The third PGA Tour event of 2019 has a new name as the CareerBuilder Challenge has turned into the Desert Classic but it is the only thing in the pro-am style tournament that has changed for its latest renewal.
Jon Rahm won this tournament last year and will be bidding to defend his title in a decent field despite the slow paced nature of the event with professionals and amateurs on the course in partnership with each other. This is quite a tricky watch but we won’t care if we find the winner.
Recent Winners
2018 – Jon Rahm
2017 – Hudson Swafford
2016 – Jason Dufner
2015 – Bill Haas
2014 – Patrick Reed
2013 – Brian Gay
2012 – Mark Wilson
2011 – Jhonattan Vegas
2010 – Bill Haas
2009 – Pat Perez
The Courses
One of the quirks of this tournament is the fact that it is played across three courses. Much like the Dunhill Links on the European Tour, each professional and amateur plays each course once over the first three days with the final round being on the Stadium Course to crown our champion on Sunday.
The three courses in use this week are the Stadium Course, Tournament Course at PGA Wes and La Quinta Country Club. All three courses are par 72s and none of them measure more than 7,159 yards so that in itself tells us the sort of tournament to expect this week. Add in that the course is set up easier than normal for the amateurs and we are in for a low scoring week. With that in mind get on those who hit plenty of greens and who are hot with the putter and you shouldn’t go too far wrong.
The Field
We will see stronger fields for PGA Tour events this week but with Justin Rose teeing it up here there is a feeling that this one is strong enough. He joins his Ryder Cup teammate and defending champion Jon Rahm in the field for this tournament and they head the profile of it in many ways.
One man who could well be in the next Ryder Cup for the Americans is Patrick Cantlay and he also tees it up this week. Recent winners Charles Howell III and Andrew Putnam are also in the field for this tournament while the likes of Adam Hadwin and Abraham Ancer add a touch of international quality to the event.
Market Leaders
Jon Rahm is a 7/1 shot to make a successful defence of the title. I would agree that he is the favourite and potentially the most likely winner but even as good as he is nobody can get involved in someone at a single figure price in a three course lottery where conditions can change so much. If he wins he wins but he isn’t for me at this price.
Justin Rose is a 10/1 poke to land the title here. The first thing to appreciate is that he is with a different man on the bag this week as Fooch is having heart surgery. Henrik Stenson’s former caddy Gareth Lord is on the bag. The other thing to note is that he is playing with new bats having signed a new manufacturer deal and that is more than enough for me to swerve him.
Patrick Cantlay is 18/1 to win the tournament which is a bit of a concern. This tournament moves slowly enough as it is without one of the slowest of the lot being in the mix on Sunday. I’m not sure if Cantlay holes enough putts to win this thing but he is easily the third best player in this field and that might count for something when the holes are all tallied up.
Charles Howell III has already won on the PGA Tour this season and he is 20/1 to follow that up with another one here. It was a long time between drinks for Charles and so there is no massive evidence that another chalk is going to come along so soon. I wonder if he holes enough putts to win a tournament of this kind. His long game should have him competitive mind you. It is 30/1 bar those named.
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Main Bets
As I intimated above we’re looking for good putters this week and two jump off the page at me. Andrew Putnam is the obvious first one. He went insanely well with the putter in both tournaments in Hawaii so we know that he is coming in here in decent enough form. Putnam showed his putting talents at the Barracuda Championship back in August and his runner up spot last week was his second top five finish of this season after he went well in the WGC event in China, another sign of his putting ability. He’s getting in plenty of golf at the minute as he has a kid on the way and I wouldn’t be surprised if he snatches another trophy here.
Zach Johnson is another decent putter and with length not being an issue on any of these courses I’m expecting a decent run from him this week. Johnson has a pretty good record in this tournament with a bunch of good finishes and I see no reason why that won’t continue here. If this field was a bit stronger then others might be preferred but Johnson remains class in this company and he’s just too big to land this prize.
Outsiders
Danny Willett coasted to victory in Dubai towards the end of last year and his game looked in fantastic order in that tournament. In fairness to him that was coming because he had shown signs for a couple of months or so. What I like about Willett here is he has the temperament to embrace what this tournament is all about. 2019 will be a big year for the former Masters champion and it might begin with a win in this event.
I backed Andrew Landry here last year and he was touched off by Jon Rahm in a tight finish but I can’t ignore him this year just in case he goes one better. At 100/1 he’s a price that we can pay to see how he goes. I mentioned last year that these courses suit up nicely for him and he showed that. If his putter warms up from the start this time around he could double his PGA Tour title tally over the course of these four days.
I’ve backed Hunter Mahan a few times over the last 12 months or so and I was always going to look for a way to get involved in him in California where a lot of his success has come in his career. Mahan has always been a fearless putter and while the long game isn’t quite as good as it was, that won’t be an issue around these three tracks the way they will be set up. If Mahan can deliver with the short stick 175/1 on him to get back into the winners’ circle could soon look very big.
Tips
Back A.Putnam to win Desert Classic (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 31.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
Back Z.Johnson to win Desert Classic (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 56.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
Back D.Willett to win Desert Classic (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
Back A.Landry to win Desert Classic (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-7)
Back H.Mahan to win Desert Classic (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 176.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-7)
Back them here:
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