Mar 27 2014

Tournament Preview – Valero Texas Open

The PGA Tour heads to Texas this week for the Valero Texas Open, having finished the Florida swing at Bayhill last week. It looked like John had picked a winner as early as the second round last week with Adam Scott but unfortunately the Aussie faltered at the weekend. We’re hoping he’ll pick a winner this week! Here are his picks.

Phil Mickelson

Lefty has shown decent form this year without doing anything fantastic. Phil has tinkered his preparation for the Majors over the years and his warm ups for The Open got him in the frame of mind to win at Muirfield. This week in Texas might be a warm up but don’t count Mickelson out if he gets into contention. He is favourite to win this week, best price 16/1 with Stan James and William Hill while Paddy is next best at 14s offering 6 places.

Zach Johnson

Zach Johnson

Johnson has won the Texas Open twice, in 2008 and 2009, and a large chunk of his PGA Tour victories have come in Texas and the Southern States so he is definitely one to watch this week. A gritty competitor who has enjoyed a great start to the season, he could be coming into form again at the right time and with Augusta on the horizon he’ll want to get in some good performances before driving up Magnolia Lane. Best price for Zach is 18/1 with Paddy Power, 6 places!

Jimmy Walker

jimmy walker

Walker still sits atop of the FedEx Cup rankings after an amazing start to the season, his form has tailed off a little recently but if he can recreate the sort of golf he was playing over the first 2 months of the year especially then he could be a contender this week and at Augusta too in 2 weeks time. You can get Jimmy at 20/1 best price with Victor and William while Paddy are offering 18/1 (6 places).

They are DC’s picks for this week. He also wants you to watch out for Casey Wittenberg in Louisana, 50/1 best price with bet365 and BetVictor, while Chella Choi is also a notable for John in the field at the LPGA Kia Classic at 50/1 with bet365, Ladbrokes, Boylesports and many more. As usual you can give John feedback via Twitter on @johnalandeasy ! Prices accurate as of 10.45am on 27/03/2014 via Oddschecker.com

Feb 25 2014

Tournament Preview – Tshwane Open

The European Tour is in Africa again this week (I seem to saying that a lot!) with the playing of the Tshwane Open at Copperleaf Golf & Country Estate. From an Irish perspective we hope Shane Lowry’s clubs have arrived off British Airways at this stage so he can put in a good showing!

This is another hard tournament to pick a winner but John is going to try to stay away from stats as they seen to mean nothing in these mixed field tour events like this. DC is going to pick 2 Ryder Cup hopefuls, Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Morten Orum Madsen both of whom are in good form and are in with a real chance of sneaking in to Paul McGinley’s Ryder Cup team come September. You can get Rafa at best price of 20/1 with ToteSport and for somebody who has started the season so promisingly that is more than decent. Our Danish friend is a little higher, 35s best price with 888sport and 33/1 with most of the rest. All firms seem to be going 5 places only for this week’s European Tour stop.

We’ll give Shane Lowry a shout out here too, at odds of 70/1 best with Bet365 lets hope his clubs can do the talking this week if they arrive. Best of luck Shane!!

John awaits your feedback via Twitter on @johnalandeasy ! Prices accurate as of 8pm on 25/02/2014 via Oddschecker.com

Feb 17 2014

Tournament Preview – WGC Accenture Matchplay

So we’re back at Dove Mountain for the Matchplay, perhaps for the last time and definitely with probably the worse field to tee it up there but hopefully without last year’s snow! I still very much enjoy the format though and Matchplay is always a great watch.

It’s always tough to pick the winner of a Matchplay match, nevermind the overall winner of a Matchplay tournament but we’re going to give it a go! First up is the Bobby Jones bracket. Henrik Stenson is our pick here, the Swede was the best player in the World for the last 6 months of 2013 and he also has form at Dove Mountain in the past. Expect him to come through his bracket and at 22/1 with totesport, SpreadEx, BetFred and sportingbet it’s a decent pay-out even if the Double Money List winner from last year gets to the Semi Finals.

