Bruce,

This weeks matchplay brings one of the unique punting opportunities of the year. The yanks seem to have a dislike for the format and you can get some value backing solid Europeans/Aussies against highly ranked Americans. As an appertsier, can you let me know what you think about the following

Brendan Jones to beat Adam Scott (can’t putt)
Kaymer to beat Weekly
Westwood to beat Snedeker
OHern to beat Verplank
Chopra to beat Stricker
Stern to beat Mahan
Montgopmerie to beat Furyk (whistle stop special)
Jiminez to beat Cink

Let me know if you feel I have named someone that has no chance.

Liz

Hi Lizzie nice of you to call!!

There are always intriguing match ups in this format and I guess you could easily say that any player who has reached the top 64 in the world is capable of beating any other player in that category on any given day espeially over 18 holes. I would never say a player has no chance but here ae my thoughts on your match-ups

Jones had his clubs and luggage misplaced on his way to Arizona but now has them back. The last time these two played in the same event Jones won, that being at the Visa Taiheiyo where Jones won and Scott finished third. I think you might have to back Scott in this one however as much as I would like to see Jones win www.brendanjonesgolf.com Scott comes off a great win in Qatar and has reached the semi finals and quarter finals in this event previously. Brendan plays it for the first time and even though he (Jones) won the Australian Amateur Championship (Matchplay) in 1999, Scott is likely to just get through I feel. Jones finished 12th in India at his last start.

Kaymer is a huge talent and one of the most exciting emerging players in the game. Weekley has though played very well in recent weeks and gets my nod on experience alone.

Not sure what happened to Westwood last week at Riviera but he was in brilliant form prior and I agree that he should beat Snedeker despite not having made it past the second round in any of these events. He is a tough competitor however and is in great form.

O’Hern has been a giant killer in this event but he faces a player (Verplank) this week who has a similar game in many respects and a player very much in form. O’Hern is not playing quite as well as he was leading ninto this event last year so I will have to give it to Verplank.

Stricker is in great form at present and now back to his best he could repeat his win of 2001. Chopra has gone off the boil of late and so logic, for what it is worth, suggests Stricker should win.

Sterne is a fine young player but so too is Mahan and even though Mahan has not played well in recent weeks I think he might get my nod on the basis that Sterne as hardly played in the US in the last few years.

Monty and Furyk have simliar records in this event neither of them great and neither are playing well. This is very evenly matched so i will go with the more credentialed player i.e Furyk to edge out the niggly Monty.

I think Cink will beat Jimenez as depsite missing the cut at the Buick last week Cink has been playing ok of late and Jimemenz has been only average. Both have played well on occasions at this event.

So there you go – my thoughts but given the nature of this event and format those predictions might be all out the window by Thursday morning our time

:)

Maybe that’s why I’ll get good odds – you agreed with 1 out of 8!!

If you have a crack at a few games, you can disperse your risk. It’s ridiculous in a 2 horse race over 18 holes that some of these guys will start at $1.40. I figure that if I can get 3 of my guys up I’ll still be ahead. If I fluke half I’ll be well ahead, and anything above that is a great result, and probably a fluke.

I’ll watch with interest.

(I might ‘chop’ Chopra though – I put him in because I thought he was a great putter but agree that he seems to be ‘off’ lately)

One last thing – Scott. Surely one of the finest swings in golf and probably hits more greens than anyone (ex-Tiger) in the top 10, but his putting will be under pressure on every hole in this format and if the greens are quick, its hard for me to see him holeing enough 5 to 15 footers to threaten.

Remember how Ogilvy won in 06 (basically with the flat stick) – just no way Scott could have done that.

Thanks for the reply

Liz