THE Players' Championship returns to the awesome TPC Sawgrass with Rory, Jordan, Jason and Rickie and a lot more notables taking part.
Justin Rose had a missed cut after his T10 at The Masters but came back with a solo third last week at Wells Fargo. He looked good at Quail Hollow and his GIR stat was over 72% which will come in handy here.
He’s been trying a new putting technique but it let him down at the weekend when he missed some short ones. Hopefully he’s sorted it out and is challenging on Sunday.
One man who has everything in his locker for this course is Hideki Matsuyama. With eight top-20 finishes including a win at the Waste Management he’s having a good season. With driving accuracy of 61.39% (91st), GIR 70.12% (19th) and putting average of 1.72 (10th) the Japanese player is another to watch.
Chris Kirk has not had the greatest of seasons but over the last three tournaments has steadily improved. Since missing the cut he has had a T23, T13 and T5 in his last three outings. He has had two T13s here in each of the last two years and was leader after 54 holes in 2015.
Recommended Bets
1.5pts ew Justin Rose (888sport, 28-1)
1.5pts ew Hideki Matsuyama (Betfair, 28-1)
1.5pts ew Chris Kirk (Ladbrokes, 80-1)
Ace Venturer
Resident football tipster at Scotland's most read newspaper, the Daily Record, for over 20 years and proud host of one the best betting communities on the web with daily betting tips.
1pt ew Henrik Stenson(28-1)
1pt ew Branden Grace (40-1)
1pt ew Patrick Reed (50-1)
0.5pts ew Chris Kirk (66-1)
Mixed emotions last week as Rickie & Lefty both place for the each way but it could’ve been so much more. Phil with a quad on the 18th in the 3rd round ruined any hope of his first win at the Wells Fargo & Fowler’s implosion on the final day means both could only finish T4
Now onto the Players, last year was a thriller and my favourite tournament of the season, that may have something to with having Rickie Fowler. Birdie eagle birdie birdie finish set up his first win since 2012 after a 3 way play off with one of my picks.
Right, down to business. First up is the the man who’ll be in orange Sunday, winner last year and T2 in 2012 he has a good record over here. 12 events this year with 9 top 25’s add that to being 5th for GIR. I fancy Rickie to give this a solid defence.
Sergio has had a good history here, lost in a three way play off last year and previous winner in 2008. He has 2 other top 4’s here in the last 9 years. Not a winner this year but 5 top 25’s in 9 events and 4th in GIR Sergio has to go into this with confidence.
Final pick will be the reigning open winner. Zach Johnson hasn’t had the best season but has 5 top 25’s. 4 top 20’s at the players in the last 5 years on a familiar course and on a course that requires accuracy I expect Zach to be up there Sunday.
Picks;
Rickie Fowler – 18/1 – 2pts e/w
Sergio Garcia – 28/1 – 1.5pts e/w
Zach Johnson – 60/1 – 1.5pts e/w
Bit late getting on this week. Two weeks without any joy but I can only hope this week there is an improvement.
Copying aces pick of kirk 70/1 ew +
Rose 25/1 ew
Mickelson 40/1 ew
Fowler 18/1 ew
All 365