We like Matt Kuchar to make it through in the Gary Player bracket. He may well end up playing Jordan Speith on his way through the matches but Kuchar knows his way around Dove Mountain and is a solid matchplayer. With a price of 28/1 to win overall with Paddy Power, bet365 and CORAL he could be worth a few quid, that’s working out as 7/1 to win the bracket too if you back him each way.

The Ben Hogan bracket isn’t an easy one so I’m going for 2 players – Ian Poulter and Jimmy Walker. Poults is a superb matchplayer and if his putting hits any form in this format then he’s near to unbeatable. You can get the “Postman” at 35s best price with bet365 and Boylesports this week. Walker is the form player in the World at the moment and it is tough not to consider him this week, of course Matchplay is a very different game but if you play well you will of course have the chance to win. 50/1 best price with CORAL is worth at least a second look!

The toughest bracket this week could well be the Sam Snead, it could very well be the case that our pick to win the bracket could go out first round but we hope not! We are going for Zach Johnson here, superb putter and wedge player along with being one of the most competitive players head-to-head – he is very well suited to Matchplay. Zach is available at 35/1 with Stan James if you fancy a flutter here!

So that’s what we think will happen this week, summary as follows:

Bobby Jones bracket – Stenson; Gary Player bracket – Matt Kuchar; Ben Hogan bracket – Ian Poulter or Jimmy Walker; Sam Snead bracket – Zach Johnson. Stenson hasn’t played too much this year or overly well but he is truly World class when in the mood and expect him to be so this week. Another WGC title for the Swede, well at least we think so!! Enjoy the golf this week!

Feb 12 2014

Tournament Previews – Northern Trust Open & Africa Open

We’re going with one preview fits all this week once more as John Deasy takes a look at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera and the Africa Open at East London GC.

John is going with Graeme De Laet once more as his recent good form continues and he is going for his first win on tour so the motivation is most certainly there. The best price you can get the Canadian this week is 22/1 with BetFred, Bet365 and SportingBet while he is 20s best with many of the rest. He’s been the runner-up his last two tournaments at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Before that was three top-10′s. He’s made the cut in both starts at the Northern Trust Open.

DC also likes the look of Webb Simpson this week on the tricky layout where players like Faldo, Elkington and Couples have won on before. The 2012 U.S. Open champion is best price 20/1 with most of the usual bookies while Paddy Power again are stand-out here offering 6 places. Simpson has five top-10s this season and a T6 result here last year. Simpson finished T15 in his only other start here, while he leads the Tour in birdie average and scoring average and ranks third in all-around. He’s a strong bet to finish in the top 10.

Another player John wants you to keep an eye on this week is Hideki Matsuyama, best price 35/1 with 888sport while he is 33s and lower with most of the others. In just nine PGA Tour-sanctioned events, Matsuyama had six top-25 finishes, including a T-6 at The Open last year and is looking good so far this year .

In Europe, well South Africa, John has just 2 picks this week in the shape of Dawie Van der Walt and Roope Kakko. Van der Walt, having already qualified for The Open this year and with a string of top 20s to his name this season can produce another early season victory if hitting the same heights he did the win the Nelson Mandela Tournament not so long ago. You can get him at 35/1 with Paddy Power, BetVictor, ToteSport & BetFred.

Kakko won on the Challenge Tour in October 2013, where he claimed his first tournament as a professional by triumphing over a very strong filed at the Bank of Oman, and has been playing good golf this year. Full of bubbles he can get his season off to a lift in Africa this week. Roope is available at 66/1 with Paddy Power and a number of other bookies.

As usual you can give John feedback via Twitter on @johnalandeasy ! Prices accurate as of 9pm on 12/02/2014 via Oddschecker.com

Jan 28 2014

Tournament Preview – Dubai Desert Classic

Now in it’s 25th year, the Dubai Desert Classic continues one of the most prestigious events with a field to match. This week really isn’t any different and it should be a great few days of golf in the UAE.

