From the bettingzone.com preview after the U.S. Open:
"Any US Open is a brutal test but played over five interrupted days on an undulating and water-logged course, it became a test of endurance that more than one player called "exhausting" . . . For that reason alone I'm steering clear of anyone who made the cut last week (or earlier this week to be more precise) . . . That means ignoring the claims of Hunter Mahan . . . etc."
I certainly agree that a hangover after an exhausting major, more so when it is a 5 day slog, is correct as a general proposition. But another side of the coin starts with the recognition that most every significant player builds their season around the four majors in one way or another. There are questions to ask as those events approach and arrive, but as soon as they are over, the question that needs asking is, "who comes out of the championship with fairly immediate mojo or momentum or a point to prove or on the sidelines and slighted or some ANGLE that merits a play?" While someone's knack for identifying such players may miss by miles, it has proven a reasonably profitable avenue for me over the years.
Anyway, Mahan (brutalized by the shot on 16 that hit the pin and bounded into bogey territory) was my top play coming out of the U.S. Open precisely because he was the answer to my question of "who . . .". Unfortunately, while basking in the glow of scoring with Lucas Glover as a 200/1 shot, I was far short of exercising due diligence in capping the full PGA and Euro fields in the short turnaround. So sure enough, in the first few hours of the BMW, I was kicking myself because I honestly believed the two names I would have chosen by applying that same "test" to that field would have been Goosen (his season going in a decidedly positive direction, but without the strict demands on his driving presented by Bethpage), and Dougherty (not his being rested, but his forced absence from the big stage serving as a huge motivator) (applied in a somewhat different context, that was one of two ANGLES that were the foundation of my liking Lucas Glover in the U.S. Open, after a stretch where he had been relegated to the category of not being good enough to join in any reindeer games) . . . Come Sunday, all 3 of those names were finishing in the money . . . Again somewhat different, because the WGC event at Doral is not a major, but it was a huge stage for Soren Kjeldsen, and the significance of his finishing 6th across the Atlantic was a bonus and not a deterrent, and in my post for his winning the Open de Andulucia (@ 33/1), my posted reason was, " Looks like a rare spot for me to maybe be right on Kjeldsen, whom I've always thought should take it to up at least a notch."
It may be dicey and against the norm when a player has been through the 72 hole grind of a major (and this week the extra factor is the extent to which a windswept event can throw off the timing the next week, especially when the focus and intensity are ebbing), but my teams (Scandanavia included) will have to feature (and possibly be dominated by) players that are my best stabs at identifying the answers to the question of "who . . .?".
Outrights:
Brandt Snedeker(40/1) e.w.
- - With Tom Watson being the big story in the world of golf coming out of Turnberry, there's a real chance Snedeker has got any number of ANGLES to support a play, even though the price appears about as skinny as Chris Wood.
Tom Watson and Brandt Snedeker on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Fred Couples(66/1) e.w.
- - Another skinny price, but a Watson pal in the ballpark of age 59 fits this week's intriguing profile.
Scott McCarron(125/1) e.w.
- - The Open Championship is McCarron's favorite event. Paired with Captain Corey Pavin. A combination that works for me. And his mother is a Canuck, eh?
GL
