SBS Championship (formerly Mercedes)

In_tuition

28 players taking part this week in Maui, Hawaii

One of the most eye-catching courses on the PGA Tour.

Only winners from 2009 PGA Tour, major winners are invited to play.

Entrants are as follows:

Stewart Cink
Lucas Glover
Y. E. Yang
Angel Cabrera

Nick Watney
Brian Gay
Kenny Perry
Retief Goosen

Dustin Johnson
Jerry Kelly
Geoff Ogilvy
Paul Casey

Stephen Ames
Troy Matteson
Rory Sabbatini
Sean O'Hair

Zach Johnson
Steve Stricker
Heath Slocum
Mark Wilson

Matt Kuchar
John Rollins
Michael Bradley
Nathan Green

Martin Laird
Ryan Moore
Pat Perez
Bo Van Pelt

The defending champion is Geoff Ogilvy, in 2009 he went wire-to-wire shooting -24 to win by 6 shots.

Three players have 2 top 10 finishes to their name at the course, Goosen played the event 4 times, his last appearance came in 05, he has 2 top 10 finishes (03 & 04). Cink has also made 4 appearances here, his best finish coming in 2005 where he tied for 5th. Kenny Perry (7-time-starter, 4 times on this course) (1st appearance in the event in 1992) has recorded 2 top 10 spots here, 3rd in 2002 and most recent he was T-6 in 2009.

Watney tied for 5th on this sole start here in 2008.

Players highlighed in green are having their first competitive start at the Kapalua Resort Plantation Course.

Jerry Kelly (T-10) finished -20 on his sole start here in 2003.

Steve Stricker made his first appearance in the event in 1997, his most recent visit (2008) he finished 2nd after losing in a play-off, his best finish and only other start on the course prior to that was 25th in 2002.

Zach Johnson is no stranger to victory in Hawaii, he will defend the Sony Open in the coming weeks.

It goes without saying - there is no cut.

SBS stands for Seoul Broadcasting System

Will update the thread (including my selection) with more info over the coming days.

Selections and thoughts most welcome

Latest betting odds here

At the moment Dustin Johnson stands out at 25/1, he'll most likely be one of my selections along with Nick Watney

In_tuition

This event kicks off on Sky Sports 1 on Thursday @ 8pm

Long hitters will have an added advantage this week as the course plays near 7500 yards.

My two selections are two of the longest hitters in world golf. Dustin Johnson is consistently the longest driver on the PGA Tour, he wouldn't be the most consistent on accuracy but that aspect is not essential this week as the fairways at the Plantation Course are very generous - he is also a fantastic putter and with Nick Watney improving daily in that sphere this is where my money will lay for this event.

Dustin Johnson was 4th in driving distance on his sole start here last season. He carded -9 on the par 5's and -6 on the par 4's. Decent statistics and if there is a player on tour capable of a birdie streak it's Dustin.

I recently predicted major success for Nick Watney in 2010 in my weekly selections thread, along with that I said that I expected him to start the year how he left 2009, that being in sizzling form - since the end of August at the Barclays he T-15, in the Deutsche Bank he tied 4th, he had decent averages throughout the rest of the Fed Ex Cup play-offs where he eventually finished 12th.

He then made his way to the HSBC Champions event where I put him up as my selection pre-tournament at 80/1. He was leader after round 1 shooting 64, he was joint leader with Tiger Woods after round 2, he started the final round in a tie for 2nd, 2 shots behind the leader Phil Mickelson. He was unable to make inroads on the leaders after being right in contention with 6 holes to go, he finally finished 5th, 4 shots behind the winner Mickelson.

Watney was 4th in driving distance in that event - and eye-catchingly he was 3rd for putts per green in regulation.

He didn't stop there, he played the Nedbank Golf Challenge, where he finished 5 shots behind Stenson & Allenby, he shot 3 rounds of 73 but most impressively he shot 63 in round 3 to put him into contention on the final day, beating the next best score for a round by 3 shots.

As stated in my weekly thread Watney spends every ounce of his time practising his putting technique. Expect him to sink some sensational putts this weekend on his way to victory :cool:

Watney tied 5th here in his sole start in 2008.

Nick Watney 18/1 - €10 win (boylesports)
Dustin Johnson 20/1 - €10 win (25's on Ladbrokes now gone, only 16's there so unfair to quote him at 25's) (boylesports)

As always, all the best to anyone else who has a selection in the event :cool:

Thoughts and selections welcomed

postalservice

I don't usually bet on odds less than 100/1 but had no choice this week.

