The European Tour introduces a new event to its full schedule this week as the Australian PGA Championship becomes a co-sanctioned event with full tour privileges and as a result a few big names have made the trip to the Gold Coast for the week.
The field is led by Brandt Snedeker with a host of top Australian players also lining up but with other big events going on around the world there is no Adam Scott or Jason Day in the field this week.
Snedeker begins the week as the 12/1 joint favourite alongside John Senden. David Lingmerth makes the long trip to Australia in the search of Ryder Cup points this week. He’s 18/1 to land the title with Brett Rumford a 20/1 shot. Cameron Smith is 22/1 and it is 28/1 bar that quintet.
The tournament takes place at the RACV Royal Pines Resort which has undergone a bit of a renovation in recent seasons. There was a portion of this tournament where it became a bombers paradise but the powers that be have put a stop to that with plenty of trouble off the tee so accuracy is now a vital commodity around here.
The course is still pretty long so length is going to be something of an advantage this week but only if you are hitting it straight. As with most Australian courses the greens are well protected and require good accuracy to get putts to drop.
I get why Snedeker is the favourite this week but whether he’s any value I’m less sure of. I don’t think either he or Senden offer much value if I’m honest. In days gone by this would be won by a decent name but in truth there aren’t many household names in the event this week so we could be set up for a surprise.
Jason Scrivener caught my eye in the Hong Kong Open recently when he came through a star studded field to finish in a tie for third ahead of some pretty decent names including Anirban Lahiri, Thongchai Jaidee, Graeme McDowell and Ian Poulter so that was a decent effort.
He followed that up with a solid effort in South Africa last week but what caught the eye about that was his driving accuracy. On not the easiest fairways to hit he was third in driving accuracy and there were some good drivers on show in that tournament so he’s driving the ball well and if he does that here he’ll have a very good chance.
He was inside the top 20 here last year but was one off the lead after three rounds before he fell apart late on but that effort in Hong Kong was encouraging enough for me to give him another chance here.
Rod Pampling is getting no younger but he remains capable of playing the game as he showed in the final round of the Australian Open last week when he carded a 10 under par round to shoot himself up the leaderboard.
He has the sort of profile which should go well around this course so with the confidence that round will have given him I’m happy to back him at 33/1 this week. This tournament might not take a lot of winning so if he can fire another solid round at some point and chip in around it he’s entitled to go very close this week.
Wade Ormsby may not be the longest in the world but he is very straight off the tee and although a bit of length would be nice I’m willing to pay to see how close he can go by playing the course from the short stuff. He was only beaten here in a playoff last year which is encouraging and since then he has gone on and performed well.
Ormsby has featured in the business end of some decent tournaments in Europe in the recent past so this event should be well within his compass. Hitting fairways will be key this week so let’s take someone who is extremely likely to hit more than most.
Back J.Scrivener to win Australian PGA Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Stan James (1/4 1-5)
Back R.Pampling to win Australian PGA Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Coral (1/4 1-5)
Back W.Ormsby to win Australian PGA Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 36.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-5)
Blog golf YTD: +145.46pts
