The Florida swing sets down at Bayhill this week for what should be a very open tournament indeed, especially keeping in mind the fact that Tiger Woods will now not be in the field due to his withdrawl through injury. Some worry about him making The Masters as well as a result of his troublesome back problems. Anyway, back to this week at Arnie’s place……..John has 3 picks for you to hopefully make you a few euro, Justin Rose was going well until the back 9 on Sunday last week so we are hoping these lads can make it all the way through 72 holes in or around the lead!
Patrick Reed
John hopes you’re not annoyed with Reed’s bravado, calling himself one of the top five golfers in the world. The truth is that belief has been backed up by his two wins in his last six starts and an amateur pedigree matched by very few lends itself to the credence that Reed will compete each and every week. Reed won the 2006 Junior Open Championship the last time The Open itself was staged at Hoylake so he could also be a sneaky fancy for The Open this year too, just saying! He has some interesting swing mechanics, but you don’t need to swing pretty to win. While Reed missed the cut last year in his only appearance at Bay Hill, that was before he figured out how to win on Tour. His approach to winning by treating every round as a Monday qualifier has worked well so far! Count DC among the believers and with best price of 33/1 with BetVictor and Ladbrokes with 5 places or 28/1 with Paddy at 6 places he could be a great each way bet this week.
Bubba Watson
Right behind Reed at Doral was Watson, who is in as good form as we have ever seen him in. He’s made a run in match play this year, has a win at the Northern Trust Open, a T2 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and two other top 10′s. His only real issue at Bay Hill will be closing strong after what is normally a solid opening round. He has a T4 here in 2012, the year he won The Masters, and he also has three missed cuts through the years. This is the best and most focused season of golf we’ve seen Watson play and he’s always shown a propensity to put low numbers on his scorecard. His issue has been limiting the damage during those bad rounds, and this year has seen him do that week in and week out. Bubba is best price 12/1 favourite pretty much across the board, remember Paddy and Stan (James) are offering 6 places with the other giving 5.
Adam Scott
Scott, last year’s Masters winner is also in the field. Really, you can’t go wrong with Scotty this week while Watson is likely the hottest player on overall form. Do not discount Scott based on Bubba’s form though. He hung around at Doral, but never really made a move. That’s okay, because his T25 followed what had been five terrific tournament starts. He hasn’t played the Arnold Palmer Invitational since 2009, when he missed the cut, and truthfully he didn’t tear up Bay Hill in year’s prior either. He is, however, in good form and with an eye on reaching No. 1 in the World the motivation is well and truly there to win each time he tees it up. Anytime you have a guy with his pedigree who has been playing at his prime, you could do a lot wrong than putting a few quid on him. The first Masters winner from Australia is best price 14/1 with Stan & Paddy (6 places) to triumph at Arnie’s place this week.
So the above are John’s picks for the Arnold Palmer Invitation at Bayhill! As usual you can give John feedback via Twitter on @johnalandeasy ! Prices accurate as of 1.00pm on 19/03/2014 via Oddschecker.com
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