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Course looks likely to suit Wu and Hedley
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Merritt chanced to bounce back into form
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As highlighted in this week's World Wide Technology Championship preview, this week's PGA Tour event in Mexico is being staged at a new venue this year - the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal Golf Course at Diamante in Los Cabos.
Tiger's wide, exposed track with huge paspalum greens has many similarities to the host course used at the Mexico Open - the Norman Signature Course at Vidanta Vallarta - and that's the main reason for my first pick.
Brando Wu is yet to win on the PGA Tour but this looks like a fabulous opportunity for the 26-year-old Californian.
Sitting at number 65 in the FedEx Cup standings, Wu has no fear of losing his card but he will be very keen to climb up a few spots before the season draws to a conclusion at the RSM Classic in a couple of weeks' time.
The top-50 in the standings have had their positions frozen since the Tour Championship but those that finish between 51st and 60th at the end of the series will earn a spot in both the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational next year, and Wu will be keen to return to Pebble Beach as he finished second there in February.
Wu, who's a winner on the Korn Ferry Tour, has four other top-seven finishes on the PGA Tour - seventh and a third at the Puerto Rico Open and a second and a third at the Mexico Open.
As stated, the host course for the Mexico Open has many similarities with this track and the Grand Reserve Country Club in Puerto Rico is another track laid to paspalum - a surface rarely encountered on the PGA Tour.
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1
It's never easy when we visit a new venue but I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised to see this week's venue correlate nicely with one we've only seen used once before on the PGA Tour - Congaree Golf Club in South Carolina.
With its wide fairways and large Bermuda greens, there are definitely similarities between the two tracks and that's one of the reasons I'm happy to chance the 2014 Puerto Rico Open winner, Chesson Hadley. He caught the eye last time out in the Shriners Children's Open, where he finished seventh after a slow start (sat 42nd after round one).
Hadley led the Palmetto Championship at Congaree by four strokes after round three before getting caught late on by Garrick Higgo two years ago and I fancy he could take to this track very nicely indeed.
Prior to his seventh place finish at the Shriners, Hadley had finished 35th at the Sanderson Farms Championship but he'd hinted at a return to form there as he'd led after the opening round.
Sitting at 122 in the FedEx Cup standings, Hadley isn't quite safe yet but a strong performance here will do the trick.
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1
At 115 in the standings, Troy Merritt is probably safe. It's hard to see ten players passing him over the next three weeks but he can eliminate any linger doubts with a good week here, in an event he's been warming to over the last three years.
He'll be disappointed to have seen the tournament change venues given he has improving event figures reading 40-15-3 but if he putts a bit better than he did last time out at the Shriners, where he finished down in 64th place, the two-time PGA Tour winner could bounce back to form nicely.
Prior to that disappointing performance he'd finished seventh in the Fortinet and ninth in the Sanderson Farms Championship so he looks fractionally over-priced at 180.0179/1
Place order to lay 8u @ 10.09/1 & 12u @ 2.01/1