(( GOLF )) AfricA Open / WGC Cadillac C/ship

Won't be effortless 63s on the Blue Monster.

Incredible depth in the field.

Adam Scott is my main fancy but I'll be adding a few more later.

Water Water every where and not a drop.....

At the ‘NEW’ Blue Monster for the WGC Cadillac Championship at Trump National in Doral.


The Donald TRUMP Resort and Spa is just that; excellent as one would expect (bindare,dundat) BUT this new course is certainly not a ‘resort’ course.

The 2013 Gil Hanse design Par 72 features 26 water hazards in the 18 holes...go figure!

Last week, we saw the ‘windy’ Champions Course force great players to scratch their heads as SIX-UNDER was the winning score.
This week’s track, the 2014 hardest non-major course & 3rd-hardest overall, is more memorable with every green complex redone, fairways tilted & pinched, bunkers extended, remodelled and moved to reflect today’s modern ball flights.
The landing areas, the green complexes, tee boxes and length have all been added/subtracted.
The previous design was outgrown by the modern players as the likes of Woods made 27 birdies here in 2013 so last year’s winning score of 284 (4-UNDER), the highest ever at this event with only three players under par, is not likely to be bettered by much.

btw Adam was already spotted with a new 'regular' putter BUT using the claw grip ffs (think Sergio).

For you Irish golf gurus, the new golf competition starts this week on the Golf Forum. This competition replaces Madmax's competition and is being run by last year's winner El Bandido.

So get your entries in!

5 selections for me this week @ Blue Monster:

Dustin Johnson 20/1
Has come back from break in good form, easy to forgive mc lst week with weather.2 top 5 finishes over the last few years.

Matt Kuchar 33/1
Good form this year as usual with 3 top 5 finishes. Consistent record here means he should go well as usual.

Jamie Donaldson 40/1
Finished 2nd here last year a standout effort. Good show @ Honda last week also will boost his confidence.

Jason Dufner 66/1
Ended runs of poor performances with T17 last week @ Honda. Good Florida record will continue here hopefully.

Joost Luiten 100/1
Can't believe this price tbh. Strong weekend finish led to T17 last week. Excellent T13 here last week after poor start. Great value price imo.

Best of luck.

4pm gun tomorrow on the BLUE MONSTER...for 74 

1st TEE
16:00	Branden Grace (13/8)	Russell Henley (2)	Alexander Levy (9/4)
16:11	Hunter Mahan (7/5)	Stephen Gallacher (15/8)	Mikko Ilonen (14/5)
16:22	Brendon Todd (13/10)	Gary Stal (12/5)	Koumei Oda (14/5)
16:33	Kevin Na (13/10)	Thomas Bjorn (7/4)	Danie Van Tonder (7/2)
16:44	Ryan Moore (13/8)	Alexander Noren (9/4)	John Senden (9/4)
16:55	Ryan Palmer (10/11)	Geoff Ogilvy (15/8)	Steven Jeffress (6)
17:06	Sang Moon Bae (13/8)	Charley Hoffman (19/10)	Marcel Siem (9/4)
17:17	Jamie Donaldson (6/4)	Chris Kirk (9/4)	Zach Johnson (9/4)
17:28	Dustin Johnson (11/8)	Billy Horschel (11/5)	Victor Dubuisson (3)
17:39	Jason Day (6/4)	Adam Scott (2)	Jim Furyk (5/2)
17:50	Matt Kuchar (13/8)	Rickie Fowler (2)	Martin Kaymer (9/4)
18:01	Keegan Bradley (13/8)	Ian Poulter (15/8)	Charl Schwartzel (9/4)
10th TEE
16:00	Paul Casey (7/5)	Gary Woodland (2)	Ross Fisher (11/4)
16:11	Phil Mickelson (7/4)	Brooks Koepka (15/8)	Graeme McDowell (5/2)
16:22	Patrick Reed (7/4)	Hideki Matsuyama (2)	Jimmy Walker (2)
16:33	Rory McIlroy (13/10)	Bubba Watson (2)	Henrik Stenson (3)
16:44	Jordan Spieth (13/8)	Justin Rose (2)	Sergio Garcia (11/5)
16:55	Luke Donald (28/15)	Brandt Snedeker (15/8)	Bill Haas (2)
17:06	J B Holmes (13/8)	Joost Luiten (2)	Thongchai Jaidee (5/2)
17:17	Bernd Wiesberger (5/6)		Tommy Fleetwood (6/4)
17:28	Shane Lowry (17/10)	Danny Willett (21/10)	Robert Streb (11/5)
17:39	Webb Simpson (5/4)	Anirban Lahiri (2)	Hiroyuki Fujita (7/2)
17:50	Cameron Tringale (7/4)	Marc Warren (7/4)	Greg Chalmers (13/5)
18:01	Lee Westwood (7/4)	Jason Dufner (2)	Louis Oosthuizen (11/4)
18:12	Morgan Hoffman (13/8)	Thomas Aiken (13/8)	David Lipsky (11/4)

