INTERNATIONAL intrigue
Imagine a PGA Tour event where the 85 you shot the other day would easily be a winning score.
This week sees the Tour make its annual stop at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colorado for The INTERNATIONAL. No, I?m not shouting at you ? that?s the official spelling, uppercase letters and all. But the craziest part of this event is the Modified Stableford scoring system. If you?re new to this system, you might want to be sitting down, because this is a doozy. Forget about strokes under par. Instead, the Modified Stableford system gives golfers two points for a birdie, five for an eagle and eight for that rare ?albatross,? or double eagle. Points are also taken away for bogeys (-1) and double bogey or worse (-3). Remember the snowman you carded on that par-4? Under this system, you would have picked up the ball after failing to hole your fifth stroke.
The effect this system has on golfers is amazing. There?s no point in being timid when the worst you can do is the equivalent of a double bogey ? especially when shooting par doesn?t get you any points. It?s all about the birdies at this event. Which plays right into the hands of a certain risk-taker we all know and love: Phil Mickelson. He?s a two-time winner and the favorite to complete the troika at +800. Mickelson is second on the Tour to Tiger Woods (who is not competing this week after winning the Buick Open) in birdie average at 4.49 per round. His aggressive style should serve him well this week at Castle Pines; however, Mickelson hasn?t played since the British Open, and has yet to fully regain his touch since his meltdown at the U.S. Open.
The defending champion at The INTERNATIONAL is South Africa?s Retief Goosen. You wouldn?t think Goosen would do well at this tournament ? he?s currently tied for 34th in birdie average at 3.76 ? but his prowess with the putter on Castle Pines? glasslike greens was good enough to rack up 22 birdies and finish with a final score of 32. Goosen?s putting is a little off this year, though, at No. 56 in the putting average rankings. That makes him a dubious pick at +1000.
Joining Goosen at +1000 is fellow countryman Ernie Els, who won this event in 2000. It hasn?t been the best of years for Els. He has four Top-10 finishes thus far, but no victories, matching his goose egg in an injury-plagued 2005. A third-place finish at the British Open may be the tonic the ?Big Easy? needs to get his groove back. Els is more than familiar with Castle Pines, having played there 15 straight years before missing the 2005 event to knee surgery.
After Sergio Garcia at +1600, there is a steep drop-off in quality of competition as many of the Tour?s big names rest up for next week?s PGA Championship in Illinois. This is an excellent opportunity to grab a relatively unknown golfer whose skill set corresponds to the quirks of the Modified Stableford system. A look at the birdie stats reveals names such as Daniel Chopra, Steve Flesch, Bo Van Pelt and Shane Bertsch. Of these, only Chopra is on the odds list at +8000; the rest are lumped in the field at +350. Given the high value of eagles under this scoring system, a player like John Rollins (+6600) may also be worth a spin ? he leads the Tour with an eagle every 81 holes, so there?s a good chance he?ll pick up a +5 or two this week.
If you?re into nostalgia, the field also includes the man who won The INTERNATIONAL back in 1989, before it was spelled so noisily: Greg Norman. He?s on the Champions Tour now, and he doesn?t play as often or as well as he used to (especially since coming off knee surgery in February), but Norman is penciled in to make his 17th career appearance at this event. He missed the cut last year with a score of +6. Some other former champions of note are David Toms (+3300), Rod Pampling (+3300), Davis Love III (+3300), Jose Maria Olazabal (+4000) and the immortal Tom Pernice Jr. (+5000).
The action is slated to get underway Thursday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The USA Network has two-hour packages for the first two rounds, with CBS jumping in for its usual afternoon coverage on the weekend. XM Satellite Radio also has total coverage of all four rounds on Channel 146.
---Perry
BetWWTS.com
Imagine a PGA Tour event where the 85 you shot the other day would easily be a winning score.
This week sees the Tour make its annual stop at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colorado for The INTERNATIONAL. No, I?m not shouting at you ? that?s the official spelling, uppercase letters and all. But the craziest part of this event is the Modified Stableford scoring system. If you?re new to this system, you might want to be sitting down, because this is a doozy. Forget about strokes under par. Instead, the Modified Stableford system gives golfers two points for a birdie, five for an eagle and eight for that rare ?albatross,? or double eagle. Points are also taken away for bogeys (-1) and double bogey or worse (-3). Remember the snowman you carded on that par-4? Under this system, you would have picked up the ball after failing to hole your fifth stroke.
The effect this system has on golfers is amazing. There?s no point in being timid when the worst you can do is the equivalent of a double bogey ? especially when shooting par doesn?t get you any points. It?s all about the birdies at this event. Which plays right into the hands of a certain risk-taker we all know and love: Phil Mickelson. He?s a two-time winner and the favorite to complete the troika at +800. Mickelson is second on the Tour to Tiger Woods (who is not competing this week after winning the Buick Open) in birdie average at 4.49 per round. His aggressive style should serve him well this week at Castle Pines; however, Mickelson hasn?t played since the British Open, and has yet to fully regain his touch since his meltdown at the U.S. Open.
The defending champion at The INTERNATIONAL is South Africa?s Retief Goosen. You wouldn?t think Goosen would do well at this tournament ? he?s currently tied for 34th in birdie average at 3.76 ? but his prowess with the putter on Castle Pines? glasslike greens was good enough to rack up 22 birdies and finish with a final score of 32. Goosen?s putting is a little off this year, though, at No. 56 in the putting average rankings. That makes him a dubious pick at +1000.
Joining Goosen at +1000 is fellow countryman Ernie Els, who won this event in 2000. It hasn?t been the best of years for Els. He has four Top-10 finishes thus far, but no victories, matching his goose egg in an injury-plagued 2005. A third-place finish at the British Open may be the tonic the ?Big Easy? needs to get his groove back. Els is more than familiar with Castle Pines, having played there 15 straight years before missing the 2005 event to knee surgery.
After Sergio Garcia at +1600, there is a steep drop-off in quality of competition as many of the Tour?s big names rest up for next week?s PGA Championship in Illinois. This is an excellent opportunity to grab a relatively unknown golfer whose skill set corresponds to the quirks of the Modified Stableford system. A look at the birdie stats reveals names such as Daniel Chopra, Steve Flesch, Bo Van Pelt and Shane Bertsch. Of these, only Chopra is on the odds list at +8000; the rest are lumped in the field at +350. Given the high value of eagles under this scoring system, a player like John Rollins (+6600) may also be worth a spin ? he leads the Tour with an eagle every 81 holes, so there?s a good chance he?ll pick up a +5 or two this week.
If you?re into nostalgia, the field also includes the man who won The INTERNATIONAL back in 1989, before it was spelled so noisily: Greg Norman. He?s on the Champions Tour now, and he doesn?t play as often or as well as he used to (especially since coming off knee surgery in February), but Norman is penciled in to make his 17th career appearance at this event. He missed the cut last year with a score of +6. Some other former champions of note are David Toms (+3300), Rod Pampling (+3300), Davis Love III (+3300), Jose Maria Olazabal (+4000) and the immortal Tom Pernice Jr. (+5000).
The action is slated to get underway Thursday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The USA Network has two-hour packages for the first two rounds, with CBS jumping in for its usual afternoon coverage on the weekend. XM Satellite Radio also has total coverage of all four rounds on Channel 146.
---Perry
BetWWTS.com
