WGC Preview

Tiger Woods is seeking his eighth WGC Bridgestone title this week. Can we back against the Tiger in his quest?

In short the answer is no.

What do you mean you want more? Okay then Woods has had an improved year and seems to have found something of his form and confidence. Tiger is not the Tiger of old (insert your own joke here) but he is still the best player in the world and at certain courses looks unopposable. This is such a course. Tiger has seven victories here with these victories coming for a combined 25 shot win margin. The American will enter full of confidence, which seems two thirds of the battle for him. Despite the short price of 5/1 (general) he is someone you want on side. The warm dry forecast for the weekend is expected to produce similar playing conditions to those in which Woods won here in 2007 (by eight shots).

So what of the rest of the field? well you have options to back players each-way, in betting without Woods or simply back a player for the place. The leading contenders to challenge Woods will be Englishman Luke Donald and Australian Adam Scott. Donald was the runner-up here in 2011 and is the 14/1 (general) second favourite. The Englishman will hope to go one better than last year, but his result in 2011 tended to be the exception rather than the rule here. He is probably one to swerve in the betting as is Adam Scott the 18/1 (general) third favourite. The Australian is the defending champion here, but following his Open heartache we can be unsure of how his game has been affected.

Those looking for a stats trend will be interested to note that ten of the twelve previous winners on this course (the 2002 event was played elsewhere) have been in the top ten of the GIR (greens in regulation) for the year. Englishman Lee Westwood is a 20/1 (general) hope and he fits the criteria. Westwood also has three top ten appearances in his last four at Firestone including a tied second here in 2008. It makes sense to have the Englishman on side. The second player to throw in the mix is Bubba Watson who has two top 25 finishes from two appearances here and tops the GIR stats for the year.

Those looking for a bigger priced outsider might want to consider Martin Laird who has two top twenty finishes here in the last few years (tied 11th last year) and has had a decent year on the tour. The Scot has had three top ten finishes and seven top 25 finishes (including two runners-up slots) and at 66/1 (general) he offers some good each-way value.

The players not playing in this event can be found competiting in the Reno-Tahoe Open (well some of them) which will take place from Nevada. Padraig Harrington is the 11/1 (Skybet) favourite and is the undoubted best player in the field. One word of caution though is this event uses something called ‘modified stableford scoring.’ The Modified Stableford System allocates points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole, with the goal of achieving the highest overall score. A double eagle is worth eight points, an eagle five, a birdie two, par zero points, bogey minus one and double bogey or worse minus three. Those who want an interest should keep their stakes small and look at Vaughan Taylor who is a generous 66/1 (general) for a two time event winner.

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02/08/2012     © Frixo 2024