This years USPGA championship promises to be an absolute corker of an event.  Not only do we have an extra-long course to challenge the players, but also probably the toughest gree-side array of traps that we have seen in an American major, meaning that even the best scramblers in the game will struggle to shoot low if they are struggling with their irons.

With the course playing so long, most people will probably look for the big hitters when picking their winner, but I would argue that it is greens in regulation and accuracy off the tee that are the big players this week, with the eventual winner being whoever gets hot with their putter.   Before I name a few players, I would just like to state that I can’t really see past a Woods victory so for that reason I am going to take the hit on prices just to avoid the Tiger, so all of these are in the w/o Woods market.

First up is mr nearly, Sergio Garcia.  In his prime he would be around the 16/1 mark in this market but with his current lapse in form he now double that price at 33/1 and at this price he represents a great value bet and he will be my big bet this week.  On form there is no player better tee to green (Woods included) and if he ever finds out how to use a putter he would be unstoppable.  Hopefully this week his solid iron play will mean that he willl be there or thereabouts and I am basically taking a gamble on him making a few putts and keeping his head.  I know this is not the most re-assuring tip that you will ever read, but at the price he is well worth a pop.

Second up is Luke Donald.  Having finish T5 in this years British Open he has shown that he can handle the pressure at the top of the leaderboard at a major and his current world ranking of 24 would be much higher had he not sprained his wrist playing out of the rough in the US Open and been forced to undergo surgery.  Despite poorish results on tour this year, Donald has shown that he is one of the most solid players on tour and on current form we are again treated to an inflated price, and at 66/1, it is quite juicy indeed.

Third up is John Senden.  Currently top of the Greens in Regulation stats on the US tour and with a T2 a couple of weeks ago he is (unlike my last two names) a player in form who simply cannot be ignored with the course set up the way it is, especially as his price is a three figured one at 100/1.

With Harrington also coming back into form it would be rude not to mention him here so there it is.  Just on a personal note I shall also be backing Westwood, simply beacuse I have in every major for the past few years, and like Garcia, his time will come sooner rather than later.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Hacketts bet tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.