Find me a 100 winner - Alex Cejka

Find Me A 100 Winner / Paul Krishnamurty / 25 September 2007 / Leave a Comment

Paul Krishnamurty tell us why Cejka's layers will have their hands in their heads this week

If ever you wanted a clue as to what type of player might win this week's Viking Classic, just look through the rollcall of previous winners at Annandale. Amidst a generally uninspiring, unlikely set of winners one name pops up twice - Fred Funk. Always one of the shortest drivers on Tour, but consistently one of the straightest, Funk only ever won on certain types of golf course. Other winners such as Brian Henninger, Heath Slocum and even Luke Donald confirm this is a venue where accuracy very much takes precedence over sheer power.

There's also little point in reading the recent formbook too literally here. Every one of last year's top-4 on this course traded at 100 or bigger before the event started, and none of the last ten winners were among the favourites. All things considered then, the chances are this week's winner will fit a certain profile - accurate from tee to green, and starting at big odds.

Following in the footsteps of Donald, Alex Cejka looks capable of becoming the second European winner here this century. Its been five years since the German landed the last of his eleven professional victories, though recent months have seen him show his best form for some time. Cejka has only missed one cut since June, with the best being a top-10 in the Canadian Open amongst a considerably stronger field than this week.

Besides that, he's been consistently finishing in mid-division and hitting lots of greens in regulation. In fact over the past six months, he ranks 3rd in greens in regulation on the PGA Tour behind Tiger Woods and another rank outsider this week, John Merrick. All it needs is the putter to catch fire and he could well end that long losing streak.