Opinion & Analysis

Sybase Match Play Championship preview

Published

12 years ago

May 16, 2012

Vince Robitaille

By Vince Robitaille

GolfWRX Contributor

Not only does Yours Truly already enjoy the gritty test and gamesmanship of match play from a golfer’s perspective, the added pleasure of filling brackets after March – and to do it with you this time around – can’t leave us but fully contented. In fact, with the Sybase Match Play Championship coming back to Hamilton Farm Golf Club for the third consecutive year, it is now time for us to look into the year’s lone head-to-head tournament of the season – one which saw 2012 Kraft Nabisco champion, Sun Young Yoo, and World No.3, Suzann Pettersen, win in 2010 and 2011 respectively. In order to make an attempt at claiming grabbing rights versus a virtual opponent – at the risk of incongruent upsets causing me to fall flat on my face – inspecting the venue, first and foremost, appears logical. Once this is done we’ll go through the table and get a feel for who might come up on top of the 64-player event.

The par-72 Hamilton Farm Golf Club will play, for this week’s Championship, to a slightly above-average length of 6,553 yards. While this could appear to be a significant advantage for the upper tier, in terms of distance, of the field, with all four par-5’s covering more than 500 yards – the longest being the 568-yard-long 11th – players opting out of planning their par-5 adventures as three-shot holes should prove quite the rarity. Furthermore, while a par-5 finishing hole might usually lend a helping hand to the LPGA’s bombers, in match play, more often than not, pairings won’t reach the 18th hole; thus eliminating a clear birdie opportunity for the longer hitters.

Greens on the hilly grounds of Hamilton Farm, a location that also plays host to the United States Equestrian Team, are somewhat peculiar. The majority of them are quite deep – some reaching depths of 40 yards – yet narrow, or, much to the contrary, rather wide and shallow. Ergo, players who combine superior distance control and lag putting. Much like South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi, United States’ Morgan Pressel and Scotland’s Catriona Matthew, could knife their way through the brackets to exit victorious this weekend. Our quick course overview behind us, we shall now proceed to our selections and highlights.

In the Patty Berg Division, while clear favorites Tseng and Creamer should move on to the second round rather easily, Hee Young Park and Brittany Lincicome might experience harsher times on their way. Park, on her hand, will have to put a halt to the surprising hot streak of French golfer Karine Icher who came out of relative obscurity – at least, on this side of the pond – to record back-to-back top 5’s in the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic and the HSBC Brasil Cup. Ultimately, however, Park’s flat stick shall prevail. Perhaps the most intriguing matchup of the division at this stage, the Lincicome-O’Toole duel, will see two players that have shown the killer instinct necessary to dominate the format. Even though we see Lincicome pulling through and eliminating what could be her fiercest foe until the group’s final stage – assuming that the head-to-head battle reignites the fire, in O’Toole, that was put out by a fishtail ending at the Solheim Cup last fall – one would be hard-pressed to find a pick on which we’d prefer to be wrong.

The second round’s most heated match should be between the aforementioned Catriona Matthew and Caroline Hedwall. The Solheim Cup teammates will clash in what will either end in a decisive win for the veteran, or a hard-earned triumph for the young Swede in extra holes. Proving that sometimes guts are stronger than brains and hence dismissing the stellar form of Hedwall in 2012, our long established pick for the summer’s Ricoh British Open, we’ll opt for the former option. At the other end of the table, in the Battle of the Brittanies, Lincicome should take care of Lang who, over the last few months, has shown signs that she might take her spot on the weekly radar of the LPGA Tour back, after all.

