Woodland finished 39th here last year on the back of a missed cut at the AmEx but went on to record five top-10s in his next 22 starts, so he's been very close. Otherwise, taking care of the fifth, ninth and 15th holes in particular is a must these are three easy par-fives, with the 18th playing the longest of four and strong drivers do generally fare best, though it should be said that Smith, not typically one of those, led the field in strokes-gained off the tee last year. Impressive at the Presidents Cup in September, it's been an excellent couple of seasons for Lee, winner of back-to-back renewals of the Byron Nelson Championship. Along with Aphibarnrat and 2015 winner Jamie Donaldson, the best of the scarce course form comes from Clement Sordet, runner-up to the Welshman at a time when he'd been playing poorly on the Challenge Tour and was a new name to many. Spot the dotted line from that, to Kapalua, to Sawgrass, to St Andrews, and to the other side. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose. Both events feature strong golf courses, but are lacking the depth of field to make them the most exciting events. Trevor Cone and Brandon Matthews are among the longest drivers around and therefore deserve a mention along with other sluggers like Augusto Nunez and Scott Harrington, while I did consider shorter duo Chris Stroud and Fabian Gomez, both of whom boast strong records here. WM Phoenix Open Tournament Chairman, Dr. Michael Golding surprised Theegala with a Sponsor Exemption at the @FarmersInsOpen! @PGATOUR @WasteManagement #WMPO #GreenestShow pic.twitter.com/Vur2P2kBx9. Of that bunch, Stroud was hardest to eliminate having placed in the RSM Classic before Christmas and continued to hit the ball well since then. LIV last week was dull because it was a procession; the more players you have, the better your chances of excitement. Also in our favour is the fact that we know plenty about the course and how it's likely to play. It's a pretty sizeable 'if', but had he avoided that mistake at the par-five third, Spieth may well have gone on to shoot the best score given that his 69 was only two off Corey Conners' field-leading 67. Four top-30s is a good return from 11 starts and we saw what he can do under conditions similar to these when leading the Bermuda Championship with an opening 62. Hopefully be something before then." Experience does tend to be important and it's 15 years since a debutant won the title, with multiple champions fairly common. I feel like I'm doing the right things. The algorithm then builds up a profile of the course and what type of player it will suit. It's markedly easier than last week, where he was a good bit shorter to see off a field which featured Scottie Scheffler, Tom Kim and Sam Burns, and while disappointing in an event he likes, it generally pays not to place too much stock in performances in multi-course pro-ams. It's a Wednesday start for the Farmers Insurance Open, something to do with the gridiron according to my spies in the United States, and whether that's good news or bad for Jon Rahm is open to debate. Perhaps the form book will right itself here in Thailand and the course certainly should help. No television pictures here in the UK, no shot-by-shot updates, no worthwhile data, a high probability of leaderboard errors, and a field which probably doesn't feature the next Tony Finau or Viktor Hovland. The gap between the best PGA Tour events and the worst has never been wider than it is today. One of them is the spec of that new driver and its unnecessarily jaunty spelling of the word paradigm. "Still some of the stuff, the old stuff is in there still, but I kind of got to work through that slowly. That being said, if you find yourself among this cohort, as I do, you'll be tested by the Puerto Rico Open. He's made nine cuts in 10, he's got six top 30s, a couple of top 20s, but he's never been in this kind of form. MON January 23, 2023 The Sentry Tournament of Champions kicks off 2023 in. He's ended every round at the course comfortably inside the top 10 and those Augusta parallels are underlined by two top-10s in the Masters, too. pic.twitter.com/a3KUUpLiyY. As I imagine was the case for many, Kiradech Aphibarnrat had been top of my initial shortlist, but I can't fall into the trap of putting up the popular Thai at prices which simply don't reflect where he is as a golfer right now in my view. Lee was down the field on his first look at Kapalua but that's not uncommon, and neither is a big jolt of improvement for the look around. I'll miss Johnson and his nonchalant magnificence this year, just as I'll miss watching Smith duck hook one into the trees and still make birdie. However, this field is poor, the course looks made for the kind of strong drivers who dominate the betting, and I think it should be closer to 12/1 the field as was the case when betting opened in Singapore last week. Given that I was so sweet on him there, and that he justified selection to a large degree with the way he struck the ball, the only question to answer in a field absent of Adrian Meronk, Ryan Fox, Victor Perez and Nicolai's brother, Rasmus, is will he find this course similarly suitable? With 32nd and 21st in Mexico and the RSM Classic to end last year, latterly leading at halfway, Higgs has played a lot of very good golf without quite doing it for a full week, and that was also the case when last competing at this kind of level and finishing 11th in the Barracuda. We've