The Honda Classic
Thursday Mar 4 – Sunday Mar 7, 2010
Tournament preview to follow....
Ben Crane - Quite simply Crane looks too big a price here what with his record on this course reading T12th (2008) and 3rd (2009) and the fact that he is already a winner on the tour this year at the Farmers Insurance Open. He is a respectable 21st this year in GIR over 17 rounds and is 1st in par 4 performance but more importantly, 27th in par 3 performance. It is also worth noting that in five outings this year he has made the cut four times and was forced to withdraw at the Northern Trust Open. 1 pt e/w @ 50/1 (numerous)
J.P Hayes - With two top 10s already this year in Mexico at the Mayakoba and also at Pebble Beach, J.P is seemingly off to a flyer this year. What interests me most though is that his 5th place finish came at such a difficult and specialist course as Pebble Beach, a fact that bodes well for this week for another tricky outing where course knowledge will be paramount. Hayes' putting stats for this year also catch my eye as he sits 8th in Putting Average, 1st in par 3 performance and a healthy 20th in Birdie Average. In terms of GIR, 38th does not read too badly and couple this with finishes that include T2nd (2000) and more recently T10th (2007) and triple figures tempt me. 0.5pts e/w @ 100/1 (Paddy Power)