Tag: Zach Johnson

Golf: Reed champion of champions at Kapalua

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Patrick Reed rallied to play his last four holes in three under par before making another birdie on the first playoff hole to capture the Hyundai Champion of Champions title ahead of Jimmy Walker.

Reed’s final round 67 meant he grabbed the headlines for the Hawaiian trip despite strong challenges from his own forehead, and a pair of scorching 62’s shot in the final round.  His forehead initially stole the show after images emerged of him without his cap on, revealing an extremely pale brow (check Google images) that raised plenty of eyebrows amongst Twitter uses.  But golfers also contributed; Jason Day and Chris Kirk fired 11-under final rounds that tied the course record.  Kirk’s round propelled him from last place to a tie for 14th.

Despite the excitement all around the golf course, and the obvious burning his skin was enduring, Reed managed to charge back from four behind with four to play to win for the first time since the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Dora.  It’s a fourth PGA Tour win for the 24-year old who once proclaimed he was one of the top 5 players in the game.  The win might help justify the tag considering it was against pretty good opposition who had all experienced the winners circle in the past season.

The closest challenger throughout the final round was Jimmy Walker (69).  Walker held the lead for much of the final day, and regrettably expressed afterwards that the tournament “was there for me to win, it was a bummer I didn’t close the door on it.”

Before Reed’s heroics down 16 and 18, Walker held the ascendancy.  A position he also maintained during the playoff as Reed struggled to get near the green in two.  He would find rough however, and never even get to putt for par as Reed drained an 18ft birdie putt to clinch it.

Walker will look to holes 10 and 14 as the root cause of his second place.  He failed to birdie 10 and made a first bogey for 33 holes on the short 14th.  Those two holes, and Reed’s hole out on 16 were the key turning points.

Jason Day (62), Russell Henley (67) and Hideki Matsuyama (70) all mounted challenges at various times but couldn’t quite get themselves into the playoff.  They will receive FedEx Cup points as consolation, which in Day’s case skyrockets him up 160 places in the standings.

Of the players who featured heavily at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions several have seen their odds to win the money list at BetEasy improve.  Notably:

Jason Day – $26.00

Patrick Reed – $67.00

Chris Kirk – $67.00

Hideki Matsuyama – $67.00

Jimmy Walker – $51.00

Golf: Hyundai Tournament of Champions Preview

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It’s great to see tournament golf in Hawaii. It’s even better when the tournament is sanctioned by the PGA Tour and features only those players that have had a win in the previous season. Marking its 13th consecutive PGA Tour stop the Hyundai Tournament of Champions (TOC) is a nice way for golf to begin in 2015. Part of the wraparound 14/15 season the Hawaii stop still gifts 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner, but for most of the players it’s a chance to blow out the cobwebs after a holiday break.

Although some notable players are missing out – Rory, Rose, Scott, and Kaymer – to name but a few, the field still features a strong list of (obviously winners) but also seven of the top twenty ranked players.

The Course

The Plantation Course at Kapalua measures 7,452 yards, with just three Par 3’s. The course has views of sea and mountain in West Maui. The wind can get up on the exposed course but more often than not it’s hot for all four days. The course is one of the first Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw collaborations.

The Sound Bites

“I know you can count on the weather being perfect out there,” he said. “Plus, coming from the East Coast, it gets me a little more acclimated to West Coast time and closer to Hawaii time.” – Matt Kuchar explaining why he’s making the trip

“I feel like the only thing I did was work out. I was really focused on trying to get in good shape and get this year off to a good start.” – Jason Day leaving out his anniversary when outlining his holiday period.

The Defending Champion

Zach Johnson was the defending champion when we last previewed a PGA Tour event, and he’s also the defending champion of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

The Contenders*

Matt Kuchar – $8.00

Russell Henley – $9.00

Jimmy Walker – $9.00

Zach Johnson – $13

Sang-Moon Bae – $15.00

Geoff Ogilvy – $126.00

*Hyundai Tournament of Champions odds courtesy of Sportsbet Australia.

The Winner

It’s likely to be a very low score that wins this week so look for guys that are consistent in all facets of their game. Games that can’t gather too much rust. That’s why we’re picking Zach Johnson to go back to back. We’ll also throw some money at two time winner and Aussie favourite Geoff Ogilvy.

 

 

US Masters 2014 Preview

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The 78th US Masters kicks off the majors’ season in the world of golf at Augusta National this week. There is no Tiger Woods as the American is awaiting surgery on his injured back so Phil Mickelson has the opportunity to draw level with his fourth green jacket.

