Honda Classic Betting Preview: This Angel's beginning to fly...

Golf Events / Tareq Quiroz / 04 March 2009 / Leave a Comment

Tareq Quiroz likes the look of the big Argentinean available at big odds in this week's big PGA Tour event.

I do enjoy the excitement of Matchplay golf but I sure am glad to get back to the nitty gritty of normal tournament play this week. Once again, Geoff Ogilvy showed us why he is the best knockout golfer in the world. He has an unbelievable ability to make shots when he really needs to. This one time erratic, and completely untrustworthy for golf punting, Aussie has become this serene golfing machine. He will spend this week counting all his prize money whilst the rest of the world's best head to Florida for the Honda Classic...

The Course
For the first time this year we see a switch from west coast to east coast. The host course is the PGA National, Champions Course in Palm Beach Gardens. Despite only being built in 1981 the track underwent a now seemingly mandatory redesign in 2001 from, yes you guessed it, Jack Nicklaus. At 7,158 yards it isn't a particularly long course but do bear in mind that it is only a par 70. The Champion course has only hosted this event for the last two years so they are the only ones really useful when looking for course form. Winning scores of around five- and six-under suggest this is a tough examination so don't expect a birdie blitz this week.

The Favourite
There seems little doubt that world number two Sergio Garcia will start this tournament as the market leader. You can't say that the Spaniard is off to a flyer this season but conversely there seems little reason to think that he won't continue his top form from last season. A couple of run outs on the European Tour will have him ready for this test and you cannot deny that if he shows his best form then the current odds of [14.0] will turn out to be a massive price. He is also the most appealing of the market leaders and although I probably won't be backing him this week I most certainly wouldn't put anyone off doing so.

The Next Best Bets
This has the look of a really nice competitive tournament. There are plenty of top name players and a good selection of the next level of players. I am tempted by a number of options but at the odds there is only one man for my main punt this week and that is Angel Cabrera. The big Argentinean is slowly building up his season but you know if he gets going then he will hard to stop. He was 13th a couple of weeks ago after a slow start and would have taken some confidence into last week's WGC. Once again however he was off to a slow start in the first match and was soon four down to Mickelson. A flying finish from Angel forced the match into extra holes before just losing out. If he can just get off to a decent start this week he could easily take this tournament. Current odds of [100.0] are just way too good to ignore and he heads my staking plan this week.

The Massive Outsider
Where do you go with your massive outsider selection when your main pick is a three figured price! Well, funnily enough, there are a few candidates out there that might just shake this field up at big prices. One guy I like and who I may well mention a few times this season is Ryan Moore. He blows hot and cold but if you are going to back a player at his sort of odds that's just the kind you are looking for. Four shockers and a sixth place in his five events so far this season are typical of his style of play. He has four second places to his name on the PGA Tour and I am positive he will get over the line one day soon. It might just be this week and at odds of [270.0] it can't hurt to take a chance on him.

Interesting Info
Despite their being nine major winners in the field there is only one player who has won this year taking part this week. Mark Wilson won last week's lowly Mayakoba Classic and should not be dismissed lightly as he won this event in 2007. Gone are the days when only American players were represented at these PGA Tour events as this week we have a remarkable 16 different nationalities represented. Finally, I think it is safe to say that this event underwent the most confusing name change in event history in 2002. After seventeen years being titled as 'Honda Classic' it had a complete revamp and was renamed 'The Honda Classic'. This of course was completely necessary as nobody ever put the word the in front of it when it was known as just plain Honda Classic.