The divisonal semifinals will, in Yours Truly‘s opinion, play theaters to what will prove itself to perhaps be the paramount upset of the week, namely Matthew’s victory over Yani Tseng. Yes, you heard right. The World No.1’s usually systematic quasi-perfect performances have ever so slightly faded recently and, despite this week’s visit with putting guru Dave Stockton, we expect a few slippery 5-footers to edge out and, eventually, cost her the match and leave Matthew to face Lincicome. Sticking with our previous reasoning regarding the primordial skillset to swiftly manoeuver around the Hamilton Farm Golf Club, and taking into consideration the American’s tendency of late to decelerate in her fourth trip around the course, we’re picking Matthew to reach the Final Four.

As for the Kathy Whitworth Division, the first round should let us observe two heated pairings, the first consisting of two golfers who have enjoyed recent success despite an inability to close out, So Yeon Ru and Karin Sjodin, and the second comprising a resurgent star in Meena Lee, as well as a swashbuckling Vicky Hurst. Both melees should reveal themselves to be quite puzzling as a golfer in each of them, namely Lee and Sjodin, have the ability to go quite low on this specific type of course, as well as the predisposition to hit dry spells mid-round. Thankfully for both of them – and for us as spectators – the week’s format should keep the Korean and the Swede right in the thick of things, if either of them records an inopportune double-bogey like it has been the case at the Lotte Championship and the Kia Classic, respectively. Once the dust settles after the day’s rumblings, look for the statistically superior Ru and the fist-pumping grinder that is Hurst to stand firmly on their own two feet; until their next fixture that is. In fact, we forecast a short-lived celebration for our two golfers as Americans Michelle Wie who, despite absolutely horrendous performances over the last few months which resulted in missed cuts, has shined when put in a ring against one specific opponent whether it’d be at the Solheim Cup or in this very event – she tallied a 9th place finish and a top 5 in the previous years – and Cristie Kerr should play telephone poles to Ru and Hurst’s drifting cars.

Continuing this trend of quick dampers on previous successes of our featured players, the mechanical standouts that are Ai Miyazato and Angela Stafford, should steadily cut through both the course’s and their adversaries’ defenses to reach the divisional final; a final which, taking into consideration the fulgurant comeback of Miyazato to the very summit of the LPGA’s food chain, will turn in her favor – the Japanese’s short game mastery finally proving too much for the Texan’s steady ball striking.

The Mickey Wright portion of the table is arguably unbalanced; the previously cited Na Yeon Choi and Morgan Pressel, as well as 2008 U.S. Women’s Open champion and current World No.25, Inee Park highlighting the upper half of the bracket, while the bottom part’s star, Jiyai Shin, has suffered slender putting woes of late which have kept her from her reaching her usual crusing speed. That being said, her four top 10s in six events on the LPGA Tour this season and the fact that she has never finished in worse position than a tie for 26th in the first major event of the year, goes to show how fast her cruising speed actually is.

Joining her as favorites of this section of the field is the renascent, well one would be more accurate to describe it as trending, Natalie Gulbis. The American – who shall be profiled in a future installation – has enjoyed recent success, notwithstanding her propensity to hand in high scorecards early in tournaments, by showcasing a diametrically opposed faculty to get down in the mid-60’s. Three of those four players, according to our predictions will dispose of Jenny Shin, Inbee Park and Beatriz Recari, before colliding together in the semifinals; the other, Gulbis, succumbing – in the second round like both previous editions – to the 18-time top 10 finisher on the LPGA Tour, Amy Yang. At that stage, Na Yeon Choi’s loftier short game as well as superior ball striking, should enable her to upstage Pressel. In a battle where two identical swords – see playing styles – are drawn, Choi’s is, simply put, sharper. The Shin-Yang matchup would most likely turn out to be one of the Championship’s closest, one where an established star would confront a soon-to-be household name that could easily seem built from the former’s very own prototype. Riding her current wave of success, our vote goes to Yang. Nevertheless, our money won’t be riding on the 2010 LPGA Tour Championship runner-up against Choi.