“Lefty” has not been at his best so far this season and I’ve always managed to catch him at the wrong time in the past. He is a brilliant player when he is in the zone but odds of 14-1 aren’t enough to tempt me. Keep an eye on him though as he may play moderately for a couple of rounds but still mount a late challenge.

Lots of people fancy Jason Day this week but he has also suffered an interrupted preparation. He was testing his peculiar brain theories in this event 12 months ago. I have no idea whether he still employs the same system but whatever he did last year worked wonders. In the end it was Australian Adam Scott who emerged victorious, gaining quick compensation for his collapse at the British Open.

Scott does not look far off his best and prepares himself for the majors rather like a racehorse geared to the biggest races. He can start off our portfolio at 12-1. The US PGA Tour has been throwing up its fair share of shock winners and I’m going to put up Harris English as a long shot. He’s been making his way steadily up the rankings and made a hole-in-one at the 12th in practice this week! How he would love to do that in the tournament proper.

Patrick Reed and Jimmy Walker are others likely to appear on the leaderboard during the week along with Jordan Spieth who appears utterly fearless. With English available at 66-1 and Spieth at 55-1, they are worth a flutter to make the top six. Five of the last six major championships have been won by golfers who had not previously won a major.

Amazingly, Sergio Garcia still comes into that category. He has an unbelievable 18 top ten finishes in majors including three times here, his best being fourth in 2004. He’s certainly playing well enough but the bookmakers aren’t taking too many chances at 20-1.

Henrik Stenson could win his first major this year after a sensational 2013 on both sides of the pond. Understandably he has struggled to pick up the pace so far this season but you wouldn’t want to rule him out. My final selection is going to be Zach Johnson who won here back in 2007. He also had a brilliant season last time and is ticking over nicely ahead of the first major of the season.

Zach Johnson at 35-1 Paddy Power

Adam Scott at 12-1 Paddy Power

Harris English at 66-1 Bet Victor

Jordan Spieth at 55-1 William Hill

Each-way ¼ odds, 1,2,3,4,5,6

US PGA Championship Preview

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The US PGA Championship is not only the last major of the season; it is also last in terms of importance. A major is a major and that’s not to decry any golfer who has won it in the past. I’m sure that Lee Westwood or Luke Donald would happily put their name to it right now! The Masters has its own special brand of golf on the manicured greens with the flowery backdrop, the British Open is the oldest and best and the Americans are entitled to their own US Open…but the PGA?

If I were to ask anyone but a complete golfing anorak who won the PGA in 2002 and 2009 I very much doubt many of you would know? The answers are Rich Beem and YE Yang. Enough said.

Of course, such scepticism carries little weight with the bookmakers who have all the usual suspects priced up at the top of the market. Tiger Woods is entrenched in his role as automatic favourite and is even shorter after strolling around Firestone at the weekend. Phil Mickelson is second favourite after scooping the Scottish and British Opens on a profitable little stopover in the UK. By the way, his tax bill was a cool £900,000 for that weekend alone!

I have already previewed the event in some depth at golfbettingtip.com and have selected five against the field. With the bookies paying ¼ the odds down to sixth place and Woods very short at 4-1 there could still be some each-way value in the long shots.

The last winner at this year’s venue of Oak Hill was Shaun Micheel in 2003. He was 169th in the rankings at the time. That victory elevated him into the top 50 but where is he ten years on? Well, think of a number and double it…337! With that in mind, I’m going to have a bit of fun with some long shots and hope that one of them can sneak into the frame.

First up is last year’ Open champion Ernie Els. He didn’t do too badly defending his title but 26th place never really raised any hopes of victory. The reason he is worth a flutter here is that he finished 5th at Oak Hill in 2003 so he knows better than most what to expect this week. He is surely overpriced at 90-1.

My second choice is AT & T winner Bill Haas. He played well at Firestone last week to finish tied for seventh place. His form is slightly erratic with a mixture of top ten finishes and missed cuts but it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise to see his name on the leaderboard at some stage.

My third selection is less of a long shot having put together a sequence of tied 2nd, tied 6th (Open) and tied 4th. Zach Johnson had his moments at Muirfield and is clearly in fine form. He is playing like one of the top six golfers in the world and 55-1 is surely on the generous side.

Finally, Australian Jason Day has yet to win this year but has hauled in $2.7million! Nice work if you can get it! At the Masters he was trying some kind of weird brain gadget but I’m not sure what his state of mind is at the moment. If he’s tuned it into the most valuable tournaments of the year he’s not doing a bad job.

Ernie Els 90-1 Paddy Power, 112-1 Betfair
Bill Haas 66-1 Paddy Power
Zach Johnson 55-1 Youwin
Jason Day 50-1 Paddy Power, 55-1 Betfair