BMW Championship
The BMW is the second event on the road to the FedEx Cup final. The field cut to 70, the course is the Olympia Fields CC, in Chicago, Illinois.
The North Course – the club’s tournament venue was designed in 1923 by Willie Park Jr., who won the Open Championship in 1887 and 1889 and was a celebrated club designer and golf course designer of over 150 courses, his efforts recognised at Sunningdale old course, world renowned.
Olympia Fields has hosted the US Open in 1928 and 2003 and the PGA Championship in 1961.
Although Park’s work includes more than 100 golf courses worldwide, including timeless masterpieces at Sunningdale and Maidstone, Park believed the North Course at Olympia Fields was his greatest design, the land eminently suitable to good golf.
Park’s original design, has had few changes since 1915 other than some deeper bunkers and additional longer tees. The North Course is 7,353 yards, par 70 rating 76.6 and slope of 150. The course record after alterations is63, shared by Rickie Fowler and Vijay Singh.
It’s very hard to repeat top performances and for that reason I’d lay Dustin Johnson at $10.
My best at the odds are
Carlos Ortiz-$800
Richie Werenski-$610
Nick Taylor-$650
Harry Higgs-$620
Tyler Duncan-$500
Lanto Griffin-$530
MacKenzie Hughes-$410
Maverick McNealy-$530
Mark Hubbard-$480
Mark Leishman-$220
All prices on Betfair
Amongst the favourites, the chances at the odds are
Russel Henley-$95
Paul Casey-$80
Tiger Woods-$48
Kevin Kisner-$55
Jason Day-$38
All prices available on Betfair
ISPS Handa English Championship
To be played at the Belfry which was specifically designed to host the Ryder Cup in 1985 by Peter Alliss, famed golfer and commentator and Dave Thomas who was beaten by Bob Charles in the 36 hole playoff for the Open in 1963.
The Belfry is a golf resort and hotel in Wishaw, Warwickshire, close to Sutton Coldfield, England. 16 British tour events and 4 Ryder Cups have been played here including the British Masters, Benson & Hedges International Open, English Open, English Classic
The tournament course the Brabazon Course is a 7,253 yard par 72 with a course record of 63, by Martin Erlandsson.
The resort has three golf courses. The Brabazon Course is the main tournament course, and the others are the PGA National and The Derby. The Professional Golfers’ Association offices are located at the Belfry, which has another two courses and a 4-star hotel, tennis courts and spa.
In 2013, The Belfry renovated all bedrooms and public spaces particularly Sam’s Bar, so named after Scottish golfer and 2002 Ryder Cup winning Captain Sam Torrance, renamed as Sam’s Club House.
My longshot chances here include, Betfair prices unless specified
Jonathon Caldwell-$1000 seems to have had a resurgence lately
Zach Murray-$1000 burst on the scene last year at both Euro and PGA Tour level, the lay-off blues will evaporate shortly.
Gregory Havret-$680, Old timer with a lot of ability, doesn’t play often
Paul Dunne-$400 coming back to form
Zander Lombard-$250
Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez-$350 on the way up
Adrian Saddlier-$290 ditto
Dave Coupland-$450 consistent recently
The following worth a spec
Alex Levy-$110, Laurie Canter-$190, Jack Senior-$130,
Of the favourites I liked, Marcus Kinhalt-$55, Ryan Fox-$38 and Rasmussen Hojgaard-$26
LPGA Walmart NW Arkansas Championship at Pinnacle Country Club, Arkansas
Pinnacle Country Club’s 6,100 yard, Par 71 course for the Walmart was originally designed by Don Sechrest assisted by PGA tour player Bruce Lietzke, and then redesigned in 2009 by Randy Heckerkemper.The club has Zorro Zoysia fairways, Tyee Bent Grass greens with firm, fast and true putting greens. The Riviera Bermuda rough can be very punishing dependent upon the cut length.
The club has an Island green reminiscent of the 17th at the TPC course of the Players Championship and the top LPGA players will wish to negotiate this hazard without pain.
The LPGA advent starts a day later, Friday US time and thus Betfair prices have not yet solidified. The following odds are all on Bet365 and each way for 0.1 units. Personally I would wait until tomorrow and back those players well over the B365 odds on Betfair.
The young up and comers I like include,
Maria Fassi-$400 ew
Maria Fernandez Torres-$400 ew
Na-Yeon Choi-$400 ew
Hai-Ji Kang-$276 ew
Emma Talley-$226 ew
Sarah Burnham-$200 ew
Cydney Clanton-$151 ew
Cheyenne Knight-$126
Amongst the favourites, which you can back on Betfair, I like, Morya Jutanigarn-$46, Stacy Lewis-$42, Nasa Hataoka-$40, Lydia Ko-$18 and Inbee Park-$12.
I would lay Danielle Kang at $10 and Minjee Lee who places often, but wins rarely at $9.