Hitting it close
September 4th 2008 05:19
Last week I said it was hard to go past the big three of Vijay, Sergio and Phil and so it proved as Vijay mowed down the field with a final round 63 to capture the Deutsche Bank championship.
He was phenomenal on the last day, bombing it deep, hitting his greens and landing a string of long putts. The simple fact is that when Vijay gets his putter going he is awfully hard to beat because he is just so reliable tee to green.
Of my other tips though, Mike Weir was there all the way until the back nine on the last day when Big Fijian surged and the diminutive Canuck stalled. Weir ended up second while Sergio held steady for fifth, Chad Campbell lobbed home in seventh and Ken Duke, reliably, got another top-10.
This week the FedEx Cup playoffs head to St Louis. It’s a new stop on the tour on a course that has brutal qualities: long and with multi-tiered greens.
The greens are huge but have been shaped to provide small target areas within the bigger landing space. So players who can hone in on the pin will do well – either that or you have to be a great lag putter on undulating surfaces.
To get an idea of who might win, I’ve crunched some numbers from the PGA Tour to find the players who consistently hit the ball closest to the hole and combined that with guys in form to come with the following picks.
Heath Slocum. He is the most accurate player on tour when it comes to flag-hunting. He died away a little last week after getting into contention but finished tied for 15th which was a good return to form for a player who eased off a little in recent weeks after being ultra good all year.
Briny Baird. He and Tim Clark are noted as the two guys who have been on the PGA for a hell of a lone time without winning. Baird has been in amazing form all year, always in contention without cracking a win. This could be his week, even with that weird putting stance.
Ernie Els. The Big Easy has been rock steady in recent weeks with a top 10 British Open performance and a 14th at the US Open followed by 31st at the PGA Championship. He was third last week and his short game will be a critical factor this week.
Chad Campbell. Here’s a guy who oozes talent but has taken a lot of time build on his 2003 Tour Championship win. The subsequent five years have produced three wins and they’ve been spaced well apart. He hasn’t won yet this year but his late charge last week should give him the confidence to kick on.
For my final selection. I tossed up Justin Leonard and Vijay. Can Vijay win again? No doubt about it. His length off the tee gives him some advantages over Leonard but I think the Texan has a better lag putting game and that might be the difference. So don’t discount Leonard.
Over in Europe, they’re at Swiss resort of Cran-sur-Sierre for the European Masters. Form here at the mountain venue tends to hold up over the years and the players are like for this week have all performed well there in the past.
They are Oliver Wilson, Francesco Molinari, Anthony Wall, Robert Karlsson and Bradley Dredge.
He was phenomenal on the last day, bombing it deep, hitting his greens and landing a string of long putts. The simple fact is that when Vijay gets his putter going he is awfully hard to beat because he is just so reliable tee to green.
Of my other tips though, Mike Weir was there all the way until the back nine on the last day when Big Fijian surged and the diminutive Canuck stalled. Weir ended up second while Sergio held steady for fifth, Chad Campbell lobbed home in seventh and Ken Duke, reliably, got another top-10.
This week the FedEx Cup playoffs head to St Louis. It’s a new stop on the tour on a course that has brutal qualities: long and with multi-tiered greens.
The greens are huge but have been shaped to provide small target areas within the bigger landing space. So players who can hone in on the pin will do well – either that or you have to be a great lag putter on undulating surfaces.
To get an idea of who might win, I’ve crunched some numbers from the PGA Tour to find the players who consistently hit the ball closest to the hole and combined that with guys in form to come with the following picks.
Heath Slocum. He is the most accurate player on tour when it comes to flag-hunting. He died away a little last week after getting into contention but finished tied for 15th which was a good return to form for a player who eased off a little in recent weeks after being ultra good all year.
Briny Baird. He and Tim Clark are noted as the two guys who have been on the PGA for a hell of a lone time without winning. Baird has been in amazing form all year, always in contention without cracking a win. This could be his week, even with that weird putting stance.
Ernie Els. The Big Easy has been rock steady in recent weeks with a top 10 British Open performance and a 14th at the US Open followed by 31st at the PGA Championship. He was third last week and his short game will be a critical factor this week.
Chad Campbell. Here’s a guy who oozes talent but has taken a lot of time build on his 2003 Tour Championship win. The subsequent five years have produced three wins and they’ve been spaced well apart. He hasn’t won yet this year but his late charge last week should give him the confidence to kick on.
For my final selection. I tossed up Justin Leonard and Vijay. Can Vijay win again? No doubt about it. His length off the tee gives him some advantages over Leonard but I think the Texan has a better lag putting game and that might be the difference. So don’t discount Leonard.
Over in Europe, they’re at Swiss resort of Cran-sur-Sierre for the European Masters. Form here at the mountain venue tends to hold up over the years and the players are like for this week have all performed well there in the past.
They are Oliver Wilson, Francesco Molinari, Anthony Wall, Robert Karlsson and Bradley Dredge.
| 93 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
