Find Me a 100 Winner: Locals worth chancing in California

This week's DP World Tour event, the Italian Open, is staged at next year's Ryder Cup venue, the Marco Simone Golf Club, a course that wasn't particularly well received when played for the first time last year.

As highlighted in the preview, a number of the pros were critical of the set-up 12 months ago but that hasn't stopped the likes of Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton make the trip to Rome ahead of next year's biannual battle with Team USA.

If any of those four bring their A games they'll take a lot of beating but outsiders have fared well in the event and three of the last four winners were priced at triple-figure odds before the off so I'm happy to chance one there...

South African can contend again in Rome

Daniel van Tonder has been under a bit of a cloud since winning his national title in impressive fashion just before Christmas last year but there have been signs of life of late, suggesting that a big performance could be close.

He sat third with a round to go at the Ubunye Championship on the Sunshine Tour a month ago before finishing seventh, shot a 64 in round three of the European Masters at the end of August and he opened up last week's BMW PGA Championship with a six-under-par 66 to sit tied for fifth, just two off the lead.

Rounds of 74 and 72 saw him finish only tied for 68th and he opened up the Made in HimmerLand with an 81 two weeks ago so there's plenty of downside but at 290.0289/1 I'm happy to take a chance.

The 31-year-old was a gutsy winner of the Kenya Savannah Classic last year on the DP World Tour, he's a serial winner in his homeland and he's shown an aptitude for this week's venue. Van Tonder sat tied for second and just one off the lead with a round to go last year before tumbling down to a tie for 27th.

Back 1u Daniel Van Tonder @ 290.0289/1
Place order to lay 10u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.35/4

Locals worth chancing in California

As highlighted in the Fortinet Championship preview, the first two home last year, Max Homa and Maverick McNealy, the 2019 winner, Cameron Champ, and the two-time champ, Brendan Steele, are all Californians and we've also seen California's Phil Mickelson contend recently so concentrating on the locals makes sense.

There's also plenty of evidence to suggest there's a strong link between this week's venue, the North Course at the Siverado Resort and Spa in Napa Valley, and TPC San Antonio, the home of the Texas Open, so I've trawled the field to find outsiders with a local link and form in Texas and first up is the in-form 33-year-old, Andrew Putnam.

Although Putnam isn't Californian, he went to Pepperdine University in the state and all his best form is there.

Putnam's sole success to date was at the 2018 Barracuda Championship and his best efforts at the start of the year, when he wasn't playing well, were 14th in the American Express and sixth in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Putnam has solid course form reading MC-30-36-30, he was eighth in the Texas Open in 2018, and most importantly, he's been playing really well of late, producing form figures reading 11-27-5-23, with his top-five finish in the St Jude Championship an extremely eye-catching performance.

Back 2u Andrew Putnam @ 110.0109/1
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.35/4

Back Beau in his home state

Beau Hossler's 2022 highlights to date are a third in the AT&T Pebble Beach and a fourth at TPC San Antonio. A fine effort in his home state and a strong finish at the correct correlating course.

His course form to date reads an improving 74-MC-MC-23-16 so he's getting to grips with the layout and it's worth highlighting that he'd missed two cuts prior to last year's 16th, and he missed two more after it. And he wasn't at his best when he finished is 23rd in 2020 either so it would be no surprise to see the 27-year-old contend this year.

Back 2u Beau Hossler @ 170.0169/1
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.35/4

Landry worth chancing at a massive price

The 2018 Texas Open winner, Andrew Landry, isn't from California but his only other PGA Tour title - the 2020 American Express - was gained in the Golden State.

He's in terrible form at present but he was when he won both his titles so he can find form out of the blue - as he did this time last year when he finished fourth in the Sanderson Farms Championship after missing the cut here - so that doesn't put me off.

Last year's weekend off, thanks to a pair of 77s, was by some distance his worst effort here. With course form prior to the MC reading 7-66--23, he's a sporting wager at a really huge price.

Back 0.5u Andrew Landry @ 1000.0999/1
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 10u @ 2.35/4

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter