Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy, who are tuning themselves up for next week's US Open, top the betting for this week's St Jude Classic at TPC Southwind, Tennessee.
Ross' Three Off The Tee:-
David Toms @ 25/1 Blue Square
With some of the bigger names using the event to hone their skills ahead of the second major of the season, it could pay to concentrate on those players who will concentrate on the tournament at hand and Toms will have been looking forward to this week all year. And with his course form figures reading 4-1-1-2-10-3-37-2, who can blame him! Granted, he's not been spotted on many leaderboards this season but is coming off a season best tied-13th at Colonial where he shot four sub-69 rounds. Hard to ignore this week.
Brian Gay @ 30/1 Totesport
If Toms is worth backing at 25's, Gay is massive value at five points longer. His love affair with Southwind doesn't quite go as far back but his form has been progressive starting with tied-5th in 2004, fourth in 07, before destroying the field by six shots last year with an 18-under par total. What's more, he arrives here in decent form with a fair 33rd at Colonial following on from a fast-finishing second at Colonial, with his closing 63 one of the rounds of the season. Enough said.
Fredrik Jacobson @ 35/1 bet365
The Swede is another who has contended well here in recent years (spot the theme), going 3-5-6 between 2003 and 2005, and he's been playing some of his best golf for a long while this season, with a second in Texas, sixth at the Honda and 10th at the Players his best efforts. His only hope of qualifying for the US Open is to win this week so you can be sure his mind will be firmly on the job at hand.
Bubbling Under: Tom Pernice (100/1 bet365)
The veteran plays the course well having made the top-20 on four of his last six visits, including finishing runner-up in 2006, and has been in decent form of late, finishing seventh at Colonial. A win might just be beyond him but a top-10 finish at 201 with Paddy Power will do nicely.
Punters Beware: Lee Westwood & Rory McIlory
With the US Open at the forefront of their mind, the two best golfers in the field are unlikely to be going all out for victory and, besides, no European has ever won this event, dating back to the first renewal in 1945.
Recommended Bets:-
David Toms 1.5pts each-way @ 25/1 Blue Square
Brian Gay 1.5pts each-way @ 30/1 Totesport
Fredrik Jacobson 1pt each-way @ 35/1 bet365
Tom Pernice Top-10 Finish 1pt @ 20/1 Paddy Power