The last fourth of the field is miles away from the other three’s relative homogeneity. A rather wild collection of golfers with contrasting styles, current forms and match play affinities, greatly widening the variance, an accurate prognosis seems somewhat unlikely. Thus said, this exercise is exactly that, an exercise; one wanting itself to open a dialogue. Reverting back to the Annika Sorenstam Division, while the victories of favorites Pettersen, Gustafson, Munoz and Sun Young Yoo are to be anticipated, don’t blink when you see Tiffany Joh – whose amateur match play track record is nothing short of spectacular, having won the U.S. Women’s Public Links twice in 2006 and 2008 – and Pornanung Phatlum defeat their opponents. The same could be said of Jessica Korda, for reasons analogous to Joh’s, if the Australia Open could start sinking putts; a hypothesis that hardly stacks up against Hee Kyung Seo. Nevertheless, on greens that shall play a tad slower due to the rain – hopefully permitting her to be more aggressive with the flat stick and quit leaving her putts a foot short – as well as on a course that renders obsolete the weakest part of her game, namely her play out of the sand, we’ll make Korda our wild card pick.

The latter rounds in the Annika Sorenstam Division should see the Sybase Match Play Championship’s two first champions, Sun Young Yoo and Suzann Pettersen, run the table, before running into each other. Ultimately, betting against Pettersen in match play is plain ludicrous and it is why, despite her lackluster form, we’re picking her to not only beat the reigning Kraft Nabisco champion, but her subsequent adversaries, presumably Na Yeon Choi and Ai Miyazato.

Click here for more discussion in the “LPGA/ladies golf talk” forum.

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Opinion & Analysis

The Wedge Guy: What really makes a wedge work? Part 2

Published

12 hours ago

May 9, 2024

Terry Koehler

In my last post, I explained the basic performance dynamics of “smash factor” and “gear effect” as they apply to your wedges and your wedge play success. If you missed that post, you can read it here.

At the end of that post, I promised “part 2” of this discussion of what makes a wedge work the way it does. So, let’s dive into the other two components of any wedge – the shaft and the grip.

It’s long been said that the shaft is “the engine of the golf club.” The shaft (and grip) are your only connection to all the technologies that are packed into the head of any golf club, whether it be a driver, fairway, hybrid, iron, wedge or even putter.

And you cannot ignore those two components of your wedges if your goal is optimizing your performance.

I’ve long been an advocate of what I call a “seamless transition” from your irons into your wedges, so that the feel and performance do not disconnect when you choose a gap wedge, for example, instead of your iron-set-matching “P-club.” In today’s golf equipment marketplace, more and more golfers are making the investment of time and money to experience an iron fitting, going through trial and error and launch monitor measuring to get just the right shaft in their irons.

But then so many of those same golfers just go into a store and choose wedges off the retail display, with no similar science involved at all. And that’s why I see so many golfers with a huge disconnect between their custom-fitted irons, often with lighter and/or softer graphite or light steel shafts . . . and their off-the-rack wedges with the stock stiff steel ‘wedge flex’ shaft common to those stock offerings.

If your wedge shafts are significantly heavier and stiffer than the shafts in your irons, it is physically impossible for you to make the same swing. Period.

To quickly improve your wedge play, one of the first things you can do is have your wedges re-shafted with the same or similar shaft that is in your irons.

There’s another side of that shaft weight equation; if you don’t have the forearm and hand strength of a PGA Tour professional, you simply cannot “handle” the same weight shaft that those guys play to master the myriad of ‘touch shots’ around the greens.

Now, let’s move on to the third and other key component of your wedges – the grips. If those are not similar in shape and feel to the grips on your irons, you have another disconnect. Have your grips checked by a qualified golf club professionals to make sure you are in sync there.

The one caveat to that advice is that I am a proponent of a reduced taper in your wedge grips – putting two to four more layers of tape under the lower hand, or selecting one of the many reduced taper grips on the market. That accomplishes two goals for your scoring.

First, it helps reduce overactive hands in your full and near-full wedge swings. Quiet hands are key to good wedge shots.

And secondly, it provides a more consistent feel of the wedge in your hands as you grip down for those shorter and more delicate shots around the greens. And you should always grip down as you get into those touch shots. I call it “getting closer to your work.”

So, if you will spend as much time selecting the shafts and grips for your wedges as you do choosing the brand, model, and loft of them, your scoring range performance will get better.

Vincenzi’s 2024 Wells Fargo Championship betting preview: Tommy Fleetwood ready to finally land maiden PGA Tour title

Published

3 days ago

May 6, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

The PGA Tour season ramps back up this week for another “signature event,” as golf fans look forward to the year’s second major championship next week.

After two weaker-field events in the Zurich Classic and the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, most of the best players in the world will head to historic Quail Hollow for one of the best non-major tournaments of the year.

Last season, Wyndham Clark won the event by four shots.

Quail Hollow is a par-71 measuring 7,521 yards that features Bermudagrass greens. The tree-lined, parkland style course can play quite difficult and features one of the most difficult three-hole stretches in golf known as “The Green Mile,” which makes up holes 16-18: two mammoth par 4s and a 221-yard par 3. All three holes have an average score over par, and water is in play in each of the last five holes on the course.

The field is excellent this week with 68 golfers teeing it up without a cut. All of the golfers who’ve qualified are set to tee it up, with the exception of Scottie Scheffler, who is expecting the birth of his first child.

Past Winners at Quail Hollow

2023: Wyndham Clark (-19)
2022: Max Homa (-8)
2021: Rory McIlroy (-10)
2019: Max Homa (-15)
2018: Jason Day (-12)
2017: Justin Thomas (-8) (PGA Championship)
2016: James Hahn (-9)
2015: Rory McIlroy (-21)

Key Stats For Quail Hollow

Strokes Gained: Approach

Strokes gained: Approach will be extremely important this week as second shots at Quail Hollow can be very difficult.

Total SG: Approach Over Past 24 Rounds

Akshay Bhatia (+1.16)
Tom Hoge (+1.12)
Corey Conners (+1.01)
Shane Lowry (+0.93)
Austin Eckroat (+0.82)

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee

Quail Hollow is a long course on which it is important to play from the fairway. Both distance and accuracy are important, as shorter tee shots will result in approach shots from 200 or more yards. With most of the holes heavily tree lined, errant drives will create some real trouble for the players.

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee Past 24 Rounds:

Ludvig Aberg (+0.73)
Rory McIlroy (+0.69)
Xander Schauffele (+0.62)
Viktor Hovland (+0.58)
Chris Kirk (+0.52)

Proximity: 175-200

The 175-200 range is key at Quail Hollow. Players who can hit their long irons well will rise to the top of the leaderboard.

Proximity: 175-200+ over past 24 rounds:

Cameron Young (28’2″)
Akshay Bhatia (29’6″)
Ludvig Aberg (+30’6″)
Sam Burns (+30’6″)
Collin Morikawa (+30’9″)

SG: Total on Tom Fazio Designs

Players who thrive on Tom Fazio designs get a bump for me at Quail Hollow this week.

SG: Total on Tom Fazio Designs over past 36 rounds:

Patrick Cantlay (+2.10)
Rory McIlroy (+1.95)
Tommy Fleetwood (+1.68)
Austin Eckroat (+1.60)
Will Zalatoris (+1.57)

Strokes Gained: Putting (Bermudagrass)

Strokes Gained: Putting has historically graded out as the most important statistic at Quail Hollow. While it isn’t always predictable, I do want to have it in the model to bump up golfers who prefer to putt on Bermudagrass.

Strokes Gained: Putting (Bermudagrass) Over Past 24 Rounds:

Taylor Moore (+0.82)
Nick Dunlap (+.76)
Wyndham Clark (+.69)
Emiliano Grillo (+.64)
Cam Davis (+.61)

Course History

This stat will incorporate players that have played well in the past at Quail Hollow.

