Golf Events / Tareq Quiroz / 05 August 2009 /

TQ is another BB blogger looking at this week's 'lesser' event - the Reno-Tahoe Open.

Last week brought incredibly entertaining golf from all spheres of the game. Tiger roared back with a very menacing win as the men's game approaches the year's final major. My favourite winner last week was Catriona Matthew, who lifted the women's British Open.

It was a great display of intestinal fortitude on the back nine and she thoroughly deserved her moment in the spotlight. If last week was hectic then this week is pretty much the opposite. Naturally all eyes will be on the Bridgestone Invitational but I will be trying to find a juicy winner at the less glamorous Tahoe Open.

The Course
Montreux Golf and Country Club is the host venue for this event and it has been since the inception of the tournament back in 1999. This is one of Jack Nicklaus' designs and he has said that he rates this course as one of his top five. It certainly is a picturesque setting with virtually the whole course being surrounded by forest and lakes. At 7,472 yards it is playing a bit longer than it has done in recent years but don't let the length concern you as the ball really flies through the air here. There are quite a few risk/reward holes on this track so you may want to look towards the type of player who will take a chance to put himself ahead of the pack.

The Favourite
I love tournaments like this just for the pain of everyone trying to establish what the market should look like. Truthfully, any one of 10 players could have got the nod as the jolly this week but that honour looks like it might just go to Charley Hoffman. He will trade at close to [26.0] and I really can't have any of it. His ten top-25 finishes in 18 events is very impressive but I just can't see him winning. He hasn't been quite as close to the top in recent weeks and there are far better prospects out there than Hoffman.

The Next Best Bets
Vaughan Taylor is the man who I thought would get the market leader slot this week and he still may do with a late surge. Typically in any market the great factors in a movement of a price are a recent good performance and past course form. Vaughan Taylor has both in his favour. He has won this event the last two times he has played it and after a poor run of form he came back to the party last week with an encouraging eightn place finish. I really like his chances this week and the only question you have to ask yourself...is the price right? Undoubtedly his odds are vastly reduced if this exact same field had lined up two weeks ago for an event on a different course. I don't like jumping on these market movers but in this case I will make an exception as I really do believe he still represents the best chance of a winner this week. At odds of [27.0] I will have to make him my top bet of the week.

The Massive Outsider
It is hard graft this week to pick out some likely huge priced contenders as quite simply they are a distinctly average bunch. One player I do think will show up near the top of the leaderboard is Michael Allan. This old campaigner is getting better with age and a weak event like this might just be within his capabilities. His last two events on the main tour have been top-15 finishes and he will come here full of confidence. He much prefers playing these events to the Senior ones which he is now entitled to play so watch out for good week from the old-timer. Certainly at odds of around [85.0] he is perfect for my staking plan.

Interesting Info
The main interesting point about this event is that this is one seriously miserable field. Clearly all the best players have qualified for the Bridgestone, but still... I think it says it all in the fact that the last seven champions of this tournament are all here again this week. That's not because they love the place but because they simply aren't good enough to get into the big events.

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