Preview & outright plays:
Earlier this year it was Arnie who was sending out the personal invitations to his tournament; this week it's Jack's turn. A much smaller than average field, though notably weaker than in previous years, has assembled to tackle Muirfield Village, a course never out of the top-20 "greatest courses" and based heavily on the Augusta National. Nicklaus has said about his course: "golf to me is a game of precision more than power, and I think this course reflects that". However, the roll-call of recent winners: Woods (2000, 1999), Couples (1998), Singh (1997) suggests otherwise. The reason: "Memorial weather"!
The event has been afflicted by heavy rain. Of the 100 rounds played in the previous 25 tournaments, 23 have been delayed, interrupted or canceled because of the weather. Last year was no exception, the event finished on Monday and when Singh won in '97, the event was reduced to three rounds, and it took five days to play them! Jack wanted this course set up like a major, with long rough and fast greens, but the weather has frustrated him almost every year and with the current weather forecast, looks like it will do once again.
At 7200 yards, the course is long with severe penalties for missing the fairways. The par fours are, collectively, the toughest on tour, while the small greens are Bentgrass, undulating, and in dry conditions, very, very fast. The parallels with Augusta are clear. The final note is that this event is dedicated to the memory of a person, living or dead. This year it will be Payne Stewart. Amen.
The event is sadly missing the likes of Duval to a wedding, Mickelson who chose to play the Kemper Open instead
, and Love whose neck injury may require surgery. It also features Singh and Els who were both playing at Wentworth on Monday in the Volvo PGA Championship and were really not playing that well. In such circumstances it is hard to find a credible opponent to Tiger who has won this event for the last two years. The best player by a mile and with a knack to getting the best draw and avoiding the worst of the weather, he is very hard to oppose this week. At 5/4 he is tempting this week, at 8/5 he is great value (for once!). No apologies for backing the favorite, he is justifiably so!
With a double-play on Tiger, there is just one other outright pick this week and rightfully, it is in a w/o Woods market. Paul Azinger represents the best value in this market and as 19 of the last 25 champions have won majors, he fits that category as well. He is a former winner of this event (1993) and has finished 19th and 5th in the last two years as part of the re-discovery of his game. One concern may be a little rustiness - he hasn't played since the Worldcom Classic, but he finished his last four tournaments in the top-15 and was in great form before the break.
Outright plays:
Tiger Woods to win 8/5 @
VIP Sports [2 units]
Paul Azinger to win 40/1 e.w. @
Bet247 [w/o Woods market, 1/4 odds, five places]
Cheers Booman - thanks for the info as ever
