The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 14 February 2012 /

Our man looks in detail at this week's US PGA Tour event, what will it take to win at Riviera?

Tournament
First played in 1926, this will be the 86th staging of the Northern Trust Open, which, outside of the majors, is the fourth oldest event on the PGA Tour.

Venue
Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California

Course Details
Par 71, 7325 yards, stroke average in 2011 - 71.83

Riviera has a number of interesting quirks. There's a green in the middle of the par three 6th hole, the 10th is a drivable par four and the fairways are blanketed in Kikuya - a tough strain of grass imported from Africa over 80 years ago. Polo was a popular sport in LA back then and Kakuya was used on the polo grounds in the area but it wasn't long before it had invaded and taken over at Riviera. The Kakuya makes for perfect lies on the fairway, perching the ball up high on its stiff leaves, but it's a different story if you find the rough. The grass grabs and buries the ball and control out of the thick stuff is minimal at best. This will be the 50th staging of the event at Riviera.

Useful Sites

Course Guide

Official Event Site

TV Coverage
Live on Sky Sports all four days, 8.00pm on Thursday and Friday and 6.00pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Last Five Winners
2011 - Aaron Baddeley -12
2010 - Steve Stricker -16
2009 - Phil Mickelson -15
2008 - Phil Mickelson -12
2007 - Charles Howell III -16 (playoff)

Typical Winner
Winners here have a real touch of class about them - 30 of the 49 Riviera winners to date have won majors. And even those that haven't tend to be top-notch stars. Recent winners without a biggy on their CVs, like Steve Stricker, Adam Scott and Robert Allenby, to name but three are renowned quality ball-strikers whose careers perhaps deserve a major.

Finding the fairways and even the right portion of the fairways is key in order to set up birdie opportunities. Greens In Regulation, as so often, is again the key attribute this week and length off the tees is of little importance. Experienced accurate types do best and multiple winners are fairly common - 15 players have won the event more than once.

The par five first is the easiest hole on the course and a par there is a poor score. In contrast, the final hole is the second toughest on the track (12th is the toughest) and a par there is always a welcome score.

Market leaders
Unsurprisingly, with two wins and a play-off defeat in his last five visits here, and fresh off his storming win at Pebble beach, Phil Mickelson quite rightly heads the market at [11.0].

Luke Donald missed the cut here last year but that was a real shock given he has just the game for Riviera and a cracking recent record to boot. His three previous visits produced form figures of 3-6-2 and he's sure to have his followers at [17.0].

Selections
I've asked myself whether I'd have been in such a rush to back Lefty at [11.5] if I hadn't collected on him last week at the much bigger odds of [26.0] and the answer is most definitely yes. He missed just one fairway on Sunday and his stats for the week were impressive. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw him take a four iron of the final tee but that single action spoke volumes about his mindset. From the fairway, he had the skill to play a second four iron to a perfect wedge distance, from where he pitched up and made the putt for birdie.

It seems obvious to everyone but Phil himself that his game if at its best when he's not busting a gut on every tee and a quick glance at last week's stats back that up. He ranked only 58th for Driving Distance and even taking something off on the tee he only ranked 62nd for Driving Accuracy but his short game was bang on. 5th for GIR, 2nd for Scrambling and 10th for putting got the job done easily in the end and a similar display could well pay dividends again this week. In form and at a track he loves, he's a no-brainer play at a double-figure price.

Thankfully, I don't take a wrong price too often but that's exactly what I did yesterday morning. I thought K.J Choi looked a great price at [40.0] but he's a fair bit bigger today. Having taken in a couple of events on the Middle East Swing, his most recent form figures don't look terrific but back on US soil I expect him to return to form and his record here is very good. He's finished in the top-seven in three of the last four renewals (only 27th in 2010) and I can see him being a factor this week.

I've backed Fred Couples in this event for the last few years and he came mighty close to rewarding my faith last year. I managed to get a very small amount matched at [200.0] but [150.0] is more than acceptable and I see Paul Krishnamurty's in agreement. This is his 30th appearance so he doesn't lack experience!

Northern trust Open Selections:
Phil Mickelson @ [11.5]
K.J Choi @ [40.0]
Fred Couples @ an average of [160.0]

I'll be back later with a preview of the European Tour event, the Avantha Masters, and I'll kick off the In-Play Blog on either Thursday or Friday.

'.$sign_up['title'].'

'; } } ?>

:

:

:

?

: