JT Shriners

When I backed George McNeill earlier this year at 55/1 in Puerto Rico the general idea was that it was a weak event on a resort course where he has been 5th the year before. This week we have him playing a resort course where has been 1st and 2nd and yet he is 80/1 despite it still being a fairly weak event. He is in poor form but that was the case earlier this year before winning and is the only reason I have not had a much bigger bet on him 0.25 ew 90/1
Brendan Steele is a player who I think is severly underestimated this week as I think he is a better player on this side of the States. He seems to play the same events well each year as witnessed by finishing 4th whilst defending his Texas Open title and has been 7th the last two years at Le Golf National. He has been 5th and 8th in the two desert events he has played this year at Montreux and Scottsdale so should be at home on the course where he actually opened 66/65 last year on his way to finishing 16th. I suppose the only downside is the fact that he seems at his best on tougher courses but I am happy to take the risk 0.4 ew 150/1.
A lot of people will be looking at tour "virgins" this week as the event throws up so many first time winners but in a way you could put this down to the fact that it is a weak event played by lots of non winners - hence I have gone for the two past winners above but I will throw one non winner into the mix in the shape of Willie McGirt. He is beginning to show off his great potential in his second season on tour with a 2nd, 3rd and 10th. His best finish last year came here being joint leader after round one and went on to finish 16th - 0.2 ew 80/1
Left field pick for the week goes to Derek Lamely who like McNeill has also won on the resort course in Puerto Rico but since then he has been injured constantly and has needed breaks from playing. He has still managed a few good early rounds including when 5th after round one here and first at the Childrens Miracle last October and he also led the Bob Hope last year - all on resort courses. He returned the other week in a warm up on the Web.com tour when he played solidly to finish 23rd with a red hot putter. Don't be surprised if he shows up on a leaderboard soon 0.1 ew 300/1 + 0.1 ew Rd 1 leader 200/1.