Is this the first time since 2012 that the top 50 players will participate in a tournament (PGA Championship) ?

Breezy morning start (wind to die down Thursday afternoon) with a few showers forecast for the opposite Friday afternoon tee time players.

4 golf courses on the resort to choose from...The new Blue Monster, Red Tiger, Golden Palm and Silver Fox which features three of the longest consecutive holes to begin a nine in all of Florida and is home to the Bermuda Triangle, nickname for holes 6, 7 and 8 because so many balls go missing.

WILL HAPPEN ALOT THIS WEEK !

Two against the field in America for myself this week,

Patrick Reed defending champion,willing to give him another chance after last week slip up,

Jason Day,playing some lovely golf since coming backing from injury last year,

Selections,
Patrick Reed 25/1 e/w,

Jason Day 18/1 e/w,

Horses for courses does NOT apply this week with this 'NEW' layout used first in 2014.
http://www.trumphotelcollection.com/miami/miami-golf-championship.php


RORY - 70 weeks as Numero Uno.
http://www.owgr.com/


At the risk of repeating myself (in what was said about RORY last week) nothing much has changed this week,
except for a juicier price and a MC to his name
- which we can forgive as we never got to pull that trigger - maybe it would be different if pocket takin'.

...OK, OK, I will remind you...
By far the best player in the world, 25yo RORY MCILORY at “6's is free money” folks and he will obviously be even harder to beat this time round as he seeks revenge for his MC last week.

T25 (70,74,75,74) here last year and a "effortless 63" during the week has put him spot on mentally. ‘An elephant never forgets’ - I hear you say.
In ‘Tiger-esque’ style he had made 13 straight cuts worldwide entering last week's event and has won four times, including two majors,
and has finished outside the top 8 only twice during that 13-tournament stretch, in the top two in 5 of his last 6 starts worldwide earning more than $8.2 million last year.

Weather also played a big part to last week's MC too, so all the more reason why our wee Rory WILL BE in the mix come sunny Sunday.
First two rounds opposite 'Bubba the Bomber' will be interesting and again there’s significantly better opposition here with the crème de la crème of the OWGR so again I’m waiting ‘to pull the trigger’ on him at 8/1 ew or better in running IF we get some hot early scores.
‘Hah, fat fookin chance of that happening' !

Padraig 'the wh*re Power' only going 5 places this week.

Others PLAYING for SECOND Fiddle...

Mikko Ilonen 510/1 GREAT price for the irish open champ,
Thomas Bjorn 500/1

David Lipsky 1000/1

Cameron Tringale 
brenden todd 170/1

Martin Kaymer 60/1      good prices for a field of 74        good/luck with your bet lads

Should have mentioned the Tee draw is in OWGR order i.e. World 1,2,3 play together, 4,5,6 etc, so bear that in mind for 3ball betting

V DUBB
MOON BEY..
H MAHAN...

Lots of golf this week  , in Africa
D.fichardt
C.wood
M.hoey
Puerto Rico ,have to back ishikawa and Overton
Backed r Moore,dufner,rose ,Simpson in usa

Cracking event this week. Really been spoilt with the Stateside action of late.

After the re vamp to Doral, last year proved a tougher test than previously, although the wind which blew throughout the week certainly helped toughen things up. A consistent light breeze will keep them on their toes again, though I doubt the winning score will be as close to par as last year.

With a limited field, and a two tee start, there should be less hard luck stories as regards the draw.

