With a slightly later start to the USPGA Championship on Thursday there is enough time for us to look at a few side markets before the tournament kicks into gear. As ever with major championships there are a multitude of markets on offer for us to delve into and while I’ve taken a couple of extra players to usual in my outright picks there are still a few markets open to us here.
Top Frenchman
We’ll start with probably the most obvious pick of the week in what is actually a match between Gregory Bourdy and Victor Dubuisson. I say it is a match but I’m actually expecting it to be quite a mismatch.
Gregory Bourdy isn’t someone who shouts off the rooftops about how good he is, indeed he enjoys going under the radar, but those who follow the game will know he is a very gritty and determined player who looks to get the best out of himself every week. More importantly he is a straight hitter from tee to green and far from the worst when he gets on the greens.
Readers of our DFS fantasy breakdown will know we are opposing Victor Dubuisson strongly in that game and we have to oppose him here too. Since the turn of the year the maverick Frenchman has a best finish of a tie for 42nd. He is regularly injured and is far too erratic off the tee to be competitive here and him just making the cut would be a surprise.
I fancy Bourdy might only have to make the cut to win this match and at 4/5 I’m happy to back him to do just that given the difference in their styles, profiles and fitness.
Top Australian
This is another market to look closer at with the news of Jason Day’s physical struggles now public knowledge. I guess Adam Scott would be the obvious alternative but since winning twice on the PGA Tour he has been less than convincing. He has only had one top 10 since he won the WGC Cadillac and that was in the scaled down field at the WGC Bridgestone so I’m taking them both on this week.
You can make a case for a couple of players if you are taking on the main two but the player I like is the recent Barbasol champion Aaron Baddeley. Baddeley leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained around the green this year and he is seventh in strokes gained putting and in recent weeks there has been a marked improvement in his long game.
If that long game continues to function well this week then he should put up another good effort to go with the three other top 10s as well as that win that he has managed this season. At 22/1 he’s worth a punt to see if it all comes together as a top 20 might just get it done here.
Top Englishman
There is a bit of a dearth of English talent in this tournament. Usually tournaments are pushing 20 players of English descent at this level but this event only has 12 which makes for a solid but select market on the top Englishman.
Justin Rose is the favourite but he hasn’t impressed us for a while and although he looks to be on the upturn I’m not convinced this is the week he’ll flourish. If I could’ve got a bigger price on Lee Westwood than 11/2 I would probably have taken it as I do have a feeling he’ll go well this week but I can’t so I’ll leave him out.
Danny Willett is tempting back on US soil but he still isn’t playing to the level he was earlier in the year while the likes of Chris Wood is just coming back from injury and Matt Fitzpatrick is in a poor trot at the minute so I’ll avoid those.
In fairness I think it could be wise to follow the form of The Open where Andy Sullivan and Andrew Johnston had decent tournaments. I like Sullivan and am pleased he’s going well but at double the price it is Beef for me. He is straight off the tee and finds the greens. If his short game can work like it did at Troon he shouldn’t be far away especially with the each way terms on offer.
Tips
WON – Back G.Bourdy Top Frenchman for a 5/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
Back A.Baddeley Top Australian for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Coral
Back them here:
Back A.Johnston Top Englishman (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with Skybet (1/4 1-3)
Back him here:
