Hogan's Heroes
May 20th 2008 04:44
The Colonial Country Club, host of this week's event on the PGA Tour, is fondly known as Hogan's Alley because of the great Ben Hogan's association with the course.
Trivia-wise the original Hogan's Alley was not actually this course in Fort Worth, but Riviera in Los Angeles, which was dubbed Hogan's Alley because Hogan won there year upon year.
A Texan, Hogan was closely linked to Colonial's founder Marvin Leonard and went on to win five tournaments at the club and it's where he saw out his days.
Curiously, there's another Hogan's Alley -- the sixth hole at Carnoustie, a par five at which Hogan took a famously difficult line off the tee during each of his rounds in the 1953 Open Championship, which he won.
All took their nicknames from a 19th century comic strip which lent its name to an FBI training complex as well.
History out of the way, let's try to find a winner at one of the most famous courses in America.
I tipped out Kenny Perry last week, saying he was close to his best form, and bar a rogue tree he would have/could have won the AT&T Classic last week, losing in the playoff to Ryuji Imada.
So I'm going with Perry again on the basis he's won twice at Hogan's Alley.
David Toms, who faded from contention last week, is definitely close to winning and the relatively short Colonial course will suit his game.
Ryan Palmer is a member at Colonial and was in the thick of it last week before a couple of late bogeys jeopardised his victory push at Sugarloaf. He can win here.
Also up high on my list is my favourite journeyman Pat Perez. He was just outside the playoff here last year and will win a tournament soon as he's been in good form in 2008 and is slowly gaining the self belief he needs to win.
For my top five it's a toss up between Phil Mickleson and Jim Furyk and I'll go with Furyk on the basis he lost in a playoff last year and could replicate Imada, who won at Sugarloaf after losing a playoff the previous year.
In Europe, it's the BMW Championship at Wentworth and it's drawn a class field. As a result I'm going for class players across the board.
Miguel Angel Jiminez is my favourite - he's got a good record here and has been threatening to win for a while.
And after that you can't go past Justin Rose, Paul Casey, Ernie Els and Lee Westwood.
Last week I tipped Kenny Perry (2nd) and Camilo Villegas (3rd) in the PGA event and in Europe tipped Westwood (Tied for 3rd), Robert Karlsson (tied for 3rd) and Bradley Dredge (T8th).
Apart from nailing a winner, that's a pretty good effort if I say so myself - and I do! Expect a good result this week.
In summary then:
PGA: Kenny Perry, Pat Perez, Ryan Palmer, David Toms, Jim Furyk
Europe: Miguel Angel Jiminez, Paul Casey, Justin Rose, Ernie Els, Lee Westwood
Trivia-wise the original Hogan's Alley was not actually this course in Fort Worth, but Riviera in Los Angeles, which was dubbed Hogan's Alley because Hogan won there year upon year.
A Texan, Hogan was closely linked to Colonial's founder Marvin Leonard and went on to win five tournaments at the club and it's where he saw out his days.
Curiously, there's another Hogan's Alley -- the sixth hole at Carnoustie, a par five at which Hogan took a famously difficult line off the tee during each of his rounds in the 1953 Open Championship, which he won.
All took their nicknames from a 19th century comic strip which lent its name to an FBI training complex as well.
History out of the way, let's try to find a winner at one of the most famous courses in America.
I tipped out Kenny Perry last week, saying he was close to his best form, and bar a rogue tree he would have/could have won the AT&T Classic last week, losing in the playoff to Ryuji Imada.
So I'm going with Perry again on the basis he's won twice at Hogan's Alley.
David Toms, who faded from contention last week, is definitely close to winning and the relatively short Colonial course will suit his game.
Ryan Palmer is a member at Colonial and was in the thick of it last week before a couple of late bogeys jeopardised his victory push at Sugarloaf. He can win here.
Also up high on my list is my favourite journeyman Pat Perez. He was just outside the playoff here last year and will win a tournament soon as he's been in good form in 2008 and is slowly gaining the self belief he needs to win.
For my top five it's a toss up between Phil Mickleson and Jim Furyk and I'll go with Furyk on the basis he lost in a playoff last year and could replicate Imada, who won at Sugarloaf after losing a playoff the previous year.
In Europe, it's the BMW Championship at Wentworth and it's drawn a class field. As a result I'm going for class players across the board.
Miguel Angel Jiminez is my favourite - he's got a good record here and has been threatening to win for a while.
And after that you can't go past Justin Rose, Paul Casey, Ernie Els and Lee Westwood.
Last week I tipped Kenny Perry (2nd) and Camilo Villegas (3rd) in the PGA event and in Europe tipped Westwood (Tied for 3rd), Robert Karlsson (tied for 3rd) and Bradley Dredge (T8th).
Apart from nailing a winner, that's a pretty good effort if I say so myself - and I do! Expect a good result this week.
In summary then:
PGA: Kenny Perry, Pat Perez, Ryan Palmer, David Toms, Jim Furyk
Europe: Miguel Angel Jiminez, Paul Casey, Justin Rose, Ernie Els, Lee Westwood
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