Golf Events / Tareq Quiroz / 20 August 2008 /

Tareq Quiroz has the tips and pointers for the first event of the FedEx Cup play-off series.

For the second week running we have a well established tournament that is being played at a new venue. The Barclays Classic sees the start of the FedEx Cup play-off series, which has a slightly different feel to it this year without the presence of the world number one. Tiger Woods was always in control of events last year and strolled to the huge prize awaiting the winner of the inaugural play-off series. This one is well and truly up for grabs and you can be sure it will go right down to the final event.

The Course
Once again we are faced with the prospect of having to try and guess how the course will play due to a lack of recent course form. Ridgewood CC is the host course for the first time and whilst the course is not entirely unknown it is hardly awash with huge amounts of form. What we do know is that at just over 7,300 yards it is just above average length for a par-71 course. It has played host to some Senior events and most notably the 2001 Senior PGA Champs. Any course that hosts a major in today's era will most certainly play tough and the players this week should expect anything but an easy ride. I expect punishing rough and quick greens to be the main guards against a good score this week.

The Favourite
In a tough field which features most of the worlds top players it is inevitable that the favourites spot goes to the world number two Phil Mickelson. Despite his recent indifferent form you just know that if he puts it together then he will be incredibly tough to beat. The course will suit him and in my opinion is justified as the market leader at current odds of around [10.5]. However, he is by no means my selection this week and there are far more appetizing options.

The Next Best Bets in the Field
The top three in the betting are such strong players that despite the absence of Tiger we are still able to get decent odds on the next echelon of top players. You can't help but be tempted by the [34.0] available about Vijay Singh, with his WGC win still fresh in his mind from just a few weeks ago. I wouldn't put anyone off him but my main pick this week is Retief Goosen. The South African has shown much better form over the last month or so and if reports of this course are correct then there will be no one better suited to the conditions. At current odds of [34.0] Goosen has to be the man to be on this week.

The Massive Outsider
It is a top quality field this week and as such it is hard to get away from the top ranked players but conversely it does mean that there are some tasty prices about on the less fancied runners. There are a few that catch my eye lower down the market but I can't get away from Trevor Immelman. Sure, he hasn't been in sparkling form recently but the guy is a current major winner and undoubtedly there are many more tour wins in him. Immelman is most certainly the stand out outsider pick this week at what could turn out to be very generous odds of [150.0].

Interesting Info
Vijay Singh is the most successful Barclays Classic competitor playing this week with three wins and over $2M in prize money from this event alone. Notably it was in this tournament that the big Fijian recorded his first ever PGA Tour win in 1993. Interestingly both Stuart Allenby and Jim Furyk feature in the top fifteen in the FedEx list without having recorded a victory this year. Between them they have 13 top-ten finishes this season so maybe this will be the week they get over the finishing line.

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