PGA Tips: Zurich Classic
The PGA tour heads to The Big Easy for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Bubba Watson will tee off on Thursday at the 2012 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, in what will be his first PGA Tour event since winning the Masters Tournament earlier this month. Joining him will be the likes of Luke Donald, Steve Stricker and Justin Rose, all of whom are ranked in the top 10 of the official world rankings.
All four golfers will vie in a field of 156 golfers for a winning stake of a $6.4 million purse. Watson is the hot name at the moment, and could have a leg up having won the tournament last year shooting 15-under. His big drive should come in handy at the 7,431-yard TPC Louisiana golf course in Avondale.
The Masters winner will be working on some more of his brand of ‘Bubba golf’ and was in confident mood this week: “When we come to a golf tournament, it doesn’t matter what you did the week before or the year before,” Watson explained.
“If I go out there and play my game, I have a chance to win. If the other guys go out there and play their game and hit good shots, they have a chance to win. So we’re not looking at that, we’re just looking at trying to play good golf.”
Watson is second favourite for the Zurich Classic at +1400, just behind the increasingly frustrated Luke Donald who is available at +1200. The chasing pack, including Rose, Stricker and Keegan Bradley all come in at +2000.
Watson, Donald, Rose and Stricker already have a 2012 victory under their belt and they are sure to be the front runners in New Orleans.
Greg Chalmers is our top sleeper pick this week. He nearly fulfilled expectations at TPC San Antonio only to fall outside the top 10 on Sunday with a zero-birdie 78. The lefty ranked inside the top 30 in fairways, greens and strokes gained-putting last week, but he made just eight birdies (T67). In three appearances at TPC Louisiana, all in the last three years, he has a pair of top 10s and another top 25. The Australian is well fancied and is good value at +5000.
The Pete Dye designed, TPC Louisiana is ranked 20 out of the 51 courses the Tour will play on in 2011 with the course record of 64 set in 2007 by Kyle Reifers, who could only go on to finish T24 that year.
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| Luke Donald | +1200 |
| Bubba Watson | +1400 |
| Justin Rose | +2000 |
| Keegan Bradley | +2000 |
| Webb Simpson | +2000 |
| Jason Dufner | +2500 |
| Steve Stricker | +2500 |
| Carl Pettersson | +3300 |
| Graeme McDowell | +3300 |
| Nick Watney | +3300 |
| Bud Cauley | +4000 |
| Charles Howell III | +4000 |
| Ernie Els | +4000 |
| Peter Hanson | +4000 |
| KJ Choi | +4500 |
| Ben Crane | +5000 |
| Cameron Tringale | +5000 |
| Charley Hoffman | +5000 |
| David Toms | +5000 |
| Geoff Ogilvy | +5000 |
| Greg Chalmers | +5000 |
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