A new event and a new course greet the Senior PGA Tour players this week and of the leading players, all bar Gil Morgan make the trip to another course that Jack built. The course was only opened in 1999 so there is no form to ease the capping this week, but by all accounts it is in the typical Jack-mould: fairly open driving areas, rewards for attacking golf and favoring a high fade. Though it would be wrong to generalize too much about this course and the two nines are very different. The front nine occupies hilly terrain, replete with mature oaks, while the open, links-style layout of the back nine allows the prevailing winds to come into play. The course is also unusual in one other respect: it is situated on both sides of Highway 101. Holes #2 through #8 are located on one side, the other eleven on the opposite side.
Once again, players from the Big Six are virtually untouchable at single figure odds and the selections are made from the second tier. These are Allen Doyle, Jose Maria Canizares and Dana Quigley. Last week's 13th place finish was a season-worst for Doyle - he has finished in the top-7 in every other event entered this year. That is a remarkable model of consistency and he comes into this event in good enough form to challenge for the title yet again this season. Nicklaus' courses tend not to reward his more accuracy-based game, but his form will carry him on any course at the moment.
The same can also be said about Canizares' game and about Canizares' form. Not a long, but accurate driver, he is not a typical Nicklaus-course golfer, but his form is outstanding. He won the Toshiba Senior Classic, was a little unfortunate to finish one shot out of another play-off last week and has finished in the top-10 in his last five tournaments. This is his 6th straight event - it is clear that he does not want to take a week off when he is playing this well!
Quigley gets the nod over McCord for the 3rd spot even though the latter has reportedly already made a point of playing the course at the end of last year. Both are two of the longer and more attacking players on the Tour and they would normally find Jack's course to their liking. Quigley is chosen because of his better total driving stats and a better price as well. He has not repeated his near-miss at the ACE Group Classic in recent weeks, but that has been more the fault of poor individual rounds than poor form and he has challenged strongly in the 1st round in his last two tournaments only to fall back to a top-15 position. If he can just eliminate that bad round then he will challenge again this week.
Outright plays:
Allen Doyle to win 20/1 e.w. @ BetSmart
Jose Maria Canizares to win 20/1 e.w. @ Surrey
Dana Quigley to win 40/1 e.w. @ Surrey
Once again, players from the Big Six are virtually untouchable at single figure odds and the selections are made from the second tier. These are Allen Doyle, Jose Maria Canizares and Dana Quigley. Last week's 13th place finish was a season-worst for Doyle - he has finished in the top-7 in every other event entered this year. That is a remarkable model of consistency and he comes into this event in good enough form to challenge for the title yet again this season. Nicklaus' courses tend not to reward his more accuracy-based game, but his form will carry him on any course at the moment.
The same can also be said about Canizares' game and about Canizares' form. Not a long, but accurate driver, he is not a typical Nicklaus-course golfer, but his form is outstanding. He won the Toshiba Senior Classic, was a little unfortunate to finish one shot out of another play-off last week and has finished in the top-10 in his last five tournaments. This is his 6th straight event - it is clear that he does not want to take a week off when he is playing this well!
Quigley gets the nod over McCord for the 3rd spot even though the latter has reportedly already made a point of playing the course at the end of last year. Both are two of the longer and more attacking players on the Tour and they would normally find Jack's course to their liking. Quigley is chosen because of his better total driving stats and a better price as well. He has not repeated his near-miss at the ACE Group Classic in recent weeks, but that has been more the fault of poor individual rounds than poor form and he has challenged strongly in the 1st round in his last two tournaments only to fall back to a top-15 position. If he can just eliminate that bad round then he will challenge again this week.
Outright plays:
Allen Doyle to win 20/1 e.w. @ BetSmart
Jose Maria Canizares to win 20/1 e.w. @ Surrey
Dana Quigley to win 40/1 e.w. @ Surrey
