Outright plays (1.5 units):
Toshimitsu Izawa to win 10/1 e.w. @ Coral
Will gladly take double-figure odds on a player who won this event in 2000 and 2001 and can consider himself unlucky not to retain his place in the Japan team that defends the World Cup this week. He won back-to-back events on the Japan Tour in July following a 3rd place finish and that was how he finished in his last event, the ABC Championship. Simply too good for all but a few of this field, he is a likely winner this week.
Jumbo Ozaki to win 25/1 e.w. @ Stan James
Winning is something that Jumbo has struggled to achieve in recent seasons, though he did win the Ana Open last year. But he is far from being uncompetitive: he has four top-10 finishes in his last six starts, including two runners-up positions. That is also the finish he had in this event in 1997 and 1998, plus he also finished 4th two years ago. He is not the force he once was in Japanese golf, but he is certainly capable of finishing in the top-5 for a place payoff.
Taichi Teshima to win 33/1 e.w. @ Stan James
Rather like Izawa, Teshima won in the late summer, but since returning from the American Express Championship in Georgia, his form has returned only slowly. He has now had top-15 finishes in each of his last three starts (and improving each time) and can claim to have finished no worse than 16th in four of his last six visits here. He shouldn't be too far from the leaderboard on Sunday.
Toshimitsu Izawa to win 10/1 e.w. @ Coral
Will gladly take double-figure odds on a player who won this event in 2000 and 2001 and can consider himself unlucky not to retain his place in the Japan team that defends the World Cup this week. He won back-to-back events on the Japan Tour in July following a 3rd place finish and that was how he finished in his last event, the ABC Championship. Simply too good for all but a few of this field, he is a likely winner this week.
Jumbo Ozaki to win 25/1 e.w. @ Stan James
Winning is something that Jumbo has struggled to achieve in recent seasons, though he did win the Ana Open last year. But he is far from being uncompetitive: he has four top-10 finishes in his last six starts, including two runners-up positions. That is also the finish he had in this event in 1997 and 1998, plus he also finished 4th two years ago. He is not the force he once was in Japanese golf, but he is certainly capable of finishing in the top-5 for a place payoff.
Taichi Teshima to win 33/1 e.w. @ Stan James
Rather like Izawa, Teshima won in the late summer, but since returning from the American Express Championship in Georgia, his form has returned only slowly. He has now had top-15 finishes in each of his last three starts (and improving each time) and can claim to have finished no worse than 16th in four of his last six visits here. He shouldn't be too far from the leaderboard on Sunday.
