Preview & outright plays:
The PGA Tour season starts as it ends with two events. One for the top-30 players on Tour and one for the rest. A player would have to finish in the top-5 in this event to earn as much money as the last-placed player in the Tour Championship! But it has always been a difficult history for this event since its founding in 1968. Originally, it was played opposite the MasterCard?Colonial. The event then spent 25 years opposite The?Masters before moving to a mid-summer position opposite the British?Open. It moved to its end-of-season position in 1999 and to lose just 30 players to a important competition is an improvement, I suppose.
Apart from the issue of the top-125 positions on the Money List which will be decided this week, other positions are almost as important. A top-40 spot will gain entry to the Masters next year, while an improbable jump into the top-30 will guarantee entry into the other majors next year. They face a Jack Nicklaus-designed course that is atypically tight. The course is not long, but with water and narrow tree-lined fairways greeting the players, it is little surprise that Fred Funk has played so well at Annandale. The greens are small and Bentgrass, but it accuracy off the tee that will determine the winner this week.
The three selections are Kirk Triplett, Chris Riley and Skip Kendall. All three have great course form. Triplett has never won this event, but was 2nd by a shot to Willie Wood in 1996 and in four visits to Annandale he has never shot a single round over-par and has never finished outside the top-15. He did miss the cut last week despite a valiant attempt on his last nine holes to claw back into the tournament, but having had two fine events in October, he looks to be a leading contender this week.
Chris Riley can gain entry to his first Masters with a good performance this week and all the indications are that he should. He finished 6th last year with every round in the 60s and has been in great form since finishing 2nd in the International - an event that he should have won - with top-15 finishes in six of his last eight events. In this form he warrants the short price.
Like Triplett, Skip Kendall is a selection who has been a runner-up in this event and that was only last year when he lost in a playoff to Steve Lowery holed a 40-foot putt from off the green. He is the only selection to have played in all four events in October - like so many of the field - but he finished in the top-25 on each occasion and secured a season-high finish of 6th in the NCR Classic. It was his only top-10 of the year and has erased all worries of falling out of the top-125 on the Money List. Playing the best golf of the year and on a course which is set up for his accuracy, he should play well.
Outright plays:
Kirk Triplett to win 20/1 e.w. @?
BetInternet or
Heathorns
Chris Riley to win 20/1 e.w. @?
Sportingbet
Skip Kendall to win 28/1 e.w. @
BetInternet or
Victor Chandler
