The stunning El Camaleon Golf Club
Matt Every 25/1 © Bridgestone
El Camaleon Golf Club is the centerpiece of the Mayakoba Resort, home to four separate properties along the Riviera Maya 42 miles from Cancun, Mexico. Designed by Greg Norman, the golf course measures 7,000 yards and opened for play in 2005. The 7th and 15th holes play right on the edge of the Caribbean Sea.
The course bends through three distinct landscapes -dense tropical jungles, mangrove forests, and oceanfront stretches of sand and is bisected by massive limestone canals. Greg Norman has even incorporated a cenote, an ancient underground cavern and river system into the center of the opening fairway. When the favourite for a tournament starts anywhere between 16-18/1 you know the bookies haven’t got a clue who is going to win and that is the case this week. The good news is there are some great odds being offered and with payouts on golf being the Top 5 that is great news for us punters.
Tim Clark 30/1 © Kevin Murray
My tips to win:
Matt Every 25/1 finished last week’s McGladrey Classic in good form firing a final round 66. Matt finished last season with two Top 10 finishes at the Wyndham Championship and The Barclays from his last four events. His Top 10 finish at the weekend should see Every tee it up this week with plenty of confidence on a course where he finished in the Top 5 last year.
One player who stormed through the field at the weekend was Tim Clark 30/1 who’s final round 62 saw him move up the leaderboard eleven places to finish a shot off the lead and tied for second. Tim only had three Top 10 finishes last season and it looks like the Zimbabwean is in determined mood to put that stat right this season.
If you are going for horses for courses Brian Gay 33/1 has to be right up there. Brian won this event back in 2008 and has two other Top 20 finishes, one of which was a Top 5 finish in 2011. Gay finished last week’s McGladrey Classic in good form making the Top 5 and should come into this week in a positive frame of mind.
Brian Gay 30/1 Keith Allison
My each-way tips:
El Camaleon is certainly a track Chris Stroud 33/1 obviously enjoys teeing it up on, Stroud has had two Top 5 finishes in the last two years of this event, he also had a twelfth place finish here in 2008. I was surprised at Chris missing the cut last week after finishing third in the CIMB Classic. But being back on a track he obviously loves playing I expect to see Stroud to be in one of the final groups come Sunday.
Another player who enjoys the El Camaleon track is Brainy Baird 50/1. Brainy has competed in all six Mayakoba Golf Classic events and with a record of three Top 10s and two Top 15s he has got to be in with a shout this week. Baird also comes into this event in great form after his runners-up finish at last week’s McGladrey Classic.
My Outside tip:
I have always felt you shouldn’t dismiss past champions from turning up at a course in bad form despite playing well, and this applies this week to the 2011 champion Johnson Wagner 100/1 who won in a play-off. No matter what your form when you turn up at an event you have won it will only bring back positive memories. Johnson did have a runners-up finish at the back end of last season at The Greenbrier Classic and could be worth a pound each-way this week.
For updated betting odds during the tournament go to planetgolfreview.com