Rory is the obvious favourite again, and though a bigger price than last week, in a smaller field, I find it easy enough to swerve him again. He probably could have done with getting the weekend rounds under his belt coming here.

I much prefer the chances, and price, of Bubba Watson. He really should come here as a recent champion, or even multiple champion, having thrown it away on Sundays in both 2012 and last year. Having been pretty Anti Bubba for the past few years, I find myself much more taken to him now. He seems a lot more settled in the mind, and a lot less childish. In fine form at the moment, his driving looking close to its best, if he can improve his wedge play a slight bit on recent weeks he will prove very hard to beat here. 16-1 e.w represents a very good bet in my book.

Jordan Spieth will win plenty of these. And there is every chance this will be his first. In blistering form before the turn of the year, he may have struggled slightly on the Poa Annua greens in the events after Christmas. Unlucky not to make a playoff in The Northern Trust, he will be looking to make amends here. Down the field here last year, he can show the benefit of that experience.

I was very tempted to include Jason Day as well, but prefer to go with a few outsiders to complete my staking plan.

Jason Dufner was someone I was expecting a lot from this year. Whether he is completely over his injury troubles is not yet fully known, but he showed plenty last week, and will have been looking forward to getting back here. One of the finest tee to green artists in the game, if he has a half decent week with the wand, he should be thereabouts come Sunday.

Charl Scwhartzel had some fine form figures here before the changes, and didn't do too bad on the new version last year. Inconsistent of late, he maybe isn't one to place maximum faith in at the moment, but at 100-1 I feel it is worth having a stab that he has packed his A game this week.

Brendon Todd is a regular on my dockets!! I will continue to back him in events like these at big prices, as he continues to perform better than his price suggest, and proved again two weeks ago that the tougher the layout the more he needs to be taken seriously.

3-1 on Todd for Top 20 looks a cracking bet to me. 74 starters, 10 of whom have no chance really, and quite a few others out of form. Todd is a debutant here, but should find this track to his liking. Certainly more than a one in four chance for me.

Shane Lowry is of no real value in the shops, but he rates a bet on here at 130, with 15-1 still available for the place. If the wind blows, no one will relish it more than this links master, and he has had a superb start to his life on the PGA Tour. After POD last week, he will be positively buzzing!!

2pts e.w Bubba Watson 16-1
1.5pts Jordan Spieth 20-1
.3pt e.w Charl Scwartzel 100-1
.45pt e.w Jason Dufner 70-1
.3pt Brendon Todd 100-1(currently much bigger on here)
.3pt win/place Shane Lowry 130/16

5pts Brendon Todd 3-1 Top 20

Total Staked Week 8:     30.42pts
Total Returned Week 8:   22.12pts
Total Staked:            318.42pts
Total Returned:          366.92pts
Running Total........... +48.5pts
R.O.I....................+15.23%

Second Fiddle (5 places)

Matt Kuchar 34.00
Shane Lowry 67.00
Jason Dufner 67.00

DLBs with

Byeong Hun An 19.00
George Coetzee 17.00.

As I mentioned Rory didn’t spend a lot of time lamenting his MC and poor play last week.
“In fairness, if I was going to miss a weekend, it wasn't a bad one to miss, being at home and with all the delays and everything,” McIlroy said Wednesday at Doral. “It gave me a bit of time to work on my game and work on what I needed to.”

It also gave him time to be with his mother, Rosie, on her birthday last Friday and grind his way through the swing issues that made playing in last week’s breeze such a problem. McIlroy said he worked at home on Saturday and Sunday at The Bear’s Club in Jupiter before playing in Monday’s Seminole Pro-Member.

“I would play Seminole quite a lot when I'm at home, probably once a week,” he said, “To walk into that locker room all the time and have your name up there on the board, that Pro-Member board, it's a pretty cool board to look at.
You have all the greats of the game are basically up there.”
He struggled drawing the ball into the wind, which will also be tested this week at Doral where the wind is expected to gust to 20 mph throughout the tournament.

Scott 30
Palmer 65
Woodland 95

Small stakes

Schwartzel 110
Haas 100
Danny Willet 180

Couldn't help myself throwing a few quid on j van Zul in Africa at 14/1.

