No idea who to back yet. Ben Colley could make a case for every golfer in the field. I might have something on CV and JB top 10 into the usual. No menyion of Day? I guess its hard to win every week.
Camilo to deliver in FedEx opener
By: Ben Coley
Last Updated: August 24 2015, 19:24 BST
Ben Coley produced more each-way profits last week and fancies Camilo Villegas to go well at a huge price in The Barclays.
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Camilo Villegas: Worth a bet at a massive 200/1
Recommended bets:
1pt e.w. Camilo Villegas at 200/1 (Stan James 1/4 1,2,3,4,5,6) - loves Donald Ross designs and knows how to win these FedEx Cup events 1pt e.w. Jonas Blixt at 175/1 (BoyleSports 1/4 1,2,3,4,5) - bang in the mix last week in a continuation of the form he's been showing all month 1.5pts e.w. Rickie Fowler at 33/1 (Ladbrokes, Betfred 1/4 1,2,3,4,5) - classical test like this will suit a player with two wins already this year 1pt e.w. Brandt Snedeker at 50/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4,5) - third here in 2011 and was bang in contention for 54 holes last week 1.5pts e.w. Henrik Stenson at 28/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4,5) - brilliant at this time of year and boasts an exceptional record on Ross-designed tracks
After 51-year-old Davis Love defied all logic to write another fairytale chapter in what's been a spectacular season, it's 22-year-old Jordan Spieth who returns to the fold and takes his place at the head of the betting for The Barclays.
This, of course, is no ordinary tournament. Over the next five weeks, four events will manufacture great drama and render much of what's gone before irrelevant. Spieth, with his two majors, second place at the PGA and fourth at St Andrews, leads the Money List by over four million dollars - yet if he doesn't add a fifth title of the campaign between now and the end of the it, he's unlikely to double his salary courtesy of a $10m FedEx Cup bonus.
It is unashamedly contrived but this system guarantees one thing: top-class fields. In an age of selective scheduling and an abundance of quality youngsters whose focus remains peaking for the four majors, this is an important thing and while Rory McIlroy can afford to wait until week two to make his grand entrance, Spieth is joined at the top of the market by Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose. Four players, all 12/1 and shorter and in the minds of some an impenetrable quartet.
Johnson is the de facto defending champion at Plainfield Country Club, where he won a Hurricane Irene-soaked, 54-hole edition at the expense of Matt Kuchar in 2011. Such is his extraordinary talent that Johnson can of course win anywhere, but what's a short, classical par-70 would not perhaps have suited so well were it not for atypical conditions. Johnson, a mud-baller who wins in this sort of grade with great frequency, took full advantage.
This Donald Ross design might not play so easy this time around. Johnson reached 19-under in just three loops of 18 but perhaps that sort of number is a good target for the full 72, which we should get with the weather playing fair. It could even play tougher, given that players were falling over each other to note how complex the greens were in 2011 and that under firmer, faster conditions this could prove problematic. Plus, they've shaved one off the par. All of a sudden, 19 looks a very good number.
Whatever the case, those four at the head of the market have outstanding credentials. Inexperience of the layout should be no real barrier for Spieth particularly as nobody here has vast amounts of it. Day has won two of this last three and was 13th here four years ago. Rose was sixth in an otherwise poor year, his second-round 65 going down as his best of the season. DJ, meanwhile, ultimately cruised home after an outwards 29 in the final round.
But as Heath Slocum will tell you, there's definitely scope for a shock despite the depth of talent at the front of the market and with those four players having to reset their targets having each been involved in the battle for majors this summer, I'm happy enough to take them on. Rose, whose record at Ross designs is exemplary, would get the token vote but at 12/1 I don't want to back him.
I do, however, want to back Camilo Villegas who looks great value at 200/1.
The Colombian is not the player he was, but it's still relevant that he's a winner of not one but two FedEx Cup events, having gone 3-1-1 through the closing three events of the 2008. It's unfortunate for Villegas that this stunning run of golf prompted a revamp of the scoring system which means he'd have won the main prize in each of the subsequent six years, five of which came with that mega-money bonus.
Still, I'm sure he's not strapped for cash so the sympathy ends there. Villegas is alongside Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Steve Stricker, Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson as multiple winners of these events and he's long been a golfer who plays better as the year progresses.
That was certainly the case in 2014, when he found form from nowhere to land the Wyndham Championship. Having finished 28th in defence of that title last week, with all four rounds under par, there's plenty of encouragement to be taken as he heads to Plainfield and a very simlar test. Indeed, both courses are Ross designs, and if we rewind to 2011 Villegas followed ninth place at Sedgefield with sixth here at Plainfield.
Significantly, Villegas produced those performances when his FedEx Cup place was on the line and that's again the case. Last week's top-30 was enough to move him to 123rd in the standings, just two places inside the cut-off, and he needs another big effort if he's to progress to the Deutsche Bank at TPC Boston.
If we rewind to 2011, Villegas commented on how his performances improved as the situation got more serious and he was in fact disappointed to only finish sixth in this event having spurned plenty of chances. He certainly hit his share of greens - the same number as the winner, in fact - and one would imagine he'll be really looking forward to this return and what's in effect a free roll of the dice.
As well as winning at Sedgefield and contending here, Villegas has won at the Ross-designed East Lake and produced his best major finish of fourth at Oakland Hills, another of his classic creations, and while he's not been much of a factor this season he could well change that under ideal circumstances.
In the hope that playing the Wyndham represents some sort of advantage, Jonas Blixt gets another go.
