TPC Summerlin © Peter Corden
Ryan Moore 22/1 © Omar Rawlings
The Tour moves to the TPC Summerlin Club in Las Vegas for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Designed by Bobby Weed with input from Fuzzy Zoeller, the 7,223-yard opened for play in November 1991 and was built in the heart of Summerlin, a 22,000-acre planned community on the western-most edge of Las Vegas, it incorporates traditional golf design with the natural desert terrain of the region.
As a stadium course, the TPC Summerlin was built to accommodate golfing fans with unrestricted views of tee shots, fairway approaches and putting, by using strategically placed spectator mounds and natural amphitheatres.
My tips to win:
Ryan Moore – 22/1 with SportingBet – is a past winner here and followed that up with another Top 10, his second here in five years. This is Ryan’s first outing of the new season and last year he had a win and six other Top 10 finishes from twenty-four starts and when you have a driving accuracy rate of nearly 70% combined with a 68% of greens in regulation you are going to give yourself a chance most weeks.
Hideki Matsuyama 20/1
Hideki Matsuyama – 20/1 with BetVictor – got the new season off to a fine start making the Top 5 in last week’s Frys.com Open. Hideki won his first PGA title last year at the Memorial Tournament and I think that was just the start of many victories for the young lad from Ehime, Japan and I expect Matsuyama to be in the thick of it again this week.
I am going to be sticking with Brooks Koepka – 28/1 with StanJames – this week, he played well in the Frys.com and only a last round 72 saw him slip down the leaderboard. I think being in contention on his first full year on the PGA Tour may have got to him a bit and he just tried to push to hard, but I think we will see the Floridian in contention again this week
My each-way tips:
It was good to see Martin Laird – 33/1 with BetVictor – challenging again last week after a break that saw him working on his swing with his old coach, only a bad putting display on the final two days at the Frys.com Open saw him fall out of the chasing pack, but he still managed a Top 5 finish. Martin won this event in 2009 and followed that up with a runners-up finish in defence of his title. He has shoot a 62 and a couple of 63s round this track so I expect him to do well again and be around the final pairings come Sunday.
Charley Hoffman 55/1 © Keith Allison
Another player who seems to enjoy this track is Charley Hoffman – 55/1 with Bet365 – Charley had a Top 5 finish here last year and has another couple of Top 25s placings here. It wasn’t a great season for Hoffman last year with only five Top 10 finishes, but on a course he enjoys I think the Californian will be in confident mood this week.
My outside tip:
I was surprised to see Ryo Ishikawa – 80/1 with StanJames – this far down the betting odds. Ryo had a runners-up finish here last year and comes into this week on a back of a good showing at last week’s Frys.com Open where the lad from Saitama, Japan had a Top 20 finish. Last year wasn’t a great year for Ryo and it’s taken him a while to come to terms with the hype that surrounds him and his every move in Japan. The entourage that followed him at this year’s Open Championship was incredible, but I think turning up to a track where he has played well and in buoyant mood, I think we will see him challenging again this week.
For updated betting odds during the tournament go to planetgolfreview.com
The Bobby Weed designed TPC Summerlin course © Peter Corden
