Wednesday 24 July 2013

RBC Canadian Open 2013 - Glen Abbey GC, Ontario

Action on the  PGA Tour this week still remains outside the US as we head to Ontario, Canada for one of the oldest professional golf tournamnts in the world. With title sponsors, RBC at the helm, this event has recently been staged on a rotational basis and this year Glen Abbey GC will host for the 26th time. The first solo project of Jack Nicklaus was completed in 1976 and birdies are required here to take the title of Canadian Open Champion, a title that in 2013,19 Canadians are eager to win as no home player has won since the early 1950s. In form Graeme De Laet leads the home charge as he seeks his first win. An awkward week on the calendar, following The Open at Muirfield and before the WGC at Firestone next week and the PGA Championship the week after, RBC have ensured they have a quality field with many of their stable contracted to play.
   One trend though over the years apart from lack of home wins is that those competing at The Open, especially those who did so over the weekend have poor results in this, the week after. Hunter Mahan, Brandt Snedker, Dustin Johnson,Matt Kuchar, Charl Scwhartzel as well as Graeme McDowell and Luke Donald to name just a few tee it up here but its hard to see them competing hard following their efforts in Gullane but perhaps a case could be made for Donald having only played 36. But once we look at those players that only played 36 holes another player offers better value and that player is Billy Horschel @ 33/1. Billy won his maiden title in New Orleans at the end of April in a season that has seen him make TOP 10 on 7 occasions from his 17 cuts made (19 starts). He will be fresh this week following just the 36 holes at Muirfield and Glen Abbey is a course that will suit his game where making birdies is a must. Billy ranks 2nd on tour for birdie scoring. He also ranks inside the top 50 for driving accuracy and lies 5th in the FedEx Cup. His game is in good shape and has a nice grouping for the first 2 days playing alongside Hunter Mahan & Dustin Johnson and they tee off very early Thursday

My second and final pick this week is Swede, David Lingmerth @ 100/1. Out very early on Thursday morning also, this is a player who had a TOP 10 last time out at The Greenbrier and who challenged Tiger Woods at Sawgrass in May. With 3 TOP 10s from 18 starts this season (8 MC), the 26 year old, who celebrated his birthday on Monday, will be keen to improve on his FedEx Cup ranking of 37th as the regular season nears conclusion. With his fellow compatriot, Jonas Blixt, winning the Greenbrier I'm hoping the feel good factor from there spills onto Canada and he can compete at decent value.

2 selections for 4 pts

TIP 1 : 1.5 pts e/w B.Horschel @ 33/1 Betpack * paying 6 places

TIP 2: 0.5 pts e/w D.Lingmerth @ 100/1 Paddypower * paying 6 places


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