Course History over past 36 rounds (per round):

Rory McIlroy (+2.50)
Justin Thomas (+1.96)
Jason Day (+1.92)
Rickie Fowler (+1.83)
Viktor Hovland (+1.78)

Wells Fargo Championship Model Rankings

Below, I’ve compiled overall model rankings using a combination of the five key statistical categories previously discussed — SG: Approach (27%), SG: Off the Tee (23%), SG: Total on Fazio designs (12%), Proximity: 175-200 (12%), SG: Putting Bermuda grass (12%), and Course History (14%).

Wyndham Clark
Rory McIlroy
Xander Schauffele
Shane Lowry
Hideki Matsuyama
Viktor Hovland
Cameron Young
Austin Eckroat
Byeong Hun An
Justin Thomas

2024 Wells Fargo Championship Picks

Tommy Fleetwood +2500 (DraftKings)

I know many out there have Tommy fatigue when it comes to betting, which is completely understandable given his lack of ability to win on the PGA Tour thus far in his career. However, history has shown us that players with Fleetwood’s talent eventually break though, and I believe for Tommy, it’s just a matter of time.

Fleetwood has been excellent on Tom Fazio designs. Over his past 36 rounds, he ranks 3rd in the field in Strokes Gained: Total on Fazio tracks. He’s also been incredibly reliable off the tee this season. He’s gained strokes in the category in eight of his past nine starts, including at The Masters, the PLAYERS and the three “signature events” of the season. Tommy is a golfer built for tougher courses and can grind it out in difficult conditions.

Last year, Fleetwood was the first-round leader at this event, firing a Thursday 65. He finished the event in a tie for 5th place.

For those worried about Fleetwood’s disappointing start his last time out at Harbour Town, he’s bounced back nicely after plenty of poor outings this season. His T7 at the Valero Texas Open was after a MC and T35 in his prior two starts and his win at the Dubai Invitational came after a T47 at the Sentry.

I expect Tommy to bounce back this week and contend at Quail Hollow.

Justin Thomas +3000 (DraftKings)

It’s been a rough couple of years for Justin Thomas, but I don’t believe things are quite as bad as they seem for JT. He got caught in the bad side of the draw at Augusta for last month’s Masters and has gained strokes on approach in seven of his nine starts in 2024.

Thomas may have found something in his most recent start at the RBC Heritage. He finished T5 at a course that he isn’t the best fit for on paper. He also finally got the putter working and ranked 15th in Strokes Gained: Putting for the week.

The two-time PGA champion captured the first of his two major championships at Quail Hollow back in 2017, and some good vibes from the course may be enough to get JT out of his slump.

Thomas hasn’t won an event in just about two years. However, I still believe that will change soon as he’s been one of the most prolific winners throughout his PGA Tour career. Since 2015, he has 15 PGA Tour wins.

Course history is pretty sticky at Quail Hollow, with players who like the course playing well there on a regular basis. In addition to JT’s PGA Championship win in 2017, he went 4-1 at the 2022 Presidents Cup and finished T14 at the event last year despite being in poor form. Thomas can return as one of the top players on the PGA Tour with a win at a “signature event” this week.

Cameron Young +3500 (DraftKings)

For many golf bettors, it’s been frustrating backing Cam Young this season. His talent is undeniable, and one of the best and most consistent performers on the PGA Tour. He just hasn’t broken through with a victory yet. Quail Hollow has been a great place for elite players to get their first victory. Rory McIlroy, Anthony Kim, Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark all notched their first PGA Tour win at Quail.

Throughout Cam Young’s career, he has thrived at tougher courses with strong fields. This season, he finished T16 at Riviera and T9 at Augusta National, demonstrating his preference of a tough test. His ability to hit the ball long and straight off the tee make him an ideal fit for Quail Hollow, despite playing pretty poorly his first time out in 2023 (T59). Young should be comfortable playing in the region as he played his college golf at Wake Forest, which is about an hour’s drive from Quail Hollow.

