The Courses
There are are four courses in the rotation this week, but for our purposes we're only going to look at the one that all the pros will play on Sunday.
Arnold Palmer Private at PGA West
La Quinta Country Club
Palmer Course at SilverRock
Nicklaus Private at PGA West
Vitals
Yardage: 6,950
Par: 72
Designed by: Arnold Palmer, 1986
Bunkers: 100
Water Hazards: 5
Green speeds: 10 on Stimpmeter
2010 Difficulty rank: 49 out of 51
Course record: 59, David Duval (1999)
Defending Champion: Bill Haas, -30.
Key Back Nine holes
10th hole, 433-yard Par-four and 11th hole 512-yard Par-five - It's famine then feast when players make the turn on Sunday. The 10th hole ranked as the hardest last year and has been the third hardest over the last ten years playing to a stroke average of 4.198 a year ago. The 11th on the other hand has been the easiest both last year and over the 12 year span, playing to an average of 4.311.
18th hole, 543-yard par-five - The 18th green was the scene of David Duval's epic finish to the tournament in 1999 giving him the win, but more importantly putting him in the record books by shooting the hallowed number of 59. On that day he had at least a birdie putt on 17 holes and only four were longer than 10 feet. It's been the fourth easiest hole over the last 12 years and anytime you end a round with a par-five, fireworks can ensure.
Some of his highlights are in the video below.
Foursome picks
Bo Van Pelt, 30-1 -- He missed the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii last week, but given the fact that he would have had to play 36 holes on Sunday and then had two days to prepare for five rounds of competitive golf, it's probably not the worst thing. In two previous appearances here he finished T5 and T26.
Charley Hoffman, 30-1 -- There are a couple of reasons to like Hoffman in this spot. For one, he's had success here before winning in 2007 and posting a T8 in 2008 and a T19 in 2009. Additionally, he closed 2010 strong with five top-10s -- including his impressive final round showing to win the Deutsche Bank Championship -- in his last nine events, while missing the cut only once. His confidence is likely still soaring since then and could carry him a long way in 2011.
Alex Prugh, 40-1 -- His fifth place showing here last year sparked a run where he posted back-to-back top-fives and three straight top-10s. He struggled to find his consistency for the rest of the year with only two more top-25s and one more top-five -- a runner-up finish at the Frys.com Open. He seems to have started 2011 on the right foot though, finishing T20 while playing the his final two rounds in the Sony Open on Sunday at five-under.
Mike Weir, 50-1 -- Given the struggles he had with his elbow that eventually required surgery last year, it's hard to gauge where Weir's game will be to start the season. But he needs to put together some good finishes early to keep his exempt status. Currently playing on a medical exemption, he has five tournaments to win about $165,000 to maintain his full playing privleges. And this may be the best place for him to start. He won here in 2003 and has been inside the top-six four times, including the last two years.
Longshot
John Rollins, 100-1 -- He lost in a playoff to Hoffman here in 2007. When he did so, his success was tied to his results on the par-fives where he was 15-under par for the week. Conversely, he was even on the par-fours and two-under par on the par threes.
Bonus picks
Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship
Since the field over on the European Tour is miles better this week -- all four major winners from last year and the world number one are teeing it up -- I felt it appropriate to make some selections for that tournament as well.
Ross Fisher, 40-1
Edoardo Molinari, 60-1
Johan Edfors, 150-1
No comments:
Post a Comment