THE Colonial Country Club which hosts this week’s Dean & Deluca Invitational was founded in 1936 and is the longest running non-major Tour event held at the same venue.
In 1941 the course in Fort Worth, Texas, staged the US Open, the first time it went south of the Mason-Dixon Line and the Tour made its first visit five years later.
Also in 2003 Annika Sorenstam was the first woman to take part in a PGA Tour event since World War II. With tight fairways, doglegs, water and greens running at 12 on the stimpmeter the course has everything but driving accuracy and GIR could be key stats.
Kevin Kisner has had a couple of top-10 finishes here in the last two years (T5 and T10) and looks quite strong coming into this weekend. He had a solo second at the Zurich last month – his fourth top five this season.
He did, however, miss the cut at the Wells Fargo then followed that up with four mediocre rounds at the Players. However, his form at the Colonial is strong and has an average of 67.75 in his last eight rounds here. Driving Accuracy: 68.86% (13th) GIR: 67.01 (76th).
After missing two consecutive cuts in March and April Bud Cauley has made four top 10s in a row. He was a tip last week and didn’t do much wrong to finish T5. The 27-year-old makes his fourth appearance here with a T14 (2013) and a T21 (2014). Recently been strong in tee-to-green stats. Can’t see any reason why not to give him another go this week. Driving Accuracy: 56.61% (155th) GIR: 67% (77th).
SInce winning the Farmers at the end of January Spaniard Jon Rahm has finished second, tied 3rd, fourth and fifth in nine starts. He is second in strokes gained:tee to green but I do think his odds are quite short at 12-1. As we know he is long off the tee and can sometimes be wayward but the guy has a lot of talent and he will go close here. Driving Accuracy: 59.51% (T118) GIR: 70.21% (14th)
Recommended Bets
1.5pts ew Kevin Kisner (Stan James, 28-1)
1.5pts ew Bud Cauley (Betfred, 40-1)
1.5pts ew Jon Rahm (Betfair, 12-1)
Ace Venturer
In December 2020 we sadly 
Jon Rahm at 12/1 on a tight, tree-lined course that he has never played and his last competitive round was an 82?!
That might be the worst value tip I have ever seen.
We’ll soon see but on any week of the year any of the top guys can win.
Rahm’s a brilliant player and will probably be a future world No.1
What’s your tip then?
Agreed Rahm is brilliant and with his ability he could easily win. All I’m saying is backing a player who has never played a course before coming off substantially their worse round ever on PGA Tour on a course that doesn’t really suit his game at 12/1 in a 121 runner field?
Whether he wins or not doesn’t alter the fact that it is a terrible price. He is the same price as Jordan Spieth who won it last year and finished 2nd-14th-7th on his other three looks.
I like Wes Bryan here this week. Similar track to Harbour Town where he won 5 weeks ago. Form has tailed off a little and it’s also his debut but he is 80/1 and 130.0 on the machine. He ranks highly in short course/small green stats like “scoring relative to par from 125-150 yards”, “one putt percentage” and “proximity to hole”.
I’m struggling a little this year though, not an easy game golf tipping at all. But in these big fields finding value is surely imperative long term.
GMac and Ben Martin are my others.
@theGreek82
Hi the Greek82, I agree that the odds for Rahm are short I would have thought Sergio would be favourite with Spieth. As you say a tight course might not suit him but he is a class act and I was going to give him a miss but eventually took the plunge and took him over Hadwin, We shall wait and see if I made a big mistake. Good luck with your picks.
I like Kisner ew and going to take a chance on Fisher ew for the BMW.
Four of my picks are going well on both sides of the Atlantic. Pieters and Kisner are joint leaders and Rahm (one behind Kisner) and An (two behind Pieters) also going well. Have done a couple of doubles so here’s hoping..
It was a tight finish but my tip Kevin Kisner (28-1) held off my other tip Jon Rahm (12-1) to take the title. Kisner was very solid over the past two days and although he didn’t play the 18th well he salvaged a par to win.. TheGreek82, although Rahm was a measly 12-1, and the worst value tip you’ve ever seen, I will take a 3-1 pay out everyday of the week. Sometimes you’ve just got to go with your gut feeling.
Superb tipping Ace, Well Done?
Yeah good work with Kisner. I still hadn’t forgiven for his terrible Sunday at the RBC.
Unfortunately where Rahm finished has no bearing at all on whether he was value.
But I appreciate that going with gut can often be prudent in golf betting. Some pay less attention to value in golf while others refuse to back unless value.
I lie somewhere in between but I think its more important for shorter prices personally.
ace along with your pick kevin kisner had ew double billy Andrade senior pga so a nice profit,
a good way to start a bank holiday.
That’s a cracker. I had Kisner and Fisher ew singles and doubles but Fisher just missed a place.