Houston we have a Hoffman
April 2nd 2009 02:04
OK, so it wasn’t hard to tip Tiger Woods to win at Bay Hill last week but there was a risk in the fact it was only his second full tournament back from injury.
But if you had any doubts about where to get the best golf tips I think I put those to rest with the second 1-2 prediction of the year after I tipped Woods and Sean O’Hair among my top three.
Woods was, typically, amazing, holing a 17-footer in near darkness to make the birdie he needed to win. He is not the best clutch putter the game has ever seen. His technique never fails him and his mind always remains incredibly focused … he just forces himself to make these putts.
O’Hair, you have to feel sorry for. A terrible four-putt early on signalled this was not going to be his day but he was right in it until he got too aggressive on the 16th and dropped it in the water to lose his lead at the wrong time.
He’ll win this year I think but might need time to mentally recover from this loss.
So to this week at Houston where the field is mega-strong with all the world’s top-10 in attendance bar Woods.
Phil Mickelson and Geoff Ogilvy are the favourites but Mickelson has never really done well at this course. Ogilvy has had three top-10s here and it’s a big risk to leave him out but I think he’s probably got Augusta on his mind right now so I’m going outside the box for my best three.
My top picks are Charley Hoffman, Kevin Na and Daniel Chopra and I’ll tell you why.
Hoffman hasn’t been outside the top-30 all year and his ultra-consistent form deserves reward. He was sixth at Redstone last year and was 21st and 31st before that. Good form on the course and in good form – you can’t beat the combo.
Na is probably one of the most consistently in-form in the past month with a string of top 20s to his name. he was 26th here last year after recovering from a first round 76 which killed his chances. He’s a much more consistent player now and I expect him to be hovering around the top-10 again.
Chopra is an interesting character. The Swede can really streaky and his eighth place finish at Bay Hill suggests he might be back in the groove and therefore he’s just too good to risk at odds of 125-1
Other guys I looked at included Lucas Glover, who had an added edge to his game last week which was good to see, Chad Campbell and Stuart Appleby, who loves this set-up.
In Europe, the Estoril Open in Portugal is ready to be won by Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano. This guy can really strike low scores when he’s in good form as he is now. I like him a lot.
Irishman Damien McGrane can be forgiven his recent miss, he’s been in good nick and has played well here before.
Of the rest, David Drysdale, runner-up to Soren Kjeldsen last week, has done enough to be given a chance.
If you want an early bead on the Masters my top three at the moment are Tiger, Nick Watney and Robert Karlsson – yes, Robert Karlsson.
But if you had any doubts about where to get the best golf tips I think I put those to rest with the second 1-2 prediction of the year after I tipped Woods and Sean O’Hair among my top three.
Woods was, typically, amazing, holing a 17-footer in near darkness to make the birdie he needed to win. He is not the best clutch putter the game has ever seen. His technique never fails him and his mind always remains incredibly focused … he just forces himself to make these putts.
O’Hair, you have to feel sorry for. A terrible four-putt early on signalled this was not going to be his day but he was right in it until he got too aggressive on the 16th and dropped it in the water to lose his lead at the wrong time.
He’ll win this year I think but might need time to mentally recover from this loss.
So to this week at Houston where the field is mega-strong with all the world’s top-10 in attendance bar Woods.
Phil Mickelson and Geoff Ogilvy are the favourites but Mickelson has never really done well at this course. Ogilvy has had three top-10s here and it’s a big risk to leave him out but I think he’s probably got Augusta on his mind right now so I’m going outside the box for my best three.
My top picks are Charley Hoffman, Kevin Na and Daniel Chopra and I’ll tell you why.
Hoffman hasn’t been outside the top-30 all year and his ultra-consistent form deserves reward. He was sixth at Redstone last year and was 21st and 31st before that. Good form on the course and in good form – you can’t beat the combo.
Na is probably one of the most consistently in-form in the past month with a string of top 20s to his name. he was 26th here last year after recovering from a first round 76 which killed his chances. He’s a much more consistent player now and I expect him to be hovering around the top-10 again.
Chopra is an interesting character. The Swede can really streaky and his eighth place finish at Bay Hill suggests he might be back in the groove and therefore he’s just too good to risk at odds of 125-1
Other guys I looked at included Lucas Glover, who had an added edge to his game last week which was good to see, Chad Campbell and Stuart Appleby, who loves this set-up.
In Europe, the Estoril Open in Portugal is ready to be won by Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano. This guy can really strike low scores when he’s in good form as he is now. I like him a lot.
Irishman Damien McGrane can be forgiven his recent miss, he’s been in good nick and has played well here before.
Of the rest, David Drysdale, runner-up to Soren Kjeldsen last week, has done enough to be given a chance.
If you want an early bead on the Masters my top three at the moment are Tiger, Nick Watney and Robert Karlsson – yes, Robert Karlsson.
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