Preview & outright plays:
Famous for its first-time winners, the Kemper Open is not particularly high on most players' agendas this week; at least not since the event moved from the Congressional Country Club in 1987. Only two of the top-25 on the world rankings tee it up this week, though the most notable of these is Phil Mickelson. Surely, in this worst field of the year, Mickelson can win a tournament? Having blown final leads in two of his last three events, Coral Eurobet are offering an interesting prop, called 'Phil the choker?'. Blunt!
With the move north to Maryland after a couple of months in the South, it is not surprising that this event throws up surprising winners (Rich Beem won in 1999 @ 500/1). The conditions will be somewhat different to recent weeks. It is a return home though for Fred Funk who is local pro and has his own fan club 'Funk's Punks'. He is yet to win this event and has contributed to this event's history of people avoiding victory at all costs ... cue Phil Mickelson
The course is short and requires accuracy over power. With the Bentgrass greens being small, a feature of winners here has been good scrambling ability.
The outright selections this week are Scott Hoch, Kirk Triplett and Brian Gay. With the reasons for Hoch pre-tournament withdrawal last week still unclear, this is rather a gamble that he is not injured. If fit, then he should have a very good chance this week. He has finished in the top-10 in six of his last ten starts here and comes into the event in great form with the Greater Greensboro Open title under his belt. Incidentally, he ranks 3rd behind two players absent this week (Price and Woods), so if fit, he should go very close.
Triplett's game fits the bill this week also. A short hitter, but with good accuracy and decent putting stats he should be able to at least match his 10th place finish of last year. There is evidence that his game is improving after a difficult start to the year; he finished 6th at the Masters, was 15th last week and was in the top-half of the leaderboard in each event in between. Could be one to grind Mickelson down.
Brian Gay's form of late has been worthy of note. In the last three weeks he has scored in the 60s in eleven of those twelve rounds and the other one was a 70! He finished 5th at the Byron Nelson and 2nd last week and should be at a lower price with this weakened field. Just as with the other two selections, accuracy is the hallmark of his game and he ranks 3rd in putting average as well. He closed with a 64 last year (one shot outside the course record) to finish 20th and on current form, such a finishing position would be a major disappointment this year!
Outright plays:
Scott Hoch to win 20/1 e.w. @ Bet247
Kirk Triplett to win 40/1 e.w. @ Surrey, Victor Chandler or Bet247
Brian Gay to win 40/1 e.w. @ Victor Chandler or Bet247
Famous for its first-time winners, the Kemper Open is not particularly high on most players' agendas this week; at least not since the event moved from the Congressional Country Club in 1987. Only two of the top-25 on the world rankings tee it up this week, though the most notable of these is Phil Mickelson. Surely, in this worst field of the year, Mickelson can win a tournament? Having blown final leads in two of his last three events, Coral Eurobet are offering an interesting prop, called 'Phil the choker?'. Blunt!
With the move north to Maryland after a couple of months in the South, it is not surprising that this event throws up surprising winners (Rich Beem won in 1999 @ 500/1). The conditions will be somewhat different to recent weeks. It is a return home though for Fred Funk who is local pro and has his own fan club 'Funk's Punks'. He is yet to win this event and has contributed to this event's history of people avoiding victory at all costs ... cue Phil Mickelson
The outright selections this week are Scott Hoch, Kirk Triplett and Brian Gay. With the reasons for Hoch pre-tournament withdrawal last week still unclear, this is rather a gamble that he is not injured. If fit, then he should have a very good chance this week. He has finished in the top-10 in six of his last ten starts here and comes into the event in great form with the Greater Greensboro Open title under his belt. Incidentally, he ranks 3rd behind two players absent this week (Price and Woods), so if fit, he should go very close.
Triplett's game fits the bill this week also. A short hitter, but with good accuracy and decent putting stats he should be able to at least match his 10th place finish of last year. There is evidence that his game is improving after a difficult start to the year; he finished 6th at the Masters, was 15th last week and was in the top-half of the leaderboard in each event in between. Could be one to grind Mickelson down.
Brian Gay's form of late has been worthy of note. In the last three weeks he has scored in the 60s in eleven of those twelve rounds and the other one was a 70! He finished 5th at the Byron Nelson and 2nd last week and should be at a lower price with this weakened field. Just as with the other two selections, accuracy is the hallmark of his game and he ranks 3rd in putting average as well. He closed with a 64 last year (one shot outside the course record) to finish 20th and on current form, such a finishing position would be a major disappointment this year!
Outright plays:
Scott Hoch to win 20/1 e.w. @ Bet247
Kirk Triplett to win 40/1 e.w. @ Surrey, Victor Chandler or Bet247
Brian Gay to win 40/1 e.w. @ Victor Chandler or Bet247
