While the stars of the game are smashing each other up in 18 hole combat in the WGC Matchplay, the lesser lights of the PGA Tour and world game head to the Dominican Republic for the second Corales Puntacana Championship of the season.
Hudson Swafford is the unfortunate man who will be defending the title within six months of winning it but the positive for him is he does so against a largely second string level field given the position in the calendar this event holds.
Recent Winners
2020 – Hudson Swafford
2019 – Graeme McDowell
2018 – Brice Garnett
The Course
We remain at the Corales Golf Club in Punta Cana this week. To say this course is a monster would be an understatement. It is a par 72 which stretches to 7,666 yards. Wind is always a guaranteed on this coastal setup and although it isn’t expected to be too bad over the course of the four days there will always be a coastal breeze so it is still worth factoring into the equation. The course played very soft in September but there isn’t much rain around this week so we should have the firmer conditions we usually get.
There is a little more of a challenge off the tee than you might think here but the greens on the larger side so there is every reason to believe this is going to come down to a putting contest. The best putter in the field has won both runnings of this event as a PGA Tour tournament at this time of year and I don’t think that is a coincidence. We are basically looking for players who set up a gamut of birdie chances and who takes more than their fair share.
The Field
Such is the level of standard we have this week we only have one player in the top 50 of the current FedExCup rankings on show and that is the defending champion Hudson Swafford who is only that high up because of his exploits here earlier in the season. That opens up a chance for someone to make huge ground even this early in the race to make the playoffs come the end of the campaign. There are 300 points for the winner here which could do some damage.
Those who sit just outside the top 50 in those rankings include Charley Hoffman and Tyler McCumber while Emiliano Grillo and Nate Lashley aren’t too far behind. Other notables in this field include the 2019 champion Graeme McDowell, regular tour winner Charles Howell, popular South American star Jhonattan Vegas and the Belgian World Cup winning pair of Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry. The big names might be missing but the competitiveness shouldn’t be.
Market Leaders
We have joint favourites for the tournament this week in the veteran Charley Hoffman and Thomas Pieters. Hoffman at his best would be far too good for this level but he hasn’t been there for a while. There have been signs in recent times that he is getting back there however. Pieters has been going along quite nicely worldwide recently without showing signs of winning. You get the feeling he is teetering on the edge of striking and in this company it wouldn’t be the biggest surprise if that comes this week but this feels more open than to back an 18/1 shot.
Emiliano Grillo has a pretty consistent record in these second tier events without winning one in recent times and he is 20/1 to add a W to his resume here. He ticks a lot of boxes, not least that he has started to play well again, He is pretty good in the wind and his long game is among the better on the whole of the tour let alone at this level. My problem with Grillo is that he doesn’t win as often as he should do though so he isn’t for me.
Two overseas players are next in the betting at 25/1. Belgian ace Thomas Detry carries a huge reputation around with him but he’s still looking for his first singles win on either the European Tour or the PGA Tour and looks plenty short enough to pick it up here. Jhonattan Vegas had an excellent week in Puerto Rico recently but consistency has never been his strong point so that doesn’t mean that he is going to go well here. Neither of these are for me. It is 28/1 bar.
Main Bets
It was surprising to see Charles Howell III not compete strongly in any of the West Coast Swing events down in California but he made up for that with a very good showing at The Players Championship and the form of that week is better than anything else that is on offer here so he should be a leading contender as a result. I’m not really sure what happened to him in the west coast part of the season, whether he has new bats or just struggled for a bit of motivation but he is someone who once he finds his form tends to hold onto it for a while. After a slow start to the year he could do with maximising his returns here and I think he can be a tough nut to crack on a track that should suit.
The course certainly suits Brice Garnett as do the conditions and given the form he is in I can’t avoid backing him again having backed him last week. Garnett won here in 2018 and arrives in decent form having finished fifth in Puerto Rico a few weeks ago and he shot three decent rounds at The Honda Classic last week before finding the going a little tough on the Sunday. He certainly wasn’t the only one who struggled on the Sunday though so I’m not going to hold that against him. Garnett doesn’t miss many fairways or greens and his putter has caught fire in recent times. He should be a leading contender to regain the title this week.
Outsiders
I’ll chance my arm with three outsiders this week, the first of which is Fabrizio Zanotti. I’ve been waiting for the chance to get on the Paraguayan on the European Tour this term but the opportunity hasn’t presented itself but here might be the time given his tee to green prowess. Zanotti comes in here having fared well in a couple of the desert events on the European Tour where he has feasted on a diet of fairways and greens. He hasn’t holed as much as he would have wanted but the greens in that part of the world can be tricky with the pace of them. He doesn’t have that problem here as the greens are kept slow because of the exposed nature of them. Someone who hits the amount of fairways and greens that he does shouldn’t be far away here so I’ll pay to see how well he goes.
The week has come at a good time for Kelly Kraft who is here on a medical exemption and needs to start earning some cash and fast to keep hold of his playing rights. That he returns to a course where he has finished 3-5-14 in his three trips could be something of a godsend for him and given the lack of strength in the field I’m prepared to give him a chance here. He is decent enough in the wind which probably explains his record around here and if you think the last staging of this event was on a soft track and that was his worst showing there should be a decent outing in him. I’ll pay to see how a course specialist goes here.
I’m also going to have another go with Brian Stuard this week too. This course might be a little long for him but there aren’t many who are hitting more fairways than him at the minute. I took Stuard at The Honda Classic last week but his hopes were sunk when he recorded an 11 at one of the Bear Trap holes. That is possibly to be done though and if there are positives it is that he played the other 35 holes respectably and he won’t have been pushing himself to his limits or anything. Lack of length might be an issue here but there aren’t many who are going to reach the par 5s in two here so if he can dial his short irons in he can still be competitive here. At a three figure price he’s worth another go.
Tips
Back C.Howell III to win Corales Puntacana Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-7)
Back F.Zanotti to win Corales Puntacana Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-7)
Back B.Garnett to win Corales Puntacana Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
Back K.Kraft to win Corales Puntacana Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
Back B.Stuard to win Corales Puntacana Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
Back them here:
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