazards to keep the players on their toes, whoever wins the $1.4 million first prize will have earned every cent. You need nerves of steel at the TPC Blue Monster, and you’ll need every shot in the book. At least, that’s what the experts will tell you. They’d love you to believe that.
But really, the Par 4, 18th hole is the only truly difficult hole and how it is played is going to be crucial. It is one of the most difficult closing holes on the PGA Tour.
The fairway narrows to 25 yards at the end of the lake so accuracy off the tee is essential. But it does, however, favour the long hitters, as the fairway widens after the lake. The green is long and narrow and the rough is dense, so it could make for a far more interesting climax than the snore-fest of last weekend’s Honda Classic, which was won by big outsider Michael Thompson.
The top players love this course because they say it presents a challenge. But in truth, you can be wayward off the tee, providing you don’t find water. You can drive it wide and still have a shot at the green; that’s why the scores are so low here every year with average fairways hit.
But we do get to see the top players for all four rounds. There is no cut-off point after 36 holes because of the small, but highly select field.
The top five in the BETDAQ trading market are Tiger Woods, Charl Schwartzel, last year’s winner Justin Rose, Matt Kuchar and Luke Donald.
Joining them are a host of international stars including Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Ian Poulter, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia and Jason Day.
There are several factors that bettors need to know. Patient ball strikers who can plot their way round are the ones to be on.
Past winners of the event have been rated high in the Par 5 Performance list and it is also worth noting those who are high in the Greens in Regulation list.
Those who can play in windy conditions are also worth noting, because these conditions are not uncommon on this course. That’s the course’s only real excuse. It isn’t a hard course to play unless the wind gets up, which is often the case.
There are also a couple of trends worth taking into consideration: Firstly, each of the last five winners here had previously posted a top-10 finish in one of their last two stroke-play starts and secondly, each of the past five winners had made it to, and finished inside the top-20 in the previous season’s Tour Championship.
It is the big names, as a rule, we should be concentrating on.
With that in mind, here are the players that could give a big run for your money:
Hunter Mahan – Runner-up at the recent WGC Match Play event in Arizona, he is the form choice.
His course from reads 30-9-24 at Doral, which is fairly good and he appeared to be striking the ball well on his last strokeplay start at the Northern Trust Open. He has improved with nearly every start (his record is 26-15-16-16-8) and is currently 11th in greens in regulation and 11th in strokes gained putting. Add to that his 23rd in ball striking and if he gets a little improvement in his 47th in driving accuracy, Mahan rates a fair bet.
Keegan Bradley – Has been consistently solid this season, starting with a T4 in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and last week posting a similar finishing position in the Honda Classic. Tied for 14th in the Par 5 Performance category, the only off-putting thing about the Jupiter, Florida resident is the fact that he is not hitting enough greens in regulation, coming in at a lowly 67.82 per cent. While he does not have a great deal of experience on Bermuda grass, Bradley is an excellent ball-striker and this is a ball-striker’s course.
Nick Watney – He won the Gene Sarazen Trophy here in 2011 and almost forced a playoff with Phil Mickelson in 2009, so Watney clearly loves playing this course. He currently tops the Greens in Regulation charts and his early-season form has seen him take part in four strokeplay events and he had a 4th place finish at the Farmers Insurance Open. In terms of Total Driving, his stats are similar to those of Bradley’s.
Tournament Match Betting
BETDAQ offer several markets and there is plenty to like in taking one player head-to-head with another, particularly when you are guaranteed to see your bet run for all four rounds.
For starters, Charl Schwartzel can come out on top against last year’s winner Justin Rose. On a cold and windy day at PGA National, he was one of the few who managed an under-par final round and he has finished inside the top four in two of his last three starts at Doral.
Webb Simpson is a dark horse for the title. He had back-to-back Friday and Saturday rounds of 66 here last year and off the back of a tie for 6th at the Northern Trust Open and a quarter-final appearance in the WGC-Matchplay, Simpson’s game looks solid enough to see off Sergio Garcia.
Suggestions:
Hunter Mahan – Outright
Keegan Bradley – Outright
Nick Watney – Top 10 Finish
Charl Schwartzel to beat Justin Rose – Match Betting
Webb Simpson to beat Sergio Garcia – Match Betting
Did you know that as well as checking the realtime prices on BETDAQ below – you can also log into your account and place your bets directly into BETDAQ from BETDAQ TIPS.
