*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
Alfred Dunhill Links
The weather’s going to be pretty nasty in Scotland for at least one of the days, Friday in particular looks really bad, so I think you’d do well to side with some Scandinavian or British players. They tend to enjoy these conditions and I’ve got two from Scandinavia to kick us off.
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Alex Noren
The first is Alex Noren. He’s got a good record in the UK and Ireland and in links golf in general. He played well at The Open at Carnoustie four years ago, that’s one of the courses they use this week. He actually shot a bogey-free 64 there which is fabulous golf.
He loves the Old Course at St Andrews as well and arrives from the PGA Tour and so often we see these players who have been finishing mid pack, as he did last time, come back to Europe and they show that this is a lot easier. The class divide is pretty wide and I think he can go well.
Thorbjorn Olesen
Thorbjorn Olesen was a winner this year at the British Masters and is a former winner of this event. His ball striking last week was fantastic and, if he can warm the putter up, which is usually a strength of his, then I think he could go really well.
Tom Lewis
Tom Lewis has placed here before and he’s been a real eye-catcher over the last month of so. He’s one of those who’s come back from America and suddenly his golf swing looks a lot better.
He was 3rd through 36 holes in the Italian Open and played alongside Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick in round three there so was right in the mix with the best players in Europe. He then faded a little bit but that’s understandable as he gets his confidence back. He’s got three top 10s here, I think he should go really, really well.
Tapio Pulkkanen
Tapio Pulkkanen produced a phenomenal performance to place here a couple of years ago. He was out with the washing, outside the top 100 in round one, and yet finished fourth. He played really well at Carnoustie, the hardest course of the three, and he arrives in top form. He’s got four top 30 finishes including a top three over the last six weeks. He’s a big hitter and he’s shown that he loves it here in the past.
Sanderson Farms
I think the key here is that we go from the west coast in California two weeks ago to the east coast here and you’ll find a lot of players are much more comfortable on their preferred grass, different climate and style of golf course. That’s shaped my staking plan for this event.
Denny McCarthy
Denny McCarthy’s probably the best putter on the PGA Tour and we’ve seen a couple of really good putters win this event. McCarthy’s got local ties, he’s based in Florida these days, and he’s got loads of good form in the south. He arrives on the back of his best ever PGA Tour season and he looks like he’s ready to win.
Davis Riley
Davis Riley, for me, is probably the most talented youngster in the field. I was pretty surprised at the odds you can get on him in his hometown event. He’s not played that well in it before but this is the first time that he arrives as an established PGA Tour player. He nearly won a couple of times last season and now he knows he’s good enough to go and win.
Robby Shelton
Robby Shelton’s a player who’s always been spoken about as a potential star. It’s taken a while but he comes off the back of his best season and he’s won twice since the middle of summer. All his wins have some in the south east of the US. He also played really well in California in the first event of the season so I think he should improve on that.
Davis Thompson
Davis Thompson was talked about as a potential star of the future and he’s played well in this event before. He’s come a long was since then and I was a bit surprised about the price available. I think you’ll see him go very close on a couple of occasions this season. When he does it will be in fields like this and on courses like this.
This weekend’s golf tips
Alfred Dunhill Links
Alex Noren
Thorbjorn Olesen
Tom Lewis
Tapio Pulkkanen
Sanderson Farms
Denny McCarthy
Davis Riley
Robby Shelton
Davis Thompson
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
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