Find Me A 100 Winner - Brett Rumford

Find Me A 100 Winner / Paul Krishnamurty / 05 February 2008 / Leave a Comment

Australian has the skills to perform at Pebble Beach

Recent years have seen a huge increase in the depth of Australian golfing talent. There are 12 previous PGA Tour winners from Australia regularly playing in the US, and probably another dozen well capable of breaking their duck in the near future. Two of that group yet to win over there topped my shortlist amongst those available at three-figure odds this week, with [300.0] chance Brett Rumford narrowly preferred to Matt Goggin in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Despite those huge odds, Rumford is no stranger to success nor to anybody who seriously follows world golf. The latest, and most lucrative, of four career wins came only five months ago in the European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre. That's not a bad strike rate for a 30-year-old, and certainly one that would have yielded an overall long-term profit for loyal followers at regular big prices.

After earning his card at Q-school in the close season, Rumford made an immediate impact by finishing eighth on his first PGA Tour start. That was also in a pro-am, the Bob Hope Classic, so we know he can produce in that specialised environment. Moreover, this week's pro-am is played on a group of courses where Rumford's skills are far more likely to be emphasised.

We know from his European Tour days that Rumford is at his best on tough golf courses where hitting greens in regulation is of paramount importance, particularly in windy conditions. In other words, the defining characteristics of Pebble Beach. Although obviously the course won't be set up anywhere near as tough as it has been when used for the US Open, Pebble Beach remains a fine test of golf. Arguably Rumford's finest hour to date came on a tough links course in bad weather at the 2004 Irish Open, when he beat a field not massively inferior to this week's opposition by four shots.