Preview & outright plays:
A top class event and a top class field, this is a classic golf event in the middle of a rich vein of quality tournaments on the European Tour. Monty has won this event for the past three years and will hope to reach Faldo's record of four wins. He is not the only one aiming for that record: Langer has also win this event three times. This is an event and a course which brings to the fore the best players so a big price winner is not on the agenda this week!
The event also sees the return of some the Tour's best players of the past decade, Vijay Singh and Ernie Els, both of whom have excellent records on this course when it is used for the Cisco World Matchplay each October. The damp conditions of those events will be replicated this week as the course is reported to be playing long through drying out after a very wet winter. Long-straight hitting is important, but above all, this is a shot-maker's course and excellent greens in regulation stats are the hallmark of all previous winners.
The three outright selections this week are Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and Nick O'Hern. With Els evidently affected by the death of his grandmother last week, Westwood affected by the birth of his son, Monty affected by a lack of confidence on the greens and Clarke affected by everything but the task at hand, the stage is left virtually empty for Singh to win this at a canter! He won the Matchplay here in 1987 and his games fits the bill perfectly this week. With the start of this event taking place on Friday this week, the transatlantic flight should not affect his game and he comes into this event in decent form having scored seven of his eight rounds in the 60s in the last two weeks, but without be able to buy a putt! Putting is of lesser importance on the European Tour and on this course in particular. Very difficult to see him outside the top-3.
Retief Goosen is another who just can't buy a putt at the moment. He has finished 7th and 14th in the last two weeks and seems to have his old swing back again. Generally acknowledged to have the best swing on Tour, he is one of the best players from tee to green, but doesn't win enough times because he is frankly ordinary with the flat blade. As stated above, this is of lesser importance on this course and with finishes of 4th and 7th in the last two years, that is ample proof.
Finally, Nick O'Hern was a profitable pick in the matchups last week and clearly looked to have regained his form of earlier in the year on the Australasian Open. He doesn't fit the bill of Singh and Goosen as being powerful drivers of the ball, but he does rank high in the greens in regulation stats and is currently 3rd in scoring average on the European Tour this year. With an excellent 65 to lead the event last year after the first day - he eventually finished 11th - this should be a welcome return for the young Australian and he could easily improve on that number.
Outright plays:
Vijay Singh to win 10/1 e.w. @ Surrey
Retief Goosen to win 33/1 e.w. @ Bet247
Nick O'Hern to win 66/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes or Coral Eurobet [5 places option]
A top class event and a top class field, this is a classic golf event in the middle of a rich vein of quality tournaments on the European Tour. Monty has won this event for the past three years and will hope to reach Faldo's record of four wins. He is not the only one aiming for that record: Langer has also win this event three times. This is an event and a course which brings to the fore the best players so a big price winner is not on the agenda this week!
The event also sees the return of some the Tour's best players of the past decade, Vijay Singh and Ernie Els, both of whom have excellent records on this course when it is used for the Cisco World Matchplay each October. The damp conditions of those events will be replicated this week as the course is reported to be playing long through drying out after a very wet winter. Long-straight hitting is important, but above all, this is a shot-maker's course and excellent greens in regulation stats are the hallmark of all previous winners.
The three outright selections this week are Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and Nick O'Hern. With Els evidently affected by the death of his grandmother last week, Westwood affected by the birth of his son, Monty affected by a lack of confidence on the greens and Clarke affected by everything but the task at hand, the stage is left virtually empty for Singh to win this at a canter! He won the Matchplay here in 1987 and his games fits the bill perfectly this week. With the start of this event taking place on Friday this week, the transatlantic flight should not affect his game and he comes into this event in decent form having scored seven of his eight rounds in the 60s in the last two weeks, but without be able to buy a putt! Putting is of lesser importance on the European Tour and on this course in particular. Very difficult to see him outside the top-3.
Retief Goosen is another who just can't buy a putt at the moment. He has finished 7th and 14th in the last two weeks and seems to have his old swing back again. Generally acknowledged to have the best swing on Tour, he is one of the best players from tee to green, but doesn't win enough times because he is frankly ordinary with the flat blade. As stated above, this is of lesser importance on this course and with finishes of 4th and 7th in the last two years, that is ample proof.
Finally, Nick O'Hern was a profitable pick in the matchups last week and clearly looked to have regained his form of earlier in the year on the Australasian Open. He doesn't fit the bill of Singh and Goosen as being powerful drivers of the ball, but he does rank high in the greens in regulation stats and is currently 3rd in scoring average on the European Tour this year. With an excellent 65 to lead the event last year after the first day - he eventually finished 11th - this should be a welcome return for the young Australian and he could easily improve on that number.
Outright plays:
Vijay Singh to win 10/1 e.w. @ Surrey
Retief Goosen to win 33/1 e.w. @ Bet247
Nick O'Hern to win 66/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes or Coral Eurobet [5 places option]
