Scottish Championship

The Scottish Championship replaces the Dunhill Links Championship due to the restrictions of Covid 19 on the number of participants and social distancing. The new event to be played on the 7230 yard (6620 m) par 72 Sam Torrance designed links. Situated 4 km from the town of St Andrews the links follows the coastline and is a strong 138 slope and SSS 75 links which will test the Euro tour players if the wind blows as expected.

The favourite on Betfair is Matt Wallace at $14 but his form recently doesn’t warrant that. Many players are rated under $100 and only Connor Syme ($44) and Min Woo Lee ($80) appear the correct odds. The ones I’d recommend as value are Adrien Saddier-$170,

Craig Howie-$120

Dale Whitnell-$260

Dave Coupland-$300

Toby Tree-$150

Jonathon Caldwell-$270

Robin Petersson-$260

Joel Stalter-$530

David Drysdale-$580

Zach Murray-$950

This value based philosophy has nearly won us big money on Ashleigh Buhai ($490) and Peter Malnati ($800) one beaten in a third hole playoff and the other requiring Sergio to play the last five holes three under to be beaten.

No LPGA event this week.

CJ Cup at Shadow Creek

The CJ Cup normally played at Seoul in South Korea is also affected by Covid 19 and the tour has moved it temporarily to Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Nevada, thus utilising protocols established last week. The course of 7560 yards par 72 built in 1990 at huge cost of $US60 million to Gambling magnate Steve Wynn in 2008 added 350 yards in 2008 at a further multi million dollar cost. The course is very picturesque and has a slope rating of 145 and a CR of 74.5. When Tiger played Phil recently the course appeared to win which will be interesting this week.

Dustin Johnson was the favourite, but tested positive for Covid-19

The favourite now is Jon Rahm-$10.5 on Betfair.

The leading 5 players in the market Justin Thomas-$12.5

Rory McIlroy-$13.5

Xander Schauffele-$14.5

Matthew Wolff-$19.5

Represents 37%, So one of these has to win better than one in three. Thomas has a stellar record in this event, but it has previously been held at Nine Bridges in Korea. One could lay all of these to lose $1000. This is a result of the course being very demanding from tee to green.

However, the real benefit is the longer prices available to other competitors

My suggestions are

Justin Rose-$90 loves tough courses

Kevin Kisner-$140 Very consistent striker in form recently

Harry Higgs-$340

Richie Werenski-$790

Tyler Duncan-$690

Carlos Ortiz-$710

Nick Taylor-$800

Mark Hubbard-$580

K.H.Lee-$1000 way overs

J.K.Lee-$1000 up and comer from strong Korean Tour

Han-Beyoung Lee-$1000 ditto

Robbie Shelton-$920

All very good players from tee to green