Apples at Arnie's
March 24th 2009 18:42
Arnold Palmer’s invitational tournament has traditionally been the domain of Tiger Woods, who used to win this almost annually until a four-year blip in which Chad Campbell, Kenny Perry, Rod Pampling and Vija Singh had turns before Tiger won again last year.
So if not Tiger, then generally it’s a player of class who wins, with David Duval one of the winners before Tiger’s four-year sweep started.
Among those in contention – good players playing well – are Woods, last week’s winner Retief Goosen, who has a good record at Bay Hill, Perry, who has been in consistent form. I like those three as the standouts this week.
Only problem is you won’t get rich backing Woods …
But there are also three players I like with good records at Bay Hill and in reasonable form, who you could back at slightly longer odds with some confidence.
Sean O’Hair, third and 14th in his past two starts at Bay Hill, was in sharp form before he missed the cut last week but that might have been an aberration – he’s a classy player and can win here.
Ditto John Rollins, whose form in 2009 is similar to the form he had in 2007 when he was fifth here.
And finally Stuart Appleby has twice been runner-up in this event, although both were seconds were some time ago.
I’ve got a feeling Appelby is trying to get his game to peak for the Masters and he was OK last week at Copperhead, a much more difficult course than this.
It’s hard to restrict to myself to just three players here but at a pinch I’d go Woods, O’Hair and Appleby but would not be surprised to see Goosen win again and for Perry to be in the mix with Rollins a dark horse.
The Masters is only a couple of weeks away and some markets are open with Woods a predictable favourite. I think it’ll be between Woods and Phil Mickelson but anyone could tell you that … so here’s three players at longer odds who could surprise.
1) Stuart Appleby. Has a great recent Masters record and looks to be reaching good form.
2) Camilo Villegas. The guy gasses his drives and can get in a hot putting streak, and loves hard courses.
3) Robert Karlsson. Top 10s in three majors last year including eighth at the Masters … you never know.
In Europe, it’s a new course in Andalucia with a lot of good players coming back into the mix and I can’t pick anyone with any confidence except to say one of my old favourites Anthony Wall is playing damn well and deserves a win.
So if not Tiger, then generally it’s a player of class who wins, with David Duval one of the winners before Tiger’s four-year sweep started.
Among those in contention – good players playing well – are Woods, last week’s winner Retief Goosen, who has a good record at Bay Hill, Perry, who has been in consistent form. I like those three as the standouts this week.
Only problem is you won’t get rich backing Woods …
But there are also three players I like with good records at Bay Hill and in reasonable form, who you could back at slightly longer odds with some confidence.
Sean O’Hair, third and 14th in his past two starts at Bay Hill, was in sharp form before he missed the cut last week but that might have been an aberration – he’s a classy player and can win here.
Ditto John Rollins, whose form in 2009 is similar to the form he had in 2007 when he was fifth here.
And finally Stuart Appleby has twice been runner-up in this event, although both were seconds were some time ago.
I’ve got a feeling Appelby is trying to get his game to peak for the Masters and he was OK last week at Copperhead, a much more difficult course than this.
It’s hard to restrict to myself to just three players here but at a pinch I’d go Woods, O’Hair and Appleby but would not be surprised to see Goosen win again and for Perry to be in the mix with Rollins a dark horse.
The Masters is only a couple of weeks away and some markets are open with Woods a predictable favourite. I think it’ll be between Woods and Phil Mickelson but anyone could tell you that … so here’s three players at longer odds who could surprise.
1) Stuart Appleby. Has a great recent Masters record and looks to be reaching good form.
2) Camilo Villegas. The guy gasses his drives and can get in a hot putting streak, and loves hard courses.
3) Robert Karlsson. Top 10s in three majors last year including eighth at the Masters … you never know.
In Europe, it’s a new course in Andalucia with a lot of good players coming back into the mix and I can’t pick anyone with any confidence except to say one of my old favourites Anthony Wall is playing damn well and deserves a win.
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