Preview & outright plays:
As the season draws to a close and the scramble for to hold onto a Tour reaches its frenetic finale, we the second pro-am in as many weeks! I am not a fan of these formats and I'm sure that the players who livelihoods depend on these last few weeks do not appreciate them either. Thirty-two of this week's field have played in every event in the last two months and thirty-two more have missed just one event in that time. Neither is by choice, but necessity. It may be Disney time, but there'll be a lot of people not enjoying this week.
The format is two days of playing with the amateurs over two courses, the Magnolia & Palm courses at the Walt Disney World Resort, with the tougher Magnolia being the venue for the two weekend rounds. As with any pro-am setup, the emphasis is not on accurate driving, wide fairways lessen the embarrassment of the amateurs and reward the longer-hitting pros: the winners in the last five years have been Tiger twice, Duval, Huston and Waldorf. There are also ample amounts of water and sand to make accurate iron play also important and with Bermuda grass in use again on the greens, putting specialists of this strain will be particularly favored though the pin are traditionally put in very easy positions on the first two days.
The three outright selections for this event are Davis Love, Scott Verplank and Chris DiMarco. Love broke the course record at Summerlin on Sunday to finish 4th so there can be little doubt that he is swinging well and his confidence is high. He comes to an event in which he has played well in the past, almost winning in 1998, and ranks, like the other two selections, in the top-10 in Birdie Leaders on the Tour.
While Love is a better player at taking the lead than keeping it, Verplank has shown that he is just as good a front-runner. He won the Canadian Open last month and finished 7th last week to indicate that his form is good and with finishes of 17th and 4th in the last two years in this event, he is another who could capitalize on Tiger's rustiness to claim victory.
DiMarco has only won once on Tour - the 2000 Pennsylvania Classic - but has been a model of consistency since June. Apart from the British Open, he has finished in the top-20 of every event since the St. Jude Classic and in the top-3 on three occasions. Like the other two selections, good course form - top-20 in the last two years - and standing high in the Birdie Leaders category make him a easy selection.
The prices on Love and DiMarco at Camelot are a bonus, so the play is 1/2 unit on these to win with the other 1/2 unit to place to follow when Olympic release their 'show' odds.
Outright plays:
Davis Love to win 20/1 @
Camelot [1/2 unit; rest of play to follow]
Scott Verplank to win 25/1 e.w. @
Bet365
Chris DiMarco to win 40/1 @
Camelot [1/2 unit; rest of play to follow]