Europe is going to be tough this week but John is going for Matteo Manassero, best price 80/1 with most bookies and 66s next best after that. The young Italian is just getting better and better and with his new Callaway clubs getting a tune up last week he’s going to be firing on all cylinders, leaving out Tiger and Rors might not be a wise call but both have yet to shake off the Christmas rust.

Long John Daly is the other JD’s sneaky bet for the week, the slimmed down razorback is showing good sings of form and his big hitting and fearlessness on the course might pay off for any punters wanting to take a risk, a top 10 finish pays out €330 for a €10 bet!

If you’d like to give John a follow on Twitter you will find him@johnalandeasy ! Prices accurate as of 10pm on 22/1/2014 via Oddschecker.com

Jan 28 2014

Tournament Preview – Waste Management Phoenix Open

This is consistently one of the best weeks in terms of fan-player interaction and also attendance with pretty much a football stadium stand erected at the 16th hole at the TPC Scottsdale in Phoenix, Arizona. Scoring tends to be fairly good so expect a score not far off the 20-under par mark if the weather is anyway decent for golf which it is likely to be be going on the forecast.

John Deasy is going for Graeme DeLaet to win this week in Arizona, best price 40/1 with 888sport and 33/1 with the majority of the rest. He is fresh off his second career runner-up finish and has finished no worse than a T7 in his last three starts. Top 10s in seven of his last 14 tournaments indicates that he is on a roll and looks good to pick up a win soon. His performance in the President’s Cup was also superb and he looks to have the mettle for playing under pressure and also notching up low scores.

One of John’s each way bets is for Keegan Bradley (top price 25/1 with most bookmakers).Tied for 16th at Torrey Pines, extending his string of top 20s on the PGA TOUR to seven in a row, the nephew of LPGA Tour legend Pat Bradley remains in good form. He has Top 25s in both starts at TPC Scottsdale and definitely has the ability and mentality to go low. One of John’s recent picks, Roberto Castro (100/1) is just waiting to catch fire at an event and this might be it.

If you’d like to give John a follow on Twitter you will find him@johnalandeasy ! Prices accurate as of 7.30pm on 28/1/2014 via Oddschecker.com

Jan 22 2014

Tournament Preview – Farmers Insurance Open

Torrey Pines is the venue for the next stop on the PGA Tour when the Farmers Insurance Open starts tomorrow. Unfortunately we won’t have a Tournament Preview for Qatar as John and myself both forgot it was starting today, Wednesday 22nd January!!

Like most people that know Torrey Pines know Tiger Woods should be right up there when the final round finishes on Sunday and expect nothing less this week. A best price of 5/2 with Paddypower who are offering 6 places is still very short however, having said that a win is a win and Tiger should be bang in contention after 72 holes.

Bill Haas will be another to keep an eye on this week in California. A top 6 finish last week at the Humana Challenge which could have been so much better had it not been for Patrick Reed going ga-ga with 3 consecutive rounds of 63, eventually finishing up with a 28-under par total to win. Haas shot 23-under and but for Patrick Reed we could have seen him fighting for even more money. Now he enters a tournament that has seen him finish tied for ninth last year, T-4 the year before, with another top-10 and three top-20′s to his credit over the years. Best price is with BetDaq at 27/1 with Paddypower next best at 25s.

Jimmy Walker has been on great form of late and we expect to see more of the same this week at Torrey Pines. He is Top 10 in nearly all of the stats so far this season , on a hot streak and a good could go low again over the next 4 rounds. CORAL offer you the best price on Jimmy at 40/1 while Bet Victor are next best at 35/1, most of the rest are 33s and lower.

John came close to a winner in Europe last week picking Phil Mickelson so hopefully he will go one better this week Stateside. If you’d like to give John a follow on Twitter you will find him @johnalandeasy ! Prices accurate as of 9pm on 22/1/2014 via Oddschecker.com

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