The 26-year-old has played well at Tom Fazio designs in the past and ranks 8th in the field in Strokes Gained: Total on those courses in his last 36 rounds. Perhaps most importantly, this season, Young is the best player on the PGA Tour in terms of proximity from 175-200 in the fairway, which is where a plurality and many crucial shots will come from this week.

Young is an elite talent and Quail Hollow has been kind to players of his ilk who’ve yet to win on Tour.

Byeong Hun An +5000 (FanDuel)

Byeong Hun An missed some opportunities last weekend at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. He finished T4 and played some outstanding golf, but a couple of missed short putts prevented him from getting to the winning score of -23. Despite not getting the win, it’s hard to view An’s performance as anything other than an overwhelming success. It was An’s fourth top-ten finish of the season.

Last week, An gained 6.5 strokes ball striking, which was 7th in the field. He also ranked 12th for Strokes Gained: Approach and 13th for Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. The South Korean has been hitting the ball so well from tee to green all season long and he now heads to a golf course that should reward his precision.

An’s driver and long irons are absolute weapons. At Quail Hollow, players will see plenty of approach shots from the 175-200 range as well as some from 200+. In his past 24 rounds, Ben ranks 3rd in the field in proximity from 175-200 and 12th in proximity from 200+. Playing in an event that will not end up being a “birdie” fest should help An, who can separate from the field with his strong tee to green play. The putter may not always cooperate but getting to -15 is much easier than getting to -23 for elite ball strikers who tend to struggle on the greens.

Winning a “signature event” feels like a tall task for An this week with so many elite players in the field. However, he’s finished T16 at the Genesis Invitational, T16 at The Masters and T8 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The 32-year-old’s game has improved drastically this season and I believe he’s ready to get the biggest win of his career.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s LIV Golf Singapore betting preview: Course specialist ready to thrive once again

Published

1 week ago

Apr 30, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

After another strong showing in Australia, LIV Golf will head to Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore looking to build off of what was undoubtedly their best event to date.

Sentosa Golf Club sits on the southern tip of Singapore and is one of the most beautiful courses in the world. The course is more than just incredible scenically; it was also rated 55th in Golf Digest’s top-100 courses in 2022-2023 and has been consistently regarded as one of the best courses in Asia. Prior to being part of the LIV rotation, the course hosted the Singapore Open every year since 2005.

Sentosa Golf Club is a par 71 measuring 7,406 yards. The course will require precise ball striking and some length off the tee. It’s possible to go low due to the pristine conditions, but there are also plenty of hazards and difficult spots on the course that can bring double bogey into play in a hurry. The Bermudagrass greens are perfectly manicured, and the course has spent millions on the sub-air system to keep the greens rolling fast. I spoke to Asian Tour player, Travis Smyth, who described the greens as “the best [he’s] ever played.”

Davis Love III, who competed in a Singapore Open in 2019, also gushed over the condition of the golf course.

“I love the greens. They are fabulous,” the 21-time PGA Tour winner said.

Love III also spoke about other aspects of the golf course.

“The greens are great; the fairways are perfect. It is a wonderful course, and it’s tricky off the tee.”

“It’s a long golf course, and you get some long iron shots. It takes somebody hitting it great to hit every green even though they are big.”

As Love III said, the course can be difficult off the tee due to the length of the course and the trouble looming around every corner. It will take a terrific ball striking week to win at Sentosa Golf Club.

In his pre-tournament press conference last season, Phil Mickelson echoed many of the same sentiments.

“To play Sentosa effectively, you’re going to have a lot of shots from 160 to 210, a lot of full 6-, 7-, 8-iron shots, and you need to hit those really well and you need to drive the ball well.”

Golfers who excel from tee to green and can dial in their longer irons will have a massive advantage this week.

