Preview & plays:
The Senior PGA Tour rolls into Las Vegas for the sixteenth year of this event and after two years of being a 72-hole tournament it was reduced to 54 holes last year. The Seniors obviously wanted more time on the Strip! In recent years the event has been dominated by the big name players: Hale Irwin and Larry Nelson have won this event three years out of the last four and Las Vegas resident Jim Colbert won this event in 1995 and 1996 when he was dominating the Tour. The customary short-figure favorites are again prohibitive, but this week there is no Gil Morgan, Tom Kite or Tom Watson, so there is less value than usual in the 2nd division players.
Two of this week's outright picks are regulars - Allen Doyle and Jose Maria Canizares - while Jim Thorpe is picked as a value play. Doyle secured yet another top-10 finish last week and he has the distinction of being one of only two players in the top-10 of the money list not to win an event this year. It only shows how consistent he has been all year and some books have him 4th favorite for this event. He has finishes of 11th and 15th from his two previous visits, but should do better this week and gain yet another place win.
Canizares is another whose game has stepped up a notch this year. A succession of place finishes and a win at the Toshiba Senior Classic have made him difficult to dislodge from the weekly selections. He does have a 3rd place finish in this event (1999) and on current form and confidence is capable of at least matching that this week.
The 3rd pick is Jim Thorpe courtesy of the 66/1 on offer from Surrey. He is available at 16/1 virtually everywhere else! True, he has disappointed somewhat this year, securing just one top-10 finish all year (2nd at the Mastercard), and has finishes of no better than 16th and 24th in this event, but it is the 16/1 that is the more accurate price. He has finished in the top-5 in one of every six events he has entered over the past three years and if anything, there has been a marked improvement in his form in the last month over the previous month. Would have taken the bait at 33/1, so Surrey's offering is too generous to ignore.
Outright plays:
Allen Doyle to win 16/1 e.w. @
Surrey
Jose Maria Canizares to win 20/1 e.w. @
Surrey
Jim Thorpe to win 66/1 e.w. @
Surrey
72-hole plays:
Jim Colbert to beat Jim Holtgrieve -111 @
Simon Bold [2 units]
Terry Dill to beat DeWitt Weaver -111 @
Simon Bold [2 units]
Allen Doyle to beat Bob Gilder -111 @
Simon Bold
Ed Dougherty to beat Walter Morgan -111 @
Simon Bold
Vicente Fernandez to beat Lanny Wadkins -111 @
Simon Bold