Quicken Loans National: Hahn can scoop pot

Dave Tindall
27 June 2017

James Hahn can lift his third PGA Tour trophy

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Dave Tindall looks for more profits in his preview of this week's PGA Tour event at TPC Potomac in Maryland...

"Hahn shot a third-round 65 there and, just two tournaments earlier, twice carded 64s at the Byron Nelson Championship when third."

Main Bet: Back James Hahn @ 67.066/1

Each-way terms: 1/5 odds, 7 places

Main Bet: Back James Hahn e.w. @ 66/1

The hunt for course form this week is harder than usual given that TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm was last used on the PGA Tour in 2004.

Those results are compromised not just by age but by the fact that the course had major renovation work done in 2009, the greens being changed to bentgrass and the fairways to zoysia.

It means the 2012 and 2013 results from the Web.com's Mid-Atlantic Championship may prove a more useful source and the obvious name thrown up here is David Lingmerth.

The Swede won the 2012 edition and is in solid form with six finishes of T26 or better in his last seven starts. None of those are top 10s though so he's been somewhat frustrating. In fact, if you really want to back him at 30/1, note that he hasn't given each-way backers a return in his last 42 events.

Instead, I'll turn to a player who has landed the each-way cash in two of his last three starts, is over twice the price, has a win in each of the last two years and even boasts a bit of Potomac form too.

I'm talking about Korean-born American James Hahn.

A winner at the Northern Trust Open in 2015 (beating Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey in a play-off no less), he proved that was no fluke when capturing the 2016 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, the scene of this summer's US PGA so make a note of Hahn for that.

Since the latter, he's been fairly quiet although two of his top six finishes since then (Betfair are paying seven places here) have been in the north-west of the United States - T5 at TPC Boston in Massachusetts and T6 at The Memorial in Ohio on his last start.

Hahn shot a third-round 65 there and, just two tournaments earlier, twice carded 64s at the Byron Nelson Championship when third.

Needing an eagle to make the play-off in that event, his iron approach caught a piece of the cup as it span back so he was ever so close to giving himself the chance of a third win.

Confidence is high though and he tweeted after that event: "Excited about how my game is feeling."

Those words have substance given that he followed it soon after with the T6 at Memorial and he's now up to 66th in the world rankings and within smelling distance of the prized top 50.

As for that course form, it doesn't appear to amount to much given that he was a modest T36 but after rounds of 71-68-69 in the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Championship he was 12th with 18 to play.

He went backwards in round four but Hahn did enough over the first 54 holes to suggest he can approach his return to the venue with confidence.

All in all, he has some good things in his favour at 66/1 and, as we've seen, knows how to win.

Next Best: Back Keegan Bradley e/w @ 50/1

With last week's Travelers Championship also being played in the North West and on a par 70 where distance was far from the be all and end all, form from TPC River Highlands is more relevant that it might otherwise have been.

Therefore, I'm going to add in two players who appeared on that final Travelers leaderboard.

First up is 2011 US PGA winner Keegan Bradley.

It's logical to expect him to play well this week and last as he's from this corner of the States and is never slow to show his support for the region's teams (big Pats fan).

He put some of that local/area knowledge to use at TPC River Highlands when shooting 67-70-66-69 to tie for eighth spot.

Bradley was first for greens in regulation at the Travelers so his irons were dialled in while he was third on the All-Around so did everything well.

If form from another North West event transfers well, then Bradley's superb performances in the WGC-Bridgestone at Firestone in Ohio could provide a good clue.

Like Potomac it's a par 70 with bentgrass greens and Bradley has a win, a second, a fifth and nothing worse than T17 in five starts there.

As he sits 21st in Par 4 Scoring Average, it makes sense that he plays well on courses with two extra ones.

Talking in Connecticut last week, Bradley said: "I've been playing well for a while, and just trying to put it all together like we always say, all the clichés. But putted well today, hit the ball well. Really liking where my game's at."

He said in a recent podcast with Alan Shipnuck that he feels he's "come out the other side" in terms of playing his way through the anchored putter ban which wiped out thousands of hours of practice with the old style.

A good putting week and he'll be very dangerous on a course like this.

I don't want to be backing anyone at short prices this week given the lack of course form so therefore I'm happy to take the 50/1 about Bradley rather than the short odds for Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed.

Bill Haas and Brendan Steele have good credentials but between them they have a win apiece since 2013 so I'm not overly enthused about either at 25/1.

Final Bet: Back Kevin Streelman e/w @ 55/1

The other player from last week's Travelers leaderboard I'll take is Kevin Streelman.

I put him at 80/1 last week so, obviously, it's a little uncomfortable having to accept 55/1 here.

But the price cut reflects the fact that Streelman is, to quote a current catchphrase, "trending in the right direction".

Streelman closed with a 64 at the Travelers to finish T8 and that followed T13 at Memorial and T18 at Colonial.

One quote from last week's preview is again relevant. "This type of golf course is the style I grew up on back outside of Chicago, said Streelman of TPC River Highlands. "It's bentgrass and big old divots that you got to replace. For me, that's what I grew up on so it feel good about it."

As well as another big performance there (he was a previous winner at the course), Streelman was also T12 in this event last year when Congressional played host (also T11 there in 2009) while he's been T13, T8 and T20 in the last three runnings of The Memorial.

On current form, he must have every chance of featuring on the leaderboard here this week.

At bigger odds, Morgan Hoffman and Luke List have been 6th and 11th respectively at this course in the two Web.com events here. Both are 80/1.

If you really want to delve back into PGA Tour form from years back, Ben Crane was T6 at the Booz Allen Classic at Potomac in 2006. Combine that with his recent T10 at the St. Jude Classic and the 150/1 looks worth a few shillings perhaps.

The 12/1 for a Crane top 10 is an alternative way in.