Preview & outright plays:
Once again Mickelson tees it up when Tiger is absent and as such he heads the field, but having finished in the top-3 in eight events this year and only won once, he is unbackable even without Tiger in the field. Rated as one of the top-100 courses in the United States, it is not particularly long with the primary test being to hit the small, Bentgrass greens which are typically very slick. Accurate drivers and good scramblers typically do well here, though the penalties are not severe and unless the weather intervenes for a sixth straight week, this should be another very low scoring event at River Highlands.
The three outright picks are Stewart Cink, Paul Azinger and Kirk Triplett. Cink does fit the bill of the straight-hitting player who is supposed to be suited to this course, but with career finishes of 18th, 1st, 2nd, 8th and 14th and a scoring average of 67.30, he is obviously well-suited to River Highlands. With a gutsy 3rd last week after the way he missed out on the playoff at the US Open, he comes into the event in better shape than I would have imagined and looks the form player this week.
Azinger may not have the course form of Cink, though he did win this event on this course in 1987 and 1989 when it called the TPC of Connecticut. However, the resurgence of his game in the past two years is such that 16th place last week was quite a disappointment. With accuracy rather than power a hallmark of his game, he should feature on the leaderboard quite a lot again this week.
The third pick is another is decent course form. He has had three top-10 finished in the last seven years, including 3rd place last year when he led after the first round, fell back in the 2nd and then 61 in the 3rd, a new course record. He signaled a return to form at the US Open with a 7th place finish and at inflated odds, he would make a very profitable investment if only a top-5 finish were achieved.
Outright plays:
Stewart Cink to win 14/1 e.w. @
Victor Chandler,
Bet247 or
Sports.com
Paul Azinger to win 25/1 e.w. @
NetBetSports or
Sports.com
Kirk Triplett to win 66/1 e.w. @
Sports.com
[This message has been edited by Stanley (edited 06-27-2001).]
