The Players Championship – This is the first year that this great tournament, the 5th Major is being played in May. Weather in Ponte Vedra and that part of the Southeast can be extremely unpredictable in March. May still has it’s thunderstorms, but the weather forecast is a bit more predictable and reliable. I mention this only that the course will play different now, then in March. The water holes will be more challenging and stressful. Mickelson has even eluded to this fact in his early week interviews. Based on the course, experience, and shot making abilities, I like Mickelson, Padraig Harrington, and Stewart Cink. Currently, at Bodog, they are listed as 11-1, 20-1, and 22-1 respectively. For many reasons, I like Harrington a bit more than the others, but I would place equal amounts on all three of these players to win the Tournament. Unfortunately, there are no opportunities to bet head-head with these names as they are listed as playing each other at Bodog. Yet, I do like three of these head –to head matchups. I am taking Mickelson over Scott at -120, Furyk over Singh at -120, and Anthony Kim over Goosen at -120. Anthony Kim, is just 22 years old, but is certainly a star in the making. He dominated at last week’s Wachovia when he needed to and he seems to have that tough undaunted mental focus needed to win Majors. He is a great ball striker and has all of the shots needed on the Sawgrass shot makers course. The course will play tougher than in 2007 and it is no easy task starting with the 4th toughest hole as the first hole. Last year, it yielded just 45 birdies versus 127 bogies or worse. Yet, a bogie on the first, can be made up quickly on the 535 yard par 5 second. You must be in the fairway and if you fail to hit the fairway, a player loses at least one third of a shot based on last year’s stats. My point is that a player who plays in the moment can deal with the large variety of holes that require different skills on each. There were four holes last year yielding under par and they were the 2nd, par 5 11th, the par 4 12th, and the par 5 16th. The 16th was the easiest hole on the course and then it was followed by the two toughest with the 17th ranking 2nd and 18th ranking first. The 18th , playing at an average tour length of 462 yards recorded an average score of 4.41 last year.
 

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