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Three big-price bets for the Houston & Indian Opens
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Read Dave Tindall's each-way column here
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Read Steve's Houston Open preview here
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Read Steve's Indian Open preview here
It's been a very odd season on the PGA Tour so far. We've had 13 events and we've either had a huge outsider take the title or the world number one, Scottie Scheffler, has won.
Scheffler's won twice (his last two starts) and 10 of the 11 others to win were matched at a triple-figure price!
As highlighted in the preview, Scheffler is well-fancied to win his third event in-a-row and odds in excess of 3/14.00 are very fair but I have picked out one longshot at the Houston Open.
Someone was happy to lay Martin Trainer at 1000.0999/1 on Sunday night but I don't think they'd fully researched his prospects.
The 32-year-old Frenchman, who represented the U.S.A until September 2022, missed the cut here in 2021 but he was leading at halfway on his last visit in 2021 before eventually finishing fifth.
Trainer won the Puerto Rico Open back in 2019 so he's a winner on the PGA Tour and he arrives in Texas in fair form.
The Californian based pro is well travelled and since the start of February he's played in Panama and Argentina on the Korn Ferry Tour, Mexico and Puerto Rico on the PGA Tour and last time out, two weeks ago, he finished fifth in Macau on the Asian Tour, where he ranked seventh for Greens In Regulation and first for Scrambling.
The recent highlights before that were an eighth in Panama and a fifth in Argentina, where no stats were published, and although he finished only 19th at the Mexico Open, he ranked fifth for Scrambling and first for Putting Average, as well as eighth for Strokes Gained: Around the Green and third for SG: Putting.
Although he's shortened up, the 400.0399/1 available is still very reasonable and the Sportsbook's industry-wide 8/19.00 about him finishing inside the top-20 looks worth taking too.
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1
& 2 units top-20 @ 8/1 (Sportsbook)
I like to back players that have shown they can win on the DP World Tour, rather than those yet to demonstrate they can, so I'm more than happy to back one of Matt Cooper's each-way fancies in the Indian Open - Simon Forsstrom - who was an impressive first-time winner in Belgium last year.
He didn't panic when in front at the Soudal Open and as Matt points out, he played fairly nicely last week in Singapore, and he finished inside the top-ten on debut in this event last year.
He's drifted to a very juicy price and I'm happy to chance him at 140.0139/1.
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1
As highlighted in the preview, the four course winners at this quirky venue have all been experienced pros so in addition to backing the 35-year-old Swede, Forsstrom, I'm also happy to chance the once very prolific 33-year-old South African, Daniel van Tonder.
A 78 in round four on debut last year saw him slip to a tie for 58th in the event last year but after a pair of top-tens in his homeland (ninth in the Jonsson Workwear Open and seventh last week in the South African Players Championship), he arrives in India in much better form.
He ranked first for Driving Accuracy last week and his Greens In regulation numbers have been respectable for a while.
Van Tonder, an eight-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, is hinting at a return to form and 220.0219/1 is just too big.
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1
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