got high-class fields in Phoenix and at Riviera to come, tournaments which will no doubt be dominated by the best players in the sport. Morikawa played well when selected at a similar price for the Hero and a final-round 62 here last year, coupled with his close connections to Maui, make him of definite interest. He can be one of the very best players on this tour and beyond if this is his springboard. Go back further and he was third in Bermuda in a field similar to this one, and he played well behind Jon Rahm in Mexico and Rory McIlroy in Canada last summer. A missed cut at the Sony Open appears to have put everyone off but he did shoot a second-round 65 there, doing everything well, and I can happily put his poor opener down to the fact it was his first round since Houston in November, where he finished ninth on another municipal made for big-hitters. Another excellent knock around the South Course (67) in round three last year confirms that he has everything required to go close and seventh place in the Sony Open last time out was a lovely way to begin what may well be a breakthrough year. In the WGC example, they had international invites but struggled to create narratives from them. Victor Perez to win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at 50/1It's YET ANOTHER big winner for @BenColeyGolf! That is a significant plus along with pretty sparse rough, and perhaps these slower greens will help him putt a little better than he has done so far in 2023. Doug Ghim and Luke Donald made some appeal along with Greyson Sigg, who has amateur form here and played well for a couple of rounds on his debut in the event, but I'll break from the USA-all-the-way theme to include RUSSELL KNOX, who looks like he's close to producing a really big performance. Shop around and you should get a fraction more than 10/1 the pair. Get instant job matches for companies hiring now for Exercise Equipment jobs in Cornwell like Head Chef, Air, Instructing and more. It seems highly likely that nobody here can afford to be left behind on the greens unless a zephyr turns into something more. This is our best chance of an upset in February and I'll happily throw some darts in that direction. Although the Canadian perhaps hasn't kicked on since he'd only played three tournaments prior to last week's return and continues to drive the ball to elite level throughout each of them, only for that club to cost him a Sunday tee-time in the AmEx. Brendan Steele is another high-ball hitter who flushed his way through the weekend of the AmEx, shooting 14-under at the Stadium Course. No wonder he also labelled it his favourite course in the world. Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org. So many winners there had marked our cards here, Hadley included, and the likes of Ted Potter, Vaughn Taylor, Nick Taylor and Tom Hoge tie them together, as do several others including Putnam. It is possible! They show that he can take care of both courses and come the end of the week he ranked seventh in strokes-gained approach, another indication that he was immediately comfortable at the daunting South Course so early on in his rookie season. Pendrith's prodigious driving saw him lead the field in strokes-gained off-the-tee before his halfway exit at the US Open and he was rock solid through the bag on his first start in the Farmers, since which he's taken his game up a level and of course played in the Presidents Cup last September. Ultimately this is a collection of the world's best players taking part in a rust-shedding shootout, so we have to enter it with our eyes open. It looks like Wu has built himself a platform, even if it has taken a while, and there's real substance to his form now. 'Jeopardy!' contestant admits crush on host Mayim Bialik in cringey moment,"I don't really want to talk about what we're going to talk about," joked "The Big Bang Theory" star Bialik before broaching the subject. This button displays the currently selected search type. Puerto Rico Open. On Green, if you remain unconvinced, not sure there's anything I can say to change that. Action and Do 5. Golf betting tips: Arnold Palmer Invitational 2pts e.w. "It's a place I've always felt pretty comfortable at I played here a bunch, I played a lot of pro-ams outside of the PGA Tour events here and I love really fast, slopy greens. Nobody here is to be feared: Nate Lashley is the right favourite but far from an infallible one, and the likes of Cameron Percy and Scott Piercy are firmly in the veteran category now. As for the AmEx, Hudson Swafford has won it twice, Andrew Landry almost has, and David Lingmerth has twice been second. It's been going for almost a century, and their stranglehold has only ever been broken by golfers from Australia, Fiji and Canada, so history if nothing else is against those two European Ryder Cup players and in favour of Spieth. This page also offers trusted and secure Hyperlinks to some of the worlds leading bookmakers who offer free bets ranging from 50-200 in your currency once you set up an online account. Rahm is 4/1 to follow up Sunday's narrow victory in another event he'd won before, the clip from 6/1 justifiable by field strength alone never mind the fact he won again, and there are either form (Justin Thomas), fitness (Xander Schauffele, Will Zalatoris) or psychological (Collin Morikawa) concerns next to the names of all bar a couple of his biggest threats on paper. Jason Day at 25/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8), 