I’ve picked the main players for my squad of men for the WGC Bridgestone Invitational this week and now it is time to look at the bigger priced players to compliment them to give me some extra value in what is always a good week of golf.
Although the field is less than 80 runners this week we are still getting five places and with no halfway cut we know our men will be going for the entire four days so we should be able to get a decent run for our money from someone at a tidy price.
As with my outright bets I’m very much focusing on men who drive the ball well. They don’t necessarily have to be long but I’m not interested too much in the genuinely shorter hitters it has to be said. Big tournament pedigree is something else I’m after although at the prices I’m looking at they aren’t going to be world beaters like Jordan Spieth.
One man I like is Marc Leishman. He was third here last year and only missed out in The Open in a playoff after a terrific weekend which launched him back among the world’s best again. He’s had his issues away from golf this year but clearly he is playing good stuff again. I always think there are comparisons between this course and Augusta and Leishman tends to go well around that iconic course so he should go well here too.
Leishman doesn’t stat brilliantly on the PGA Tour in 2015 but we do have to factor in the issues he’s been dealing with away from golf throughout the year so we’re better off taking him on his profile rather than his stats and he hits a lot of fairways and has good touch around the greens. One stat he does go well in is scoring average so he’s primed for a decent week.
I’ve been waiting for a while for the right opportunity to come around to back Branden Grace again and I think this is the week. He’s one of the best drivers in the game when he’s on song. He’s long enough and splits many a fairway and he looks overpriced here especially given how well he went on another Robert Trent Jones design in the US Open.
Grace is very good when he gets in contention which bodes well for him in this field and while a major was just beyond him at Chambers Bay this sort of tournament would be the next stage of his progression. He sits in the top 25 of driving distance, greens in regulation and putts per GIR on the European Tour and if he can put that all together again this week he’s sure to go well.
Another man who I love watching drive the ball is Byeong-Hun An. The BMW PGA Championship winner is one of the cleanest hitters of a golf ball you will see and this track could be right up his street. It will all depend how he goes on or around the greens but he’s deceptively long and pretty accurate with that length off the tee and inside the top 20 for greens in reg in Europe. If he putts well he should have a big week.
Back M.Leishman to win WGC Bridgestone Invitational (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 56.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-5)
Back B.Grace to win WGC Bridgestone Invitational (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Ladbrokes (1/4 1-5)
Back B-H.An to win WGC Bridgestone Invitational (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 176.00 with Coral (1/4 1-5)
Blog golf YTD: -8.59pts