Then done small e/w doubles van Zyl 14/1-and Reed 25/1.
And Van Zyl 14/1 and day 16/1,

Added few bets in Africa.

.35pt e.w Renato Paratore 80-1

12pts Jaco Van Zyl Top 20 5-6
3pts Paratore Top 20 7-2

Huddys

Who is doing the Top 20 betting in Africa, callit?

Be nobody now Ozy. That market always pulled after tee off. Done the bets last night. Had initially decided not to do Van Zyl, as wanted a shade bigger, though would have made him about 8-13.

There are all sorts of laws about drink driving, yet any sort of gobs1te can go online and have the Cheltenham fund on some lad in the African Open...and there is not an eye batted!! Drink Gambling needs to be addressed

Thomas Bjorn drops out after 8 holes at Doral

12's the field but Rory 40's with laddies is not playing well enough to tempt punters

AT LEAST THERE'S NO CUT.

Rory had EIGHT 9-hole scores of 40 or more last year.
Hard to believe, but true. Added another today.

Last year Jonas Blixt shot a 66 for the Course Record... dats goin' out the window today.

Uggh

I thought Bruce Critchley retired.

Presume no one took the 35's on RORY..... maybe missed the boat...now 16's with PP 4 places.

In again on our SHANE, too big at 100's + small dbl with Bh AN.

NEW COURSE RECORD -10 J.B. Holmes - AWESOME ! (as the yanks say) on this course.

J.B. has been in good form early this season on the West Coast
- P2 at Torrey, T10 at Pebble and an excellent start at Riviera before a closing-round 76 dropped him to T22.

JB Drive, 6 iron 216yds on 12th for eagle

.

Was keeping this for next week but...

Brooks Koepka (20 OWGR) has three top 10s in four starts this season, including a win at the Phoenix Open.
This is a home game for the 'West Palm native' and has three top-10 finishes in four starts in his rookie season on the PGA Tour. Should be rested as well, having taken the past few weeks off. On at 20's 4 places for a little tipple on the 'Florida State' student.
Koepka five-putted the last green on Torrey Pines' Poa annua and is “pumped to get back to Bermuda grass”, his native turf.

Brooks is known for his monster drives, ranks second on Tour in driving distance, at 313.3 yards.
Playing in the wet/windy conditions with Rory & Dustin last week might have been a negative but after a poor 78 first round he fired 33-31=64 to make the cut at +2, while the 2 boys had 'boot slammers'.
His strokes gained: putting measured 6.225 and he ranked second in the field through two rounds in the Honda.

Brooks carded a 3-under-par 34-35=69 today and missed only four (of 14) fairways and four greens in regulation en route to four birdies, one on the par-4 14th where he chipped in from 39 yards away. Not bad on Koepka's first appearance in a WGC event !

J.B. thrash's Doral's Blue Monster for a bogey-free, 10-under-par 32-30=62 for the outright lead by four strokes.

Holmes' strokes gained: tee-to-green clip measured 7.350 as he split only seven fairways, but he landed 15 greens in regulation - his drive on the 12th of 376 yards off the tee. Eight birdies, five of which from outside 11 feet including a pair from just outside 33 feet at Nos. 11 and 17
A perfect finish too, getting up and down from a greenside bunker at the par-3 ninth, pouring in the par save from 20ft for a dream round.
Have backed him a few times but not on my radar this wk.

Told you there would be no effortless 63s

Usual story is that he will follow this with a humdrum round tomorrow. 74 probably.

Hopefully!!

Had ‘to pull the trigger’ on RORY at 20's (1/4 4 places).
Just couldn't watch him all w/end down the boozer, seeing him opening up those shoulders and letting it rip !

Bubba and himself to fight it on Sunday nite (wishful tinkin') ‘Hah, fat fookin chance of that happening' !

Small dbl too with AN, the youngest-ever winner of the U.S. Amateur - 17yo in 2009 and defending champion semi-finalist in 2010. 7under today for T12.

LOOONG WAY to go.

