With the biggest major of the year last week and the latest WGC event next week the PGA Tour event was always on a hiding to nothing this week but as it goes considering where it is sandwiched in the calendar the Quicken Loans National being played on a very tough golf course should mean we are set for another decent week.
Troy Merritt defends the title he won 12 months ago although he will go it on a different course. If you think he can defend it successfully then you can get 150/1 on him winning.
Recent Champions
2015 – Troy Merritt
2014 – Justin Rose
2013 – Bill Haas
2012 – Tiger Woods
2011 – Nick Watney
2010 – Justin Rose
2009 – Tiger Woods
2008 – Anthony Kim
2007 – KJ Choi
The Course
After a year away last year we are back at Congressional Country Club this week. This is a tough course. Maybe not Oakmont tough but when you think the winning score here two years ago was as high as -4 you can see how tough it can be.
The rough is often thick at Congressional so there is a real premium on hitting the fairways but also the greens too because they are hard to find and hard to get up and down from around so although the course is a bit of a beast these days I’m all about accuracy over distance. This is a true ball strikers course.
The course is a par 71 but stretches to a mammoth 7,569 yards and with rain forecast early in the tournament it could well end up playing every one of those yards. The greens here are quite tough so this is a real test of an all-round game for the second week in a row.
The Field
This isn’t the strongest field that has ever been assembled for Tiger Woods’ tournament. Rickie Fowler headlines the field but there is none of the big four in the world if we now put Dustin Johnson into the top four as opposed to Fowler himself.
There are three former champions in the field in the form of Troy Merritt, Bill Haas and KJ Choi but I would imagine although people can understand why the big names aren’t here those involved in the tournament will be quite disappointed with the field for this year.
Market Leaders
Rickie Fowler is a 14/1 shot to break this run of missed cuts with a tournament win but he looks light years away from winning a tournament in his current form. Patrick Reed is next at 18/1 and while he has a run of top 10s this season he hasn’t really looked bang at it for a while now.
Jim Furyk is a 22/1 shot to win the tournament and having gone well at the US Open last week that will be popular I’m sure. Marc Leishman is a 28/1 shot and then incredibly it is 33/1 bar the four men which shows both how weak the field is and how competitive the tournament could be.
Main Bets
I’m having two main bets this week. Both fit the straight hitting, ball striking profile. The first is Jim Furyk. I’ve been waiting for a while to get back on Jim’s side. He is a golfer I like having my money on. You know he’ll get the very best out of every round and even every shot and that is the kind of person I’m happy to have carrying my money.
Furyk is as straight a hitter as they come and we saw last week that long courses don’t worry him. He was putting well and I would imagine he’ll putt even better this week with his caddy Fluff being a member at Congressional so he’ll know all about these greens. We can’t really look into the statistics with Furyk because he has been out for so long but there was nothing wrong with his play last week and a repeat of that should be plenty good enough here.
The other main bet this week is Webb Simpson. Simpson isn’t a man I take too often but as a former US Open champion we know he can be competitive on tough tracks like this one and it is hard not to be encouraged by his form.
Prior to the missed cut at the US Open, Simpson was tied for third at Colonial and just outside the top 10 at Muirfield Village and both are very encouraging performances. He hit over two thirds of the greens in both events which was eye catching. Simpson ranks inside the top 25 in proximity to the pin and strokes gained around the greens so if his recent good form with the putter can continue he shouldn’t be too far away this week.
Outsiders
I’ll take two at the bigger prices this week with the first coming on a man whose iron play is often stunning and if it can be like that here then he is in with every chance. Kevin Streelman has gone well in his last two tournaments and is hitting plenty of greens. If he can catch fire and get streaky with the short stick which he can do from time to time then I fancy him for a big run in this tournament.
I’ve a big feeling that this course is similar to Muirfield Village in that both really test all aspects of a golfer’s game and so I’m going to take the man who was touched off in the playoff in Jack’s tournament in Jon Curran.
Curran is really improving on the tour and his scoring is very good. He is a good putter and a decent scrambler. He is in the top 20 in strokes gained around the green and in the top 25 for strokes gained putting too. He’s only just outside the top 30 in proximity to the hole so statistically Curran is solid enough in all departments. I would expect another decent week from him here.
Tips
Back J.Furyk to win Quicken Loans National (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-7)
PLACED – Back W.Simpson to win Quicken Loans National (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-7)
Back K.Streelman to win Quicken Loans National (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 61.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-7)
Back them here:
Back J.Curran to win Quicken Loans National (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betfred (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES THERE WILL BE NO FANTASY BREAKDOWN THIS WEEK. THAT SECTION WILL RETURN FOR THE WGC TOURNAMENT NEXT WEEK.
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