A euro each way on Brian Gay and Bo Van Pelt. (both 40/1)

L.O.F.T

I fancy a good week from Ryan Moore, after a more consistent second half to 2009 and a first career PGA Tour event at the Wyndham Championship taking him into the top 50. My other bet will be Angel Cabrera, long, very streaky when on form and did well in South Africa towards the end of last year at the start of the European tour.
Cabrera @ 20/1
Moore @ 25/1

In_tuition

The weather this week be close to near perfect. Very little winds which have been a major hazard to the players in this event in previous years.

Last years winning score of -24 may not be good enough this time round :eek:

Prior to 2008, the previous 16 winners had all played in the tour championship.

If you take that stat into consideration then almost half the field won't be winning this week, they are:

Stephen Ames - Paul Casey - Ryan Moore - Matt Kuchar - Rory Sabbatini - Pat Perez - Troy Matteson - Bo Van Pelt - Martin Laird - John Rollins - Mark Wilson - Nathan Green - Michael Bradley

There has been 8 consecutive foreign-born winners of this event.

marky boii

Nick Watney to win. A new star on the seen should do well

The_Kew_Tour

Yes Watney at 20's looks great bet

In_tuition

Leaderboard

In_tuition

For those without Sky Sports ..... you can watch here

Expect Dustin Johnson to shoot real low today, his average drive distance in round 1 was 311 yards, 11yards further than then next best. Could fire himself clear of the field today if the putter performs better than yesterday.

In_tuition

That feed is about 2 seconds behind Sky Sports.

Mister Sifter

In_tuition wrote: »

Expect Dustin Johnson to shoot real low today, his average drive distance in round 1 was 311 yards, 11yards further than then next best. Could fire himself clear of the field today if the putter performs better than yesterday.

I'd say there will be a good few low scores today. Didn't seem to me on Thursday that hitting it big was necessarily a huge advantage around this course. Seems handy enough.

blackwaterfish

cant seem to get that feed working today... stalls after about 5 seconds. :mad:

In_tuition

blackwaterfish wrote: »

cant seem to get that feed working today... stalls after about 5 seconds. :mad:

Here you go mate. You'll need to download veetle and do nothing else. Very straight forward.

Few seconds behind Sky Sports coverage;

fullstop

In_tuition wrote: »

Expect Dustin Johnson to shoot real low today, his average drive distance in round 1 was 311 yards, 11yards further than then next best. Could fire himself clear of the field today if the putter performs better than yesterday.

Sean O'Hair was 3 under greens in regulation on the 1st day, shot -5 with 34 putts. Looked like if he got the putter going he could have run away with it.

heavyballs

fullstop wrote: »

Sean O'Hair was 3 under greens in regulation on the 1st day, shot -5 with 34 putts. Looked like if he got the putter going he could have run away with it.

he's not the best putter,in fairness the greens are larger than the norm(circa 8000 sq feet avg),Glover was playing pretty average at the start of his round and yet still managed to hit every green in reg
it's a bit of a joke imo,a course like that for a Champions event,some of the fairways are as wide as some of my bad drives are long

Mister Sifter

heavyballs wrote: »

it's a bit of a joke imo,a course like that for a Champions event,some of the fairways are as wide as some of my bad drives are long

I disagree completely. I think it's a cracking course and event to start the season off with. Nice to see the US pros actually having to make some shots for a change. The fairways might be wide and the greens big, but the way the course is built in to the terrain, combined with the strong fluctuating winds, makes it very testing.

It's also a great course for displaying just how much the groove changes are affecting the pros.

In_tuition

Mister Sifter wrote: »

I disagree completely. I think it's a cracking course and event to start the season off with. Nice to see the US pros actually having to make some shots for a change. The fairways might be wide and the greens big, but the way the course is built in to the terrain, combined with the strong fluctuating winds, makes it very testing.

It's also a great course for displaying just how much the groove changes are affecting the pros.

Totally agree.

It's a fantastic event and beautiful course to watch golf (shot-making in particular) being played.

Mister Sifter

In_tuition wrote: »

Totally agree.

It's a fantastic event and beautiful course to watch golf (shot-making in particular) being played.

Just watching the re-run of round 3 just now and it's incredible watching the short games with the greens having sped up.

I fancy Ogilvy to go ahead and win it. His stats for the week are awesome. Clearly a course he enjoys playing and knows well.

Hopefully Laird can claim a good finish.