I tipped the Swede at 125/1 last week and with four holes remaining he needed two birdies to force a play-off with Love. Given that the first of them was a par-five which his playing partner eagled, as did Love, it was an achievable task.
Unfortunately, Blixt paid the price for an aggressive approach from the rough and appeared to hit a cart path which forced his ball out of bounds. In the end he made a good bogey, but suddenly the focus shifted from winning the tournament to qualifying for this week and thus earning a PGA Tour card for next season, something he managed with very little to spare.
Blixt told reporters afterwards that a 'big heavy burden' had been taken off his shoulders and, much like Villegas, he has nothing to lose as he heads up to New Jersey.
The 31-year-old can be really proud of his efforts over the last month, with four top-30 finishes proving just about enough to avoid dropping down to the Web.com Tour qualifiers, and key to his improvement is some impressive ball-striking. Last week, the ordinarily erratic Swede led the field in accuracy.
Blixt has a win at the Greenbrier to his name, an old-fashioned course which definitely has a Ross feel to it, while he was fourth behind Jason Dufner in the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, another of Ross's most famous creations. It seems clear that when presented with this sort of test he often finds a way to improve.
With a bit of luck here or there and a putt or two hitting the cup and not the edge, Blixt could've arrived here on the back of his third PGA Tour victory. I think had he done so, he'd have been an 80/1 chance at best. But in reality it's mission accomplished as far as he's concerned and at a ridiculous 175/1 he's must-bet material.
Back towards the head of the betting and I must say I'm a little surprised to see Rickie Fowler at 33/1. With the greatest of respect to Brooks Koepka, who may even prove to be better than Fowler in time, how he's shorter than the higher-ranked player is beyond me.
Both bring solid form to the table. Fowler has played 12 times dating back to the Masters and has nine top-30 finishes. Koepka has been even more solid in recent weeks and only a cold putter cost him last week, but crucially Fowler has two wins to Koepka's one so far this season and for now deserves to be shorter.
In fact, I'd have him clear fifth favourite behind that strong quartet at the head of the betting and on a Ross design which should suit, despite a modest debut here four years ago, Fowler gets the nod.
The reigning PLAYERS and Scottish Open champion felt only a stone-cold putter cost him a chance to win the Open and I also felt that was the case when he chased home friend Troy Merritt in the Quicken Loans National. There were better signs on that front in the PGA, however, and the pieces will soon fall into place.
Fowler may dress like a youngster but he's long shown an affinity for traditional challenges like the one at hand last week and his Ross record is excellent. He led after 54 holes at Aronimink back in 2011, finished second at Pinehurst, eighth at East Lake and 19th at Oak Hill.
Bar an out-of-sorts Jimmy Walker, Fowler is the biggest price of those to have won twice this season and I think he's being seriously underestimated.
I'm tempted to side with Webb Simpson, a North Carolina native who grew up playing Ross creations, secured his first PGA Tour win at Sedgefield and was 10th here the very next week. But the former US Open winner still searches for answers on the greens, trying a new putter last week for the first time in years, and that sort of experimentation means confidence is at a low.
Similar comments apply to Ryan Moore, whose 10th last week was a positive move. He's another lover of these classical courses, putting Ross alongside the great A.W. Tillinghast as his favourite designers, and like Simpson secured his first PGA Tour success at the Wyndham Championship.
But instead, I'm going to complete my staking plan with two FedEx Cup champions - Brandt Snedeker andHenrik Stenson.
Snedeker felt he didn't strike the ball particularly well last week and perhaps that's what caught up with him on Sunday as he fell from fifth to 43rd with a disastrous final round.
Still, for the most part he played very well on the back of 12th place at the PGA Championship where he spoke of how well he's feeling having been struggling with a rib concern mid-summer, so the signs are good as he bids to replicate his FedEx Cup heroics of 2012.
That victory at East Lake isn't the only example of really good Ross form. Snedeker was ninth at Pinehurst last year, has three top-10s at Sedgefield, 24th at Oakland Hills, 16th at Aronimink and third here four years ago despite arriving on the back of two missed cuts.
As with Fowler, Snedeker has long been the type of player to thrive under classical conditions and if he contended last week striking it badly, he can improve at what should be a real short-game test if he finds some control on the range.
Sticking to the theme, Stenson has a Ross record that's just about the best in this field. It includes a victory at East Lake, third at Oak Hill, fourth at Pinehurst and fourth at Oakland Hills among a series of other excellent efforts.
We saw last year and in 2013 that he tends to get better as the season progresses and with plenty of positives to be taken from his play at Firestone and Whistling Straits, he can go well on what will be his course debut. Posted at 1905 BST on 24/08/15.
Plainfield Country Club – 6,900+ yard Par 71 is a private country club and golf course located in Plainfield, New Jersey. It was originally founded in 1890 as the Hillside Tennis Club and its golf course was designed in 1916 by Donald Ross.
What Will It Take:
Plainfield CC is a classic course with gentle rolling hills and mature trees. The layout demands a premium on shot-making and distance control with plenty danger in the form of strategic bunkering and treacherous turtleback greens. Finding the right part of the greens will be key this week. The Barclays Betting Tips & Predictions
Defending Champion:
Hunter Mahan - he defeated a group of three players, Jason Day, Stuart Appleby & Cameron Tringale by two strokes shooting -14 (270) at Ridgefield CC. The Barclays Past Champions
How He Did It:
Mahan was 18th for Driving Distance, 1st for GIR & 15th for Strokes Gained Putting.
