Welcome to the Crowne Plaza Invitational at the Colonial GC in Fort Worth Texas for the latest pit stop on the PGA Tour. This is a really nice course to play on and tends to suit those who have played here a few times, good ball strikers and those players who can shape shots better than most. Itâs not a course that is open and lets you off if you err from the first cut. In fact hitting the fairways is the first challenge on this small course in terms of length. Sitting at only 7,204 yards, it more than makes up for its lack of distance with many holes having dog leg turns, with tricky and small greens. So a player who is top of his game in terms of Driving Accuracy, and can hit greens with regular precision is the way forward⦠Zach Johnson seems to own this tournament if his form is anything to go by in recent years. He won the event back in 2010, followed that up with a 4th in 2011 to regain the title in the following year. Last year he came up short by 2 shots after âBig Badâ Boo Weekley took the title in front of Matt Kuchar. Boo had excellent stats in the Driving Distance, well he is one of those bish bash bosh players isnât he, and hit every fairway in the last round on his way to record a final score of -14 for the week. The odds are not good at the top of the market, Zach is a 14/1 shot, but there are a few out there that catch my eye⦠Ryan Palmer is my retainer pick, though Iâm starting to get a bit worried about his putting performanceâs these last few events, Iâm sticking with him for now. He is still sitting pretty up there in the rankings at the moment, 23rd in GIR, 15th in All Round Driving and 3rd in All Round Ranking on the Tour. If his putting stands up then he will have a good chance to win, but he is testing my patience at the moment⦠John Huh is making only his 3rd visit here to Colonial but he scored -9 to gain a T11th finish last year following on from T5th finish and -5 on his debut back in 2012. This might be a course that sets up well to his eye, and so with that I am picking him here for this week. Boo Weekley, last yearâs winner, is just starting to hit some form at the moment finishing T5th last week in the Byron Nelson where he scored all 4 rounds under par. On top of winning last year he also finishedT9th back in 2010 and looks like he is up for getting his hands back on the trophy again. He was 7th in Driving Accuracy, 4th in GIR and made 16 birdies in last weekâs Byron Nelson⦠Bo Van Pelt is a bit of a gut pick really as I think he might just be showing signs of getting back to where he was last year. He has 2 top 10âs here to his name in the past 4 years, best of 3rd behind David Toms in 2011. Although he hasnât made one single entry into the top 10 yet this year he finished T26th at the Players, and had 1 round bogey free, and made 13 birdies for the week⦠Ryan Palmer @ 40/1⦠John Huh @ 50/1⦠Boo Weekley @ 50/1⦠Bo Van Pelt @ 80/1⦠All done in the usual £2.50 e/w⦠PadPow pays1/4 odds top 5â¦
Not much thought has gone into this weeks picks (but then again when you stick to the same stable of players mainly, it doesnt take much thought!) Jordan Spieth 16/1 £20 win Hideki Matsuyama 66/1 £4 e/w Brendon De Jonge 80/1 £3 e/w Geoff Ogilvy 100/1 £3 e/w Sueng Yul Noh 100/1 £3 e/w
Fingers crossed we're both cheering Sunday evening One of the last out today, hopefully can stay in contention, and then shoot low in the morning session tomorrow!
Leaderboard ater the 1st round... Leader - Dusty Johnson @ -5 T6 - Jimmy Walker, -3 T6 - Bo Van Pelt, -3 T6 - Jordan Spieth, -3 T24 - Ryan Palmer, -1 T24 - Geoff Ogilvy, -1 T24 - Hideki Matsuyama, -1 T42 - Brandt Snedeker, E T42 - Brendon de Jonge, E T64 - John Huh, +1 T64 - Boo Weekley, +1 T82 - Seung-Yul Noh, +2 Not a bad start for our picks so far lads, even with Noh being 7 shots back, he could get into the top 20 with a storming round later on tonight... I just caught the back end of the round last night and every player seemed to be bombing the greens but missing easy 3-5 foot putts... Dufner missing one from inside a foot...!!! Dusty looked very good though, and he looks like the winner already for me. But at a starting price of 22/1, he better win it if your going to go with the e/w call, and I like going for the longer odds anyway...!!! It looks like were in for a bit of fun this weekend with the golf, so fingers crossed one of us brings home the bacon...
Leaderboard after the 2nd round... Leader - Alf's son, Brice Garnet @ -7 T4 - Bo Van Pelt, -5 T4 - Jimmy Walker, -5 T11 - Jordan Spieth, -4 T11 - Brandt Snedeker, -4 T23 - Brendon de Jonge, -2 T23 - Ryan Palmer, -2 T36 - Hideki Matsuyama, -1 T47 - Boo Weekley, E CUT - Geoff Ogilvy CUT - John Huh CUT - Seung-Yul Noh Another good effort by from the lads this week as we see 6 picks in the top 25, only 5 shots behind the leader. 35 players sit at just 5 shots back from Brice Garnet and you couldn't call it from here who will win it, but lets hope that one of our picks can keep it up until Sunday night...
Leaderboard after the 3rd round... Leader - 4 way tie @ -7 T1 - Hideki Matsuyama, -7 T5 - Jimmy Walker, -6 T11 - Bo Van Pelt, -5 T18 - Ryan Palmer, -4 T18 - Jordan Spieth, -4 T37 - Brendon de Jonge, -2 T50 - Brandt Snedeker, -1 T72 - Boo Weekley, +4 Its always nice to have an interest going into the final round of en event and this weekend we 'DO' have an interest. It's a 4 way tie at the top but24 players are all within 3 shots of each other so we arnt certain for sure yet of getting one across the line... Fingers crossed for us as we have 5 picks in the top 20, all with a chance...
2 shots from Adam Scott, adverts, 5 minutes talking to McIllroy, couple more shots from Scott, more adverts, shot from Scott, talk about Scott for 10 minutes.. God I hate skysports coverage.
Adam 'Beam me up ' Scotty beat Jason Dufner to claim the Crowne Plaza title but only after a 3 hole play-off had been played to split them. He's back to being Number 1 in the World Rankngs, which is nice for him, and walked away with his first win if the year so far... Pleased for him, but I am with Jeff on his call with that putter thing he wields... Get rid of it...!!! After the great start we had with our picks from Thursday through to the start on Sunday it was no time for them to then let us down with only Ryan Palmer making the top 5... Though a return of £5.50 because of a 5-way tie dosnt mean I'm going whoop de whoop over my return...!!! Never mind, onwards and upwards, and on to Memorial at Muirfield...
Fantastic!! As for Hideki..well i'm sure that will do him the world of good in the long run. I cant be too greedy!!
