The Players Championship 8-11 May

[gecko6]

should be a cracking tournament this week... no Tiger which opens it up for everyone... 49 of the the top50 in the world so it really is probably the most competitive event on tour...

I'm going to have a good look at the markets and see what I can find - looking forward to this hugely after the recent good tournaments

[KangaMick]

Nice collect last week with Kim saluting for us!

This week will be a great event! Top qualty field, stunning course (my fav) and some nice weather.

At present I am looking towards Henrik Stenson 40/1, Kj Choi 33/1 and Stewart Cink 20/1 (have backed him every week).

I will also run the eye over a few outsiders at bigger prices such as Leonard, Weekley, O'Hair, Pettersen and Johnson. So a little bit more studying to be done.
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Living the Dream!

[edmondsj]

quite new to golf and getting to know the courses,i.e is it a long hitters course etc.

Do any of you know a website that describes what type of player the course suits.?

At the momonent i'm on stenson @ 40/1 -too big a price for a player of his quality and am looking at JB holmes Top 10 - decent course &recent form

Plus, how does handicap betting work for golf, i assume its number of shots are added. if thats the case JB holmes +9.5 shots @ 18/1 EW looks good to me

[lochinvar]

My outsiders are Sabbatini / Elkington and Goggin but going with Sabbatini who showed with first round 67 last year that he is more than capable of doing well at Sawgrass but his second round 79 also tells a story. However just have a sneaky feeling for him.

Mahan has already been mentioned and although he finished just outside the top 10 last week I feel he is beginning to shine again and 80s does look nice price.

Kim who was great last week at Wachovia and Westwood are my two other fancies for this quite open event.

[gecko6]

hi edmondsj,

not sure about any sites but some courses are suited to certain players.. ie tight narrow parkland courses or open links type courses... decent players can play any course but some players do tend to do better on their favoured layouts... you usually get a feel for this by reading up about the players or checking the course layout on gol fsites

handicaps I avoid on golf as there are 140 odd players to consider! you only need an outsider to shoot well and their h/cap would probably be v hard to beat

[richardmcfc]

Afternoon fellas.

Does anyone know which channel the Players Championship will be on this week?

[gecko6]

seems we are all thinking similarly

I'm definitely backing hot players this week... and also bearing in mind the course, those that are accurate off the tee, decent on GIR stats and obviously are hot putters! apparently the rough is a bit thicker than last yr and greens will run a bit firmer/faster so that makes me want to back inform players rather than reputations

the few obvious names that jump out to me are scott, cink and mahan

adam SCOTT is looking good these days - has always had potential and hasn't really won enough to be regarded as the top 5 world player he is.. I think the big putt that won him the Byron 2 wks ago will have helped a lot.. doesnt want the choker tag... his accuracy off the tee is the only worry this wk as his all-round game has him currently no 1 on tour - I think he will score well enough and as he is in top form, will avoid the blowouts that some are bound to have this week... a decent safe bet for me and as he won this 4 yrs ago, he will know the score in this event, tied 6th last yr... all good pointers... 14/1 isnt massive but represents better value than mickelson at 10s for me...

stewart CINK @ 27 appeals although I dont think he will win.. i think he is a decent place bet... if he is leading sunday night with the pressure on I think he will crumble... but his recent form and previous here all warrant a healthy place bet on him (5/2 for a top 10)

hunter MAHAN > Ive been waiting all season for him to fire up... tipped him to be a star this yr..signs are encouraging that he's getting some form at last and if he can putt well this week then 80/1 looks way over-priced...

cannot ignore anthony KIM as he has all the talent... if he can maintain last wk's fabulous form then he could go back to back, 40/1 is tempting

at longer odds.. ALLENBY is finding his form and has encouraging stats for this event... not sure if he'll win but tempting to back at 66/1, PEREZ i've backed a few times and at 100/1 will be doing so again

and for trading at long odds, SUTHERLAND (again) at a huge 309, PETTERSSON & POULTER @ 169, soren HANSEN @ 309 all tempt me!

will probably settle for SCOTT, with CINK, MAHAN, ALLENBY in the top 4, and trade the others quoted at 100 upwards

good luck to all

[edmondsj]

can someone explain the payout rules if you back a player Each Way and he ties for 4th place, does the fact he ties make any difference

[lochinvar]

Hi edmondsj,

If there are just two players tied 4th then you will get full place payout out normally 1/4 the odds cos 5 places paid but if there are more than two players tied for 4th you will get proportion of that said 1/4 odds. Hope that makes sense.

[swashbuckler]

hi all
yes,i think we are all thinking along the same line here.i believe both tournaments will be won by fancied players this week. after hours of study form for both tournaments i keep coming back to players at the top of the betting market for my idea of the winner,

f.molinari 20/1 = course form last 4 years ,,13-17-won-3
also good recent form with a 3rd place finish at the bmw asia open

a.mclardy 33/1= course form last 4 years,,nr-6-12-7
also good recent form with a 9th and 10th place finish in the last month

g.castano33/1=course form last 4 years,,nr-6-nr-won
also good recent form with a 5th place finish in the last month,
missed cut last week,but would overlook that as players that play in their home golf tournament some times try to hard and put extra pressure on themselves.sometimes i don`t back defending champs for the same reasons but i do think castano is getting close to winning this year.

a.noren30/1=has no recent course form [played in this 2 years ago and withdrew during tournament] but he is definetly a winner waiting to happen and i believe he will win a tourment this year. had a great year last year and has good recent form with a 4th place finish recently.

also players i fancy that could challenge for a place at big odds are ;

d.drysdale 200/1= course form nr-14-12-37
also decent recent form with a top 20 finish in the last month. he is a player i have done on a few occasions in the last couple of years and he is capable of appearing on the leaderboard. i think they are huge odds.

m.foster125/1= course form 19-nr-40-14
also good recent form with a top 25 last week and had a good year last year appearing on the leaderboard on a few occasions. big odds.

h.nystrom150/1= course form nr-mc-mc-3
finished 32nd last week after been well placed after 3 rounds.also appeared on some leaderboards last year and could be worth following at big odds.


p.fowler175/1= course form nr-8-nr-nr
was well placed after 3 rounds last week but stuttered a bit in the last round but still finished a respectable 22nd .a solid tour player who had to go back to the tour qualifiers last year.on his day could easily make it on the leaderboard.


top 10 finish [Paddy Power ]

h.nystrom 9/1
d.drysdale 9/1
m.foster 7/1
p. fowler 15/1
might be worth a look

i am finding it hard to pick my main fancies from the above but if push comes to shove i would opt for,,,g.castano and f. molinari with d.drysdale and h.nystrom as big outsiders
best of luck everyone with their picks

[swashbuckler]

just noticed i put this in the wrong thread [again]
can someone tell me how to remove it and put it in it the `players` thread.
sorry

[gecko6]

just "copy" the post, and "paste" it on the italian open thread mate

good stuff by the way