Riley "starting the drive the ball well, expect Rory to be 4under the back nine".

http://www.owgr.com/ranking

WK 9	OWGR
1	Rory McIlroy
2	Bubba Watson
3	Henrik Stenson
4	Jason Day
5	Adam Scott
6	Jim Furyk
7	Sergio Garcia
8	Justin Rose
9	Jordan Spieth
10	Martin Kaymer
11	Rickie Fowler
12	Matt Kuchar
13	Jimmy Walker
14	Hideki Matsuyama
15	Patrick Reed
16	Dustin Johnson
17	Victor Dubuisson
18	Billy Horschel
19	Brooks Koepka
20	Phil Mickelson
21	Graeme McDowell
22	Chris Kirk
23	Jamie Donaldson
24	Zach Johnson
25	Bill Haas
26	Hunter Mahan
27	Lee Westwood
28	Ian Poulter
29	Ryan Palmer
30	Kevin Na

Betting gone to 1/5th but still 4places.

John Senden looks a good bet at 23-20, to take care of Charlie Hoffman in todays 2 ball.

Senden has been pretty consistent here over the years, and again is putting together another good performance this year. Not one to trust on a Sunday, he isn't close enough to the lead to be worried of a collapse today. Hoffman put himself right into contention with a great front 9 yesterday, but imploded on the way in. He isn't the most resilient of characters, and will find it hard to bounce back. If starting poorly, he could disappear.

I would definitely give Senden more chance of winning than the toss of a coin betting suggests.

3pts Senden 2 Ball 23-20

say what now...

Hoping de Jonge can finally break his duck in Puerto Rico.

Needs to keep those doubles off the card.

Lowry has had a mighty feed of schppuds for da breakfast and is bating da shoite ouwa da Blue Monster.  -4 though 6.

MOVING DAY...lets see if Rory can open them wee shoulders and.....

WOW incredible.......two holes in one from Dustin and JB on 4th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuAzIKni2yg

Laid Moore in his 2ball with JB , went to a party , JB was 3 shots ahead around 9pm as I left , came home ,no winning wtf happened...

Moore eagled the 16th

But still shot 74  ,jb shot 70 so you win ??

Puerto Rico leaderboard looks very shaky, but one I would have faith in is Fabrizio Zanotti. 28-1, with 4 places certainly warrants a few quid. I feel he has a big chance of taking this one.

.5pt e.w Zanotti 28-1

Should be a good evenings entertainment ahead, Hopefully Holmes can get off to a jittery start to set the scene.

Bill Haas is more than capable of going low when in contention on Sundays, and he should certainly be odds on to beat Louis Oosthuizen who hasn't been in the heat of battle in a while. 6-5 rates a cracking bet.

4pts Bill Haas 2 Ball 6-5

Some start from Bubba. The type you dream about as a backer, but never seems to happen. Hopefully he can continue in his current vein. Though a bit negative with his approach to the 8th.

FFS , just checked my a/statement , laid Ryan Palmer against Levy .....

Ouch.

I feckin jinxed Bubba

Great finish from DJ. Bubba had plenty of chances it to put it to bed early doors, but let it slip. DJs putter was hot at the right time.

Another quality event. Bubba seems to think he cant win there, he knows he can win at Augusta. His game is in such good shape, Augusta suits so well, I really think he is going to take a hell of a lot of beating. Roll on.

Bit sickening that Todd finished one shot out of top 20. DB on par 5 10th was costly

Good viewing .  Not a big fan of water littered courses myself , but the changes have made this a tougher test .   Disappointed Rory found water twice at the last , must have cost some who backed him for a higher finish .

Shane Lowry played really well .  Reckon he could have a good year .

I be very sweet on Shane for Augusta Kelly.

Par 5 scoring and scrambling are key. Shane will love the 'imagination factor' needed around there. Excellent start to life on the PGA Tour, he now knows he belongs.

Impressive performance from DJ.

Finally got the putter working and that was the difference.

de Jonge couldn't keep the double off the card unfortunately. A 7 on his 4th costing him the win.

Jb off the Xmas card list,shocking lack of bottle imo suspect Johnson should have been banned for at least a year,great play by him Tbf

Holmes rode his luck up to the last round . Holes in one etc included . Bubba looked like the winner half way through the round , he was odds on .

Jonhson played well , maybe his spell on the sidelines has given him a new focus . USA need a new hero , maybe he will take that on  .

Golf lads do it again,New Approach nails the winner at a fancy price.

Well Tbf if dustbin hadn't got a hole in one.....