Stat Leaders at LIV Golf Adelaide:

Fairways Hit

1.) Louis Oosthuizen

2.) Anirban Lahiri

3.) Jon Rahm

4.) Brendan Steele

5.) Cameron Tringale

Greens in Regulation

1.) Brooks Koepka

2.) Brendan Steele

3.) Dean Burmester

4.) Cameron Tringale

5.) Anirban Lahiri

Birdies Made

1.) Brendan Steele

2.) Dean Burmester

3.) Thomas Pieters

4.) Patrick Reed

5.) Carlos Ortiz

LIV Golf Individual Standings:

1.) Joaquin Niemann

2.) Jon Rahm

3.) Dean Burmester

4.) Louis Oosthuizen

5.) Abraham Ancer

LIV Golf Team Standings:

1.) Crushers

2.) Legion XIII

3.) Torque

4.) Stinger GC

5.) Ripper GC

LIV Golf Singapore Picks

Sergio Garcia +3000 (DraftKings)

Sergio Garcia is no stranger to Sentosa Golf Club. The Spaniard won the Singapore Open in 2018 by five strokes and lost in a playoff at LIV Singapore last year to scorching hot Talor Gooch. Looking at the course setup, it’s no surprise that a player like Sergio has played incredible golf here. He’s long off the tee and is one of the better long iron players in the world when he’s in form. Garcia is also statistically a much better putter on Bermudagrass than he is on other putting surfaces. He’s putt extremely well on Sentosa’s incredibly pure green complexes.

This season, Garcia has two runner-up finishes, both of them being playoff losses. Both El Camaleon and Doral are courses he’s had success at in his career. The Spaniard is a player who plays well at his tracks, and Sentosa is one of them. I believe Sergio will get himself in the mix this week. Hopefully the third time is a charm in Singapore.

Paul Casey +3300 (FanDuel)

Paul Casey is in the midst of one of his best seasons in the five years or so. The results recently have been up and down, but he’s shown that when he’s on a golf course that suits his game, he’s amongst the contenders.

This season, Casey has finishes of T5 (LIV Las Vegas), T2 (LIV Hong Kong), and a 6th at the Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour. At his best, the Englishman is one of the best long iron players in the world, which makes him a strong fit for Sentosa. Despite being in poor form last season, he was able to fire a Sunday 63, which shows he can low here at the course.

It’s been three years since Casey has won a tournament (Omega Dubai Desert Classic in 2021), but he’s been one of the top players on LIV this season and I think he can get it done at some point this season.

Mito Pereira +5000 (Bet365)

Since Mito Pereira’s unfortunate demise at the 2022 PGA Championship, he’s been extremely inconsistent. However, over the past few months, the Chilean has played well on the International Series as well as his most recent LIV start. Mito finished 8th at LIV Adelaide, which was his best LIV finish this season.

Last year, Pereira finished 5th at LIV Singapore, shooting fantastic rounds of 67-66-66. It makes sense why Mito would like Sentosa, as preeminent ball strikers tend to rise to the challenge of the golf course. He’s a great long iron player who is long and straight off the tee.

Mito has some experience playing in Asia and is one of the most talented players on LIV who’s yet to get in the winner’s circle. I have questions about whether or not he can come through once in contention, but if he gets there, I’m happy to roll the dice.

Andy Ogletree +15000 (DraftKings)

Andy Ogletree is a player I expected to have a strong 2024 but struggled early in his first full season on LIV. After failing to crack the top-25 in any LIV event this year, the former U.S. Amateur champion finally figured things out, finished in a tie for 3rd at LIV Adelaide.

Ogletree should be incredible comfortable playing in Singapore. He won the International Series Qatar last year and finished T3 at the International Series Singapore. The 26-year-old was arguably the best player on the Asian Tour in 2023 and has been fantastic in the continent over the past 18 months.

If Ogletree has indeed found form, he looks to be an amazing value at triple-digit odds.

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