The USPGA Championship tees off in San Francisco on Thursday but before it does there is just enough time to have a look at a few of the specials markets that have been priced up for the opening major of the year.
We have markets for most of the individual nationalities, the finishing position, to make or miss the cut and a whole lot more. We’ve picked out three bets from each of them to complement the outright selections we have already come up with.
Top Asian
I’m often one for getting involved in this market because I rarely seem to take Asian players to win the major tournaments. I’m not sure why that is but they never seem to be in the greatest form going into them. That is the case here where the market leaders Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im are both bubbling below their best at present. Byeong-Hun An always tempts me in but his final round in Memphis last week does nothing for me.
Instead with the each way terms available I’m prepared to give Xinjun Zhang a go this week. He has quietly come into this week with a couple of top 12 finishes in his last two starts, one of them being that extremely tough week at Muirfield Village for The Memorial. He followed that up with a good showing at the 3M Open and with a top 10 at the Safeway Open earlier in the season we know the west coast isn’t a problem for him. He has gained more than a stroke on the field putting in his last two outings and with those I mentioned above not firing fully with their putter, the Chinese player could run into a place if not more at a tidy 14/1.
Top Irish Player
There are only three Irishmen in the field this week and as you would expect, the former champion Rory McIlroy is a pretty warm order but it is impossible to like his form going into the tournament. His results are showing that his game isn’t at its best and the statistics are doing likewise so I feel he has to be taken on. Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell are the other men in this market and while the former offered up better signs last week, I’ll go with the latter here.
McDowell is the shortest of these three off the tee. That point needs to be made but that doesn’t mean that he can’t tame this course. It is a while back in 2005 when the WGC was held here but McDowell tied for sixth that week and we shouldn’t remember he has already seen off a pretty strong field in Saudi Arabia this year too. He has plenty of form in California not least his 2010 US Open win at Pebble Beach so at 15/2 in a three horse race in which one of the horses is nowhere near their best, I think the veteran of the trio is decent value.
Top Canadian
The last market that I like the look of is the one for the Top Canadian player, a market that has four runners, but unlike the Irish one lacks a genuine standout quality. The four players in this market are Corey Conners, Adam Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes and Nick Taylor with Conners a marginal favourite over Hadwin in both places with the other two a little bit bigger than that.
It is one of those two that I like here. Mackenzie Hughes has been tracking along nicely as I highlighted in the WGC last week and although I never collected anything last week I’m prepared to have a dabble on the 4/1 that he leads home the Canadian quartet this week. Nothing has changed from what I said last week. His short game has caught the eye in recent weeks and with his long game improving as well, against opponents either not as good as him in Taylor or bang out of form in Hadwin, this looks like a match between Hughes and Conners. I’ll take Hughes at twice the price.
Tips
Back X.Zhang Top Asian (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 15.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-3)
Back G.McDowell Top Irish Player for a 1/10 stake at 8.50 with William Hill
Back him here:
DEAD HEAT – Back M.Hughes Top Canadian for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with 888sport
Back him here:
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