1.5pts e.w. I can't quite go that far, as I do believe the venue for the Ras al Khaimah is made for him, but reports from practise at Amata Spring suggest it is driver upon driver at a course which is as receptive as you'll see. This time, we appear set for the course to play pretty soft and what breeze there is should be manageable for the most part, so when set against the weaker-than-usual field we might be in for a high-teens winning score. Tenth in strokes-gained approach last week, he'll enjoy the extra space off the tee here in Puerto Rico and has the ability to go ahead and contend on Sunday. Sometimes, golf is for people who already love golf, and who see the worth of a storyline like Chris Kirk versus Eric Cole. Zander Lombard at 50/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) 1pt e.w . Decided where to play 4. One of the most entertaining characters on tour, the man they call 'Big Beautiful' turns 30 today. The pro-am element also plays its part those who don't have to get to know someone new might, for the most part at least, be at an advantage. Given that his only other outing between the Presidents Cup and now came at a really quirky course he hadn't played before, and that he went 5-0-0 to lead the USA to victory in that team event, my feeling is that he's dropped too far down the betting. PGA Championship Golf Betting Odds Ryder Cup 2023 Odds By Ben Coley / Golf / 1 year ago Comments The social sharing buttons have been hidden due to cookie preferences. Bay Hill Golf Club and Lodge Bay Hill Golf Club and Lodge. That power saw him feature in the 2020 US Open at Winged Foot before narrowly missing the cut here a year later, but he showed what he can do at Torrey Pines when 16th here last year, playing better than that finishing position on the South Course (12th) but leaving a couple out there on the easier North Course. MacIntyre and Hojgaard should in my view be vying for favouritism narrowly ahead of Jordan Smith so I'll split stakes and take my chances at a course I'm certain both will like. He defied a slow start to finish 18th behind Cam Smith back home in the Australian PGA and was again in the mix early in the AmEx, so we've seen lots of encouragement from a young player who struck at Korn Ferry Tour level last May. It's Groundhog Day on the PGA Tour as, for the third week in succession and thankfully the final time this season, the PGA Tour takes in a multi-course event on the west coast. Players used to talk about what qualifying for this means and by qualifying, I mean winning. Maverick McNealy at 40/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8), 1pt e.w. He had to stay home to look after the dog all week. @DPWorldTour pic.twitter.com/8HFGZuSqKI. Subsequent top-10s by the coast in Mexico and Scotland confirmed what we saw both here and when he qualified for the Open Championship in the summer of 2019, that playing by the coast often brings out the best in the Stanford graduate. The left-hander contended for three tournaments in a row in 2021, settling for finishes of fifth, fourth and eighth, and before that had been 13th behind Sam Burns in the Valspar. It's not much, but it is enough to suggest that turning out so quickly might be the thing that catches him out after a tighter-than-expected tussle in the AmEx. He'd shown promise a year earlier, too, but on each occasion was short on confidence whereas this time he looks like he's playing quite nicely. MJ Daffue's performance in the Honda certainly caught the eye but he's occasionally horrendous on the greens and the two I prefer are HARRY HIGGS and HARRISON ENDYCOTT. Given that he turned 40 in December and went so well on his very next start, there's a lot I like about his profile and it's only one poor week in the desert that needs forgiving. That being said, my view is that the pool of winners is probably quite small. Only one of those is absent from the field for what's now one of the 'elevated' events, a move which came about as a direct response to LIV Golf and is designed to ensure the big names gather more often. Higgs is hard to make a case for from a ball-striking perspective, especially after a missed cut at PGA National, but he's been regularly catching the eye of late and undoubtedly has a touch of class. There are numerous has-beens and some players who simply aren't good enough to realistically expect to contend even at this lowly level, so I'm keen to have a crack at that second tier of the betting which provides real potential for a winner at a nice price. Ben Coley produced profit on the DP World Tour with a big-priced outsider last week, but in Thailand he believes the favourites have been underestimated. Ben Coley previews the first full-field event of the year on the DP World Tour, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. The Punter's In-Play Blog: Paul in pole position Golf Tips: Best bets for Honda Classic and Hero Indian Open The Honda Classic First-Round Leader Tips: Go with Gordon More Golf The Punter Golf Bets DP World Tour PGA Tour Golf Form Guide US Masters The Open US Open US PGA Championship Ryder Cup MoreRugby Featured Rugby Kim was a persistent contender at Korn Ferry Tour level last season, this is not much tougher, and there's no reason at all he can't stick it out for the full 72 holes. Losing three strokes off the tee is extremely rare for a player of his quality but look closer and it was really two foul balls that cost him, each resulting in reloads.