PGA Tour - AT & T National 2nd - 5th July

[The rabbit]

A bad start to the week with Ana Ivanovic out of Wimbledon

Tiger Woods returns to action following his performance in the US Open and he is hosting this event which takes place over a par 70 course in the USA state of Maryland. The field is not as competitive as I was expecting but does include last year's winner Anthony Kim.

Tiger Woods looks to have a very good chance of winning this but odds of 2/1 do not appeal to me when betting on golf. My selections are not that original as they include three of his main market rivals -

Jim Furyk ( 18/1 ) has a good recent record at this event with joint 3rd place finishes in 2007 and 2008. His driving accuracy is usually very good and he nearly won the Memorial recently which followed good showings at the Players and the Colonial. He has since finished down the field in the US Open but that course was probably too long for him.

Hunter Mahan ( 20/1 ) played very well in the US Open to finish joint 6th and then finished 4th last week at the Travellers which is an event he really enjoys. He looks to be finding his form which he often does at this time of the year and he has a reasonable record at this course with an 8th place in 2007 and 12th in 2008. I have always considered him to be at his best at par 70 courses like this one.

Sean O'Hair ( 25/1 ) has improved a lot this season and finished runner up at the difficult Arnold Palmer event before winning the Quail Hollow with some excellent ball striking. He played very well in the US Open for the first 3 rounds but then faded to finish 23rd. He is presently rated one of the best players from tee to green. I have slight doubts regarding whether this course will suit him and he has done nothing special here in previous years but he is playing so well that I cannot ignore him this week.

Jason Day ( 125/1 ) is an optimistic bet really and I am probably looking for a decent place return by backing him but he has recently been showing signs of fulfilling his potential in his 2nd season on the pga tour. He finished runner up in Puerto Rico earlier this year and recently played well at the Colonial to miss the play off by one shot and finish 4th.

Good luck to everybody on the forum this week

Pete

[positivetension]

ok my selection this week is one of hope more than expectation .. jason gore 300/1 eachway a player who in my opnion has not achieved as much as he should have with only 1 pga win to his name a player of his ability should have done much more although he does have 6 nationwide tour wins which are difficult to win form wise not a great deal to back it up just 1 top 10 from 14 starts this year .. but it seems to me everyplayer seems to have there week @ some point over the year so its just a hopeful random punt on a player i havent backed before but just on stats and ability im going to give him a chance

[talktalk]

Paul Goydos at 66's - couple of solid efforts here in the past,had good result last week and in the last couple of months he's had Top Tens at the Valero Texas and St.Jude.5's for a Top Ten looks appealing as well.

[Peregrine Trousers]

Although he's not won for a while I'm going to risk Robert Allenby as my first pick. Top tens in the past two years here and has played reasonably well this year. A top five should be within reach. For my scond pick I was going to go with Pat Perez but as he's been off with injury recently I'm going to wait until he's had a few more competitive rounds before backing him again so I'm going to go for a speculative pick with Rocco Mediate. Not missed a cut yet this year though not looked like threatening either but two top twenty finishes here the last two years at 10/1 a top ten finish at Betfair might be worth a go.

[carterbet]

Afternoon all on this muggy day.

Picks for this week so far are:

Robert Allenby - no need to go over stats as we know he is unbelievable tee to green and just can't get the flatstick hot for 4 days. He will though, and this could be the week. Played here in 2007 and was T6, and was T3 last year. Took 40s on Betfair and at least an ew shout.

Paul Goydos - again can't seem to get it done, but is playing really solidly and has another 'must be due' feel about him at the moment. Played last year and withdrew so no hints from course form, just a bet based on current form. Took 90s on Betfair.

Bubba Watson - been tipped by a few of you over the last few weeks and has been playing well with a surging final round last week. Again a maiden on the PGA Tour, but he is getting closer. He hits it miles and might be ready to step into the winner's enclosure. Took 74s on Betfair,

John Merrick - in good form, played well at the Masters and has continued good form from there. I know he let a few of you down in his final round last week by failing to close out a top 5, but at 100/1 and T27 here last year in his only appearance, maybe an ew shout.

The odds at the top of the market just don't appeal so I am going for in form players at decent odds with at least a chance of some Each Way money and possibly a win. Furyk has an obviou chance after T3s in both 2007 and 2008, but very short. Let's see what Tindall comes up with !

[GolfPredictorGuru]

The value golfers this week (based on their stats) are Charley Hoffman, Paul Goydos and Mark Wilson.

Of the three, Goydos is the best bet as he's being knocking on the door this season and has 3 top 4 finishes in his last 4 events. Wilson is coming off a strong showing in the Memorial (3rd) and Hoffman has been steady this season, if not spectacular. Admittedly none of them have a great record at Congressional, although Goydos did finish 13th in the Booz Allen Classic there in 2005 (he withdrew from this event last year).

[dleiper]

Hello everyone,
I won't be betting on him but I just have a feeling Tiger is going to take this one.
But apart from that ny other hopefuls are-

Jim Furyk - Good course record
Robert Allenby- if he get's his putter working
John Senden - Noticed him playing well a couple of weeks ago
John Merrick - Good form lately
Paul Goydos - Also good form lately

Best of luck to everyone,
Dave

[iamkloot215]

i like allenby this week and feel the odds are pretty decent. he should give a run for your money this week. boo weekley also playing well and seems to be over his injury with a T14 this week and with a T12 in his only appearance here in 2007 seems to be good value at 50-60/1. will post full write up soon

[mike9mu]

Hi guys

I am going for

Hunter Mahan
Nick Watney
Steve Marino
Sean O'Hair

No real reason for these picks. Hoping one of these can just pip Tiger on the final day.

Good Look everyone!

[iamkloot215]

ok here we go. At Congressional Country Club this week- a classic course where shot shape and shot making are extremely important. for this reason my picks this week are centred around players who excel in ball striking. Ball striking is a stat on the PGA tour website which is an amalgamation of the total driving statistic (distance and accuracy) as well as the GIR stat. It basically ranks players on how good they are tee to green.

Robert Allenby is first up. Hasn't crossed the finishing line in a long time but played excellent golf in 2008 and after a quiet year might just be starting to find his feet. Had a T4 at the St. Jude a couple of weeks ago. Obviously likes this course- T3 in 2008, T6 in 2007 and T13 in 2005. Hopefully he can grab his best result here with a win this week. We all know what a great ball striker allenby is and from tee to green he is fantastic (ranked 4th on tour). If he can get his putter working he will definitely be up there. 35/1 pretty generous, probably due to MC at US Open although that doesn't really matter given the nature of the tournament.

Boo Weekley- Was playing well with 3 consectutive top 15s before picking up an injury at the Players, forcing him to withdraw. He took a few weeks off and had a couple of MCs since, but seems to be over it now with a T14 last week. In his sole appearance here in 2007, he came T12. 23rd on tour in ball striking. 60/1

John Senden- Having a good year with 4 top 10s already, including a T4 in his last start. Came T18 here last year in some dreadful form which is encouraging. Ranks 1st on tour in both ball striking and GIR but has problems with the putter. if he can overcome that this week he should stand a chance. Should be fresh after missing US open and last week. 66/1.

[Mightnotcomehome]

Am humming and hawwing about Robbie A, he hasnt won as afar as I can see in the USA since 2001. Eight years is a long time for a 35-1 shot. I cant bet him at those odd esp with Woods in field

Mahan too short too, am still studying will post my pick later.

[iamkloot215]

depends, if you are happy with a place and i would be. that's the real question. It's tough to win out on tour, 8 years is a long time but there is no reason to say he can't win again.