PhilipMarlowe

Mister Sifter wrote: »

Just watching the re-run of round 3 just now and it's incredible watching the short games with the greens having sped up.

I fancy Ogilvy to go ahead and win it. His stats for the week are awesome. Clearly a course he enjoys playing and knows well.

Hopefully Laird can claim a good finish.

Time to lay Ogilvy so...

Mister Sifter

Licksy wrote: »

Time to lay Ogilvy so...

I have money on a guy in contention but i'm not saying who. I've learnt my lesson.

In_tuition

In_tuition wrote: »

Here you go mate. You'll need to download veetle and do nothing else. Very straight forward.

Few seconds behind Sky Sports coverage;

Link above will do the trick again tonight.

In_tuition

Mister Sifter wrote: »

I have money on a guy in contention but i'm not saying who. I've learnt my lesson.

Good luck

heavyballs

Mister Sifter wrote: »

The fairways might be wide and the greens big, but the way the course is built in to the terrain, combined with the strong fluctuating winds, makes it very testing..

very testing?ok then,what score is leading?

Mister Sifter

heavyballs wrote: »

very testing?ok then,what score is leading?

There are no pictures on a leaderboard. Have you actually watched any of it?

Mister Sifter

In_tuition wrote: »

Good luck

heavyballs

Mister Sifter wrote: »

There are no pictures on a leaderboard. Have you actually watched any of it?

forgot to add:rolleyes:,i'm watching it all,

Mister Sifter

heavyballs wrote: »

forgot to add:rolleyes:,i'm watching it all,

Many watch, but not everyone sees, clearly.

heavyballs

a drivable 398 yards par 4,hmm thats testing alright

heavyballs

Mister Sifter wrote: »

Many watch, but not everyone sees, clearly.

so you're saying it's not open for discusion,it's a testing course,what a load of *rap

why not back your comment up instead?

Mister Sifter

heavyballs wrote: »

a drivable 398 yards par 4,hmm thats testing alright

That'll be why there's been 4 birdies, 4 bogies on that one today.

heavyballs

Mister Sifter wrote: »

That'll be why there's been 4 birdies, 4 bogies on that one today.

scoring avr 3.750 on that one,12th hardest hole,that tells me it's not a testing course.

In_tuition

heavyballs wrote: »

so you're saying it's not open for discusion,it's a testing course,what a load of *rap

why not back your comment up instead?

Sorry for sticking my spout in but feel the need to add my thoughts as Mister Sifter made a good comment initially about what you had said last night.

Kapalua is one of the most unpredictable places on the planet, it's built on the side of a mountain and a subject to winds off the ocean. In 2006 this course was the 4th toughest played on the PGA Tour. Last year it was the 47th toughest. In the last few seasons the trade winds have been grateful to the players, hence why the scoring has been higher.

But there are many traps on the course, shot making is a huge factor, ball lies and stance are much harder than normal and you may think the huge greeens are easy but they are tough. Plus the new grooves has made the players stand and think after hitting a wedge. When the wind blows here it's a manic course to play, as proven with the stat in 2006.

Tough course on it's day made to look easier by the calm weather.

In_tuition

Arrgh, was hoping for a small bet on Sabbatini next week looks like my decent odds will be no longer :mad:

Gave him a special mention here

Mister Sifter

Mister Sifter wrote: »

I fancy Ogilvy to go ahead and win it. His stats for the week are awesome. Clearly a course he enjoys playing and knows well.

Should have backed it up with pound notes. Grrr...

pinkdoubleeagle

Mister Sifter wrote: »

Should have backed it up with pound notes. Grrr...

I got him at 10's on Friday Morning.

In_tuition

pinkdoubleeagle wrote: »

I got him at 10's on Friday Morning.

Well done.

In_tuition

Both my players finished -13.

Dustin Johnson was T-3 in birdies, 1st in driving distance and 3rd in putts per gir. His accuracy is continuing to cause him problems (it's not extremely bad just that it causes him problems) and he needs to rectify this asap if he wants to continue his progress through the ranks.

heavyballs

In_tuition wrote: »

Both my players finished -13.

Dustin Johnson was T-3 in birdies, 1st in driving distance and 3rd in putts per gir. His accuracy is continuing to cause him problems (it's not extremely bad just that it causes him problems) and he needs to rectify this asap if he wants to continue his progress through the ranks.

anyone who hits the ball as far as this guy is generally going to struggle with hitting fairways,in fairness if he can't hit those fairways on that course i'd hate to see him trying to tackle a tight course