While the leading lights on the PGA Tour will be slugging it out in Memphis, once again there is the opportunity for the lesser stars of the game to get their chance in the spotlight when they head to Nevada for the Barracuda Championship.
Andrew Putnam took advantage of a drop in grade last year when he sauntered to the title but with that giving him the platform to push on with his career he is not in the field this week. Therefore we will have a different winner of the modified scoring event.
Recent Winners
2018 – Andrew Putnam
2017 – Chris Stroud
2016 – Greg Chalmers
2015 – JJ Henry
2014 – Geoff Ogilvy
2013 – Gary Woodland
2012 – JJ Henry
2011 – Scott Piercy
2010 – Matt Bettencourt
2009 – John Rollins
The Scoring
It is Stableford scoring this week rather than the usual scoring system used on the PGA Tour. Players receive two points to their score for every birdie they make while each eagle is worth five points. You get nothing for a par and lose a point for each bogey your player makes. Double bogeys and worse are worth a loss of three points. At the end of the week the highest number of points wins the tournament.
The Course
The Montreux Golf and Country Club has been the host course throughout its existence and that remains the case this week. The recipe for success is a pretty obvious one – make plenty of birdies. The scoring system is made for players who plough in the birdies with scores around the mid-40s required to challenge for the tournament win. That equates to about six birdies per round.
The course is a par 72 which measures 7,472 yards but we are at altitude this week so it doesn’t play anything like as long as that and if you look at the list of winners there is certainly no need to be a bomber. Hitting plenty of greens and holing a lot of putts are generally the key to going well around here so putting and birdie statistics should be focused on.
The Field
Clearly it is not the best field of all time this week but it is better than the one which did battle for the Barbasol Championship last week. It is headlined by the new kid on the block Collin Morikawa while two-time major champion Martin Kaymer brings a good deal of class to proceedings. Daniel Berger is another who is looking to get back to the top echelons of the game and will boost his chances with a win this week.
There is plenty of experience mixed in with youth here with the seasoned campaigners such as Martin Laird, Bill Haas and Ryan Palmer being joined by new boys on the scene in Denny McCarthy, Sepp Straka and one or two others. Pat Perez, Andrew Landry, Russell Henley and Jhonattan Vegas will all be hoping their class shines through over the course of the week.
Market Leaders
There is the feeling that Collin Morikawa is a winner in waiting on the PGA Tour but he won’t have been a favourite for an event of this kind very often. That is the case for him this week as he heads the betting at 12/1. I would say that is no more than a fair price even allowing for his ability. He’s on debut here and he is probably going to need to win to make any money from the price. I don’t think that is guaranteed.
Martin Kaymer and Daniel Berger are a good deal above this level when they are at or close to their best. If either show up with even 85% of their top game the 20/1 quoted on each of them will look massive but we have to be conscious that they are in this tournament for a reason – they’ve not had it good in recent times. Kaymer’s inability to close out tournaments would be a big concern for me while Berger needs a performance before he can be considered.
Martin Laird has a wonderful record around here and he is 22/1 to win the tournament. I put him up for this event at 33/1 last year and he didn’t make the frame so I’m in no rush to take him at this price even allowing for his good record in the tournament. Russell Henley and Emiliano Grillo come next in the betting. Henley ticks a lot of boxes whereas Grillo’s form is mixed. Both are perfectly capable of winning a tournament of this kind though. It is 28/1 bar.
Main Bets
I took Denny McCarthy last week and he shot 19 under par but never even made the top 10 such was the level of scoring in Kentucky. There is no reason not to take him again here though because he is in the leader on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained Putting and sits at 22 for par breakers and 15 on the birdie average list. If anything he has been guilty of killing his card with one bad hole too many but they don’t have the disastrous effect this week that they otherwise might so I think he has every chance of being in the frame at 33s.
Andrew Landry hasn’t been in the greatest form this year but he came to life at the John Deere Classic a couple of weeks ago and if he has that level of play with him here he should lead these a merry dance. It is only 15 months ago that Landry was winning the Texas Open which shows how good he can be and if he found something at the John Deere he should go very well here. He is one of the better putters on the Tour at his best and his long game is decent enough. I expect a big showing from him here.
Outsiders
Dominic Bozzelli is another who has had a quiet time of it recently but he was inside the top 10 at the Barbasol last week and should have taken a lot of confidence out of that. He sits second on the PGA Tour for SGP which has to be a big thing this week. He is also number 13 on the list for birdie average so his score should automatically add up as the week goes on. His long game has let him down in the past but the only test in that regard here is getting the distances right. If he can do that then last week showed us he is hitting the ball well enough to contend.
Anders Albertson hasn’t had the first season he would have liked on the PGA Tour but he made the top 20 in Kentucky last week which caught my eye. I say that because he led the Web.com Tour for birdie average last season so when he is hitting the ball well he clearly makes a lot of birdies. This is probably half a grade up on the Web.com stuff but he has two top 15 finishes this season. It has all gone pear-shaped in 2019 but he wouldn’t be the first person to have a big week after finding some confidence and with bogeys not as damaging as in other weeks I’ll ride the birdie train to see where it takes me.
Tips
Back D.McCarthy to win Barracuda Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with 888sport (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back A.Landry to win Barracuda Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 46.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back D.Bozzelli to win Barracuda Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
Back A.Albertson to win Barracuda Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-8)
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019
