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Brandt Snedeker to win 40/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes, Sportingbet and Sporting Odds
In contrast to the European Tour where a strong performance in the British Open was a pre-requisite to finishing high on the leaderboard in last year's event at Gut Kaden, it was of much greater importance on the PGA Tour to have not even travelled across the Atlantic. Of the top-5 at last year's U.S. Bank Championship, which was played the week after the British Open, only two had returned from Royal Liverpool Golf Club; of the top-12 on the leaderboard, only four players had been competing in the British Open. On that basis, and with course experience being very rare now that it is the North Course that is being used this week at Angus Glen, the best value odds should be on players who didn't make that trip across the Atlantic. One such player is Snedeker who has three top-10 finishes in his last five starts and was in the top-10 for each of the first two rounds of the U.S. Open last month. Add in the additional factors that the North Course has extremely large greens, averaging 8,000 sq.ft (compared to a Tour average of 6,000 sq.ft), and Snedeker is 2nd in the "Three-Putt Avoidance" category and he should record another top-10 this week.
Nathan Green to win 66/1 e.w. @ Stan James
Putting is the cornerstone of Green's game. Not only does he rank in the top-10 in the "Three-Putt Avoidance" category, but in the more traditional putting categories, he ranks 3rd in putting average and 4th in putts per round, so he should find the course to his advantage this week. And while he disappointed last week as a selection, merely finishing 57th, he admitted on his website that he had been feeling a little flat after his performance the previous week when he had held the lead after the second and third rounds, only to finish 3rd. In hindsight, he should have been avoided last week on this basis, but his website also reports on his encouraging final round 67 at Brown Deer Park so he should have some momentum heading into the week as he seeks to earn his third top-5 finish in seven starts.
Camilo Villegas to win 80/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes
Villegas is a very different type of player. He is much too erratic to rank highly in any of the Tour's statistical averages, but he does have a very good top5:starts ratio on this Tour: 6 in 47 starts. And the fact that he has just three further finishes in the top-20 shows that he is a very hit-and-miss player who will either earn at least a place return on an each-way wager or not feature at all. When the odds are 80/1 (and so the place odds reach 20/1) there should be value in backing him, particularly as one of those top-5 finishes was in this event last year. Of course, a different course was used at the time, but it will still be encouraging, as was last week's performance was he was inside the top-10 at the cut.
Brandt Snedeker to win 40/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes, Sportingbet and Sporting Odds
In contrast to the European Tour where a strong performance in the British Open was a pre-requisite to finishing high on the leaderboard in last year's event at Gut Kaden, it was of much greater importance on the PGA Tour to have not even travelled across the Atlantic. Of the top-5 at last year's U.S. Bank Championship, which was played the week after the British Open, only two had returned from Royal Liverpool Golf Club; of the top-12 on the leaderboard, only four players had been competing in the British Open. On that basis, and with course experience being very rare now that it is the North Course that is being used this week at Angus Glen, the best value odds should be on players who didn't make that trip across the Atlantic. One such player is Snedeker who has three top-10 finishes in his last five starts and was in the top-10 for each of the first two rounds of the U.S. Open last month. Add in the additional factors that the North Course has extremely large greens, averaging 8,000 sq.ft (compared to a Tour average of 6,000 sq.ft), and Snedeker is 2nd in the "Three-Putt Avoidance" category and he should record another top-10 this week.
Nathan Green to win 66/1 e.w. @ Stan James
Putting is the cornerstone of Green's game. Not only does he rank in the top-10 in the "Three-Putt Avoidance" category, but in the more traditional putting categories, he ranks 3rd in putting average and 4th in putts per round, so he should find the course to his advantage this week. And while he disappointed last week as a selection, merely finishing 57th, he admitted on his website that he had been feeling a little flat after his performance the previous week when he had held the lead after the second and third rounds, only to finish 3rd. In hindsight, he should have been avoided last week on this basis, but his website also reports on his encouraging final round 67 at Brown Deer Park so he should have some momentum heading into the week as he seeks to earn his third top-5 finish in seven starts.
Camilo Villegas to win 80/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes
Villegas is a very different type of player. He is much too erratic to rank highly in any of the Tour's statistical averages, but he does have a very good top5:starts ratio on this Tour: 6 in 47 starts. And the fact that he has just three further finishes in the top-20 shows that he is a very hit-and-miss player who will either earn at least a place return on an each-way wager or not feature at all. When the odds are 80/1 (and so the place odds reach 20/1) there should be value in backing him, particularly as one of those top-5 finishes was in this event last year. Of course, a different course was used at the time, but it will still be encouraging, as was last week's performance was he was inside the top-10 at the cut.
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