The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 04 February 2009 /

The Indian Masters is off and there's no Tiger at Torrey Pines so Steve has got the specs out and done some serious research to make his initial selections for the Buick Invitational.

Following the cancellation of the Indian Masters there's no European Tour event this week, so there's just the one tournament to concentrate on, the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines, San Diego, California, venue of last year's US Open.

Competitors play both the North and South courses over the first two days and then the weekend play is all on the South course. The North is by far the easier of the two and it was the South that was used for the US Open.

It's been an easy event to work out in past years; you just back Tiger Woods. On top of his one-legged US Open triumph, he's won this event in five of the last six years. In his absence it's a bit trickier.

It's hard to pinpoint the type of player that does well here too, long and short hitters fare equally well but previous course form is a decent pointer and home state players tend to perform well here also.

It's not the greatest field ever with Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington vying for favouritism. Lefty was absolutely shocking last week and missed the cut by some distance. I can't back him from the start as he was so poor and I fully expect him to struggle again. But he was born in San Diego, is now back residing in California, has won this event a few times and has also won early on in each of the last two seasons following a missed cut. I can't see him repairing virtually every facet of his game so quickly but I won't take my eyes off him early on.

Harrington has made no secret of the fact that he's very much geared towards the majors nowadays and his sole attempt here was his tied 36th in last years US Open. He makes very little appeal at [13.0].

It's a while back but Davis Love's record here is pretty impressive and he's my first pick. He won at his first attempt, way back in 1996, was then third in '98, fourth in 2000 and second in 2001. I can only guess he wasn't too enamoured by the extensive course changes in '01 because he didn't play here again until 2006 when he finished 24th.

He can play the course after the changes though; he was only two shots off the lead after two rounds of last year's US Open. Following his win at Disney and his second at the Mercedes, if he hadn't missed the cut at the Sony he wouldn't have been that much bigger than Lefty or Pod this week. Fellow veteran Kenny Perry bounced back last week after a poor performance in Hawaii, so hopefully Love can draw some inspiration and follow him in.

I've also backed last week's runner-up Charley Hoffman. The San Diego-born Hoffman had a torrid time of things with his putter last year but has found some impressive form the last few weeks. If he isn't suffering with too much of a hangover after last week's play-off disappointment the [60.0] could look a very fair price.

Third up is Troy Matteson, a streaky player who looked destined for far more than he's achieved to date after winning the Frys.com in 2006. He was six under through nine holes last Saturday at the FBR but dropped tamely away after that and he flatters to deceive quite often, but he's got form here, including a first round 65 on the harder South course last year. Unfortunately, he followed that with a 75 on the North course, but I thought he was value at [70.0].

Another Californian with really good course form is the injury dogged Aaron Oberholser. Last week's missed cut isn't too encouraging but the fact that he's played two events in a fortnight is. An injury-free Oberholser is a class act. He's missed the last two renewals but his form figures prior to that read 4-72-6-15, just about good enough to warrant taking [95.0].

A pair of very speculative picks to end with; last year's US Open ninth Eric Axley, along with California native and winner of the 2008 Nationwide Tour Championship and money list, Matt Bettencourt. He hasn't exactly set the main tour alight yet but should he really be [800.0]?

Selections:

Davis Love @ [36.0]
Charley Hoffman @ [60.0]
Troy Matteson @ [70.0]
Arron Oberholser @ [95.0]
Eric Axley @ [600.0]
Matt Bettencourt @ [800.0]

I'll post an update at the halfway stage on Saturday.

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