THIS week is the 73rd visit of the PGA Tour to the grand old Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, and I make no apologies for again backing Jimmy Walker.
Only Augusta National has had a longer tenure as host than the Fort Worth Invitational. The 1936 Perry Maxwell/John Bedemus layout is a shotmaker’s dream with tight fairways, several doglegs and was the first Texas course to lay Bentgrass greens.
It’s going to get quite hot over the weekend (35-38 degrees) so greens will probably have to be watered regularly, so with fast fairways and no wind scoring could be low. Greens in Regulation and Putting Average stats and course experience could be worth looking at.
- Course: Colonial Country Club, 7209 yards, par 70.
Jimmy Walker
Walker's form has been top notch with three top 10s among five straight top 25s. A T20 at the Masters showed he had returned to form and since then he has three top 6s from four outings.
He played really well at the AT&T Byron Nelson last week with a 64 in the first round being a standout. Having not won since he took the 2016 USPGA Championship title it’s good to see him up near the top again.
Walker also won the Valero Texas Open that year so he has form in the Lone Star state. His form here doesn’t look good reading (one top-10 finish from four) but the fact he has experience of the course and is in top form he looks solid for this weekend.
- GIR: 62.96% (164th). Putting Average: 1.749 (31st).
Chesson Hadley
Hadley started off the season with a bang with three top-four finishes in his first three outings. Since then he has had three top 10s and a T11 at the Players two weeks ago.
He was scoring really well (66, 69) before a 75 in the third round put paid to his chances but got his game back with a five-under 67 in the fourth round.
Hadley's not afraid to go for it as was shown in the Safeway Open at the beginning of the season when he shot 61 – 11 under par. As I said before experience on this course will be important and he’s appeared at the Colonial three times with the best result being 24th.
- GIR: 68.46% (T45). Putting Average: 1.712 (4th).
Recommended Bets
- 1.5pts ew Jimmy Walker (Paddy Power, 25-1) – 8 places
- 1.5pts ew Chesson Hadley (Paddy Power, 45-1) – 8 places
