Golf Events / Tareq Quiroz / 02 October 2008 / Leave a Comment

Tareq Quiroz looks at the odds ahead of the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

It was a cracking end to the Tour Championship last week with Camilo Villegas being the latest player to deprive Sergio Garcia of a tournament victory. The hotshot Colombian has come on in leaps and bounds in the second part of the season and you can be sure he will be a challenger for majors next year. This week's PGA Tour event does not quite have the same attraction as the Tour Championship but that does not make it any less appealing on a punting front.

The Course

Atunyote Golf Club is the setting for this year's return of the Turning Stone Championship. It is just the second year of this tournament and the Atunyote GC gives Steve Flesch the opportunity to defend his title. At 7,482 yards the course situated in Verona, NY, is pretty lengthy but it did not play at all difficult last year. Birdies were easy to come by and although there will be no changes to the course this year we should expect it to play slightly more difficult with reports suggesting that recent inclement weather has meant the course is very soft. If you are playing in-running then watch out for the tough par three 11th, which will almost certainly play the hardest hole of the week.

The Favourite

It is not too often that Robert Allenby heads up the market but this is one of those occasions. The Australian has 15 worldwide victories to his name but hasn't won on the PGA Tour since 2001. For me he is a favourite by default and as such he is seeing the usual favourite's money. There is just something about Allenby that leaves the punter feeling that he is about to collapse at any second and clearly that is not a good situation to be in. There is no doubting the quality of the 37-year-old's game but he certainly wouldn't be seeing a penny of my money at odds of [18.5].

The Next Best Bets

I rather fancied Carl Pettersson to go well last week at East Lake but he never got into it after a difficult opening round. I am not deterred by that performance and I still feel that the Swede has another tournament win in him before the end of the season. If ever there was a situation in which Pettersson comes to the forefront this is it. A slightly sub-standard field on a course that demands birdies you can bet he will be in his element. Factor in that he finished fifth here last years despite an average final round then at odds of [23.0] Pettersson is definitely my bet of the week.

The Massive Outsider

This is just the type of tournament where you will find some pre-tournament opportunities for a triple-figure winner. The first one that strikes me as a reasonable price is England's Brian Davis. He has had a very consistent season and you can often find him in and around the top of the leaderboard. Again he is a player who should benefit from this course layout and at current odds of [120.0] he represents much better value than most. The other player in this category that catches my eye is Peter Lonard. The Aussie has three top tens this season and if he is on his 'A-Game' then the [110.0] currently available will seem like a huge price.

Interesting Info

This track was first seen on the PGA Tour as a substitute course when the En Joie Golf Club suffered flood damage and was unable to host the 2006 BC Open. We have six major winners in the event but none of them feature in the top 20 in the betting. Davis Love III being the shortest at odds of around [75.0]. Surprisingly there are eight tour winners this season on show for this event, with Carl Pettersson being the most fancied of that group.

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