The Blue Monsters 8th hole © Peter Corden
Charl Schwartzel 16/1 © tourprogolfclubs.com
This week sees the second WGC tournament of the year pitch up in West Miami at the Doral resorts Blue Monster course. The resorts name Doral comes from a combination of the original owners names. Doris and Alfred Kaskel purchased 2,500 acres of swampland back in 1959 and by 1962 the resort was open to golfers, with two 18-hole golf courses, the Blue and Red and a par 3 course.
Dick Wilson designed the Blue Monster in 1961 and in 1993 KSl Recreation Corporation purchased the resort and renamed it the Doral Golf Resort & Spa. A $30 million investment including a redesign by Raymond Floyd, takes the yardage up from its original 6,939 yards to today’s 7,266 yards on the Blue Monster, where the course now incorporates 110 bunkers and has eleven water hazards.
Hunter Mahan 25/1 © Keith Allison
My tips to win:
I am going to stick with Charl Schwartzel 16/1 this week as he was one of the few players who moved up the leaderboard on the final day of last week’s Honda Classic, where he fired a one under par, 69 to move up seventeen places. Charl has now notched up two Top 10 finishes in his last two PGA Tour events, which follows up four Top 5 finishes on the European Tour, one being a win at the Alfred Dunhill Championship.
I am also going to stick with defending champion Justin Rose 14/1 he’s another player who seems to be coming into form apart from crashing out early in the WGC Accenture Match-Play. Justin started last week’s Honda Classic in great form firing a 66 in the second round. Unfortunatly he gave most of those shots back in his final two rounds, but he still managed a Top 5 finish, which at least won us some place money.
Ernie Els 70/1 © tourprogolfclubs.com
Hunter Mahan 25/1 has a record so far this year of playing six and finishing inside the Top 20 five times, not a bad record when you consider the last two tournaments were Top 10 finishes with a runners-up spot in the last WGC event. If he keeps this progression going you should be seeing him pick up the winners cheque come Sunday.
My each-way tips:
It seems Graeme McDowell 33/1 has started to hole some putts and apart from his third round 73 at last week’s Honda Classic, he levelled par or better for the other three rounds, giving him his second Top 10 finish in his last two PGA Tour events.
Jason Day 35/1 has quietly been going about his business with his three Top 10 finishes from four events on the PGA Tour. Jason had a Top 20 finish here last year and averaged a Top 10 finish in just over 25 percent of the tournaments he teed up in on the PGA Tour last season, so look for another good finish this week from the Queenslander.
My Outside tip:
This week’s outside tip is going to be the 2004 and 2010 Champion Ernie Els 70/1. Ernie won on the Blue Monster in 2010 which shows he enjoys playing here. He also comes into this week in steady form, his final round 72 which was two over par at last week’s Honda Classic actually moved him up the leaderboard sixteen places, but it was the 75 on the Saturday that done the most damage. Ernie is desperate to do well at The Masters after missing out last year for the first time since 1993 and he will want to be going into that event with some good finishes under his belt.
For updated betting odds and scores during the tournament go to planetgolfreview.com
