Phil Mickelson is the clear market jolly, and his chance is an obvious one. Lefty has seven USPGA top-10’s from 15 starts, winning at Baltusrol three years ago, and he looked very impressive last week, for 69 holes anyway. His bogey-bogey-bogey finish on Sunday was disappointing (not least to his backers!), but he is not the type of player to let that bother him and he could be called the likely winner until those final three holes. His driving in particular looked in good shape and that could be the key to a good week at Oakland Hills. I certainly wouldn't put anyone off backing him at 5/1 with bet365, although he hardly screams value at that price.
He is much preferred to Jim Furyk (11/1 Paddy Power), whose Firestone performance in coming only 27th was poor in light of his previous record there, and Anthony Kim (14/1 William Hill), who has looked a bit jaded in the last couple of weeks, blowing a sure-fire winning position in the Canadian Open and then finishing a remote 36th last week. He’s much better than that, but this could be one golf tournament too many for him.
I’ll cut straight to my tip – Hunter Mahan at 20/1 (Boylesports, Betfred). As I’ve put him up as my main outright bet it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that the outspoken American is my man to beat in this market. Quite simply, he’s an excellent driver, is absolutely lethal into the greens (fourth in GIR for 2008), and has gone on record as saying he loves the course after finishing runner-up in the 2002 US Amateur Championship. The clincher for a bet though is his recent form – four top-20 finishes in his last five outings. Get your money on!
I’ve put up Chris DiMarco as the best ‘outsider’ in the outright market, so I’ve no hesitation in tipping up in this section too at a juicy 66/1 with BetDirect and Stan James. He’s hard to fancy on his efforts this season – just three top-15’s and a string of missed cuts – but there were definite signs of a revival last week when he finished tied-12th. Clearly, the adjustments he made after some advice from swing guru Rick Smith have done the trick and there’s no reason why he can’t play well again this week.
Of the rest, I would be inclined to lay both Stewart Cink and Kenny Perry in Betfair’s version of this market – 19.5 and 20 at the time of writing. Cink has disappointed in both our Open and at Firestone (where he had a great record), while Perry has done all his recent winning in much lesser company than this and, besides, may be ready for a break.
Recommended Bets:
Hunter Mahan 1pt each way @ 20/1 Boylesports, Betfred
Chris DiMarco 1pt each way @ 66/1 BetDirect, Stan James