Hideki Matsuyama
James Kennedy
Justin Thomas
James Kennedy
Jimmy Walker
James Kennedy
Pat Perez
Secret In The Dirt
Jason Dufner
Kevin Murray
Luke List
Travis Mathew
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| This week sees the tour move to the mainland island of Hawaii, Oahu and tees up at the Waialae Country Club. The course nestles between the Koolau mountain range on the north and Pacific Ocean on the south.
Opened in 1927 and designed by Seth Raynor, the Waialae Country Club has hosted major golfing events since 1965 and has been the venue for the annual Hawaiian PGA tournament.
Tailored greens, lush fairways, beautiful mountain ranges, the blue ocean, these are some of the fantastic views the course has to offer the visiting golfer.
The pros on the other hand will be playing the course in a different way as the front and back nines are reversed for Tournament play in order to capitalise on the sun setting in the west.
For another trusted Waialae CC Course review click here
My tips to win:
It is hard not to pick Hideki Matsuyama 8/1 – with Coral – in his current form, two wins, two runners-up and a sixth place from his last five starts, the lad from the rising sun certainly wont want the sun to go down on him at the moment.
Another player on top form at the moment is Justin Thomas 14/1 – with BetVictor – two wins from his four starts, the other two were both inside the Top 25 with an eighth and twenty-third place finishes. I don’t normally go for back-to-back winners just because the media attention and the adrenaline factor between tournaments, but Justin seems to be able to cope with both.
Jimmy Walker 22/1 – with SportingBet – will be going for his third win here in four years. Jimmy made a valiant affect here last year to make it three in a row, but finished in thirteenth place. Walker started last weeks Tournament of Champions in great form leading the pack on the first day with a 65, but he couldn’t keep that pace up, but knocking off the rust and getting back into the groove I can see Jimmy in the thick of it again this week.
My each-way tips:
Pat Perez 40/1 – with Ladbrokes – was one of my outside tips last week and the Arizonian didn’t let me down finishing in third place, for obvious reasons his price has been slashed but I still feel he makes a great each way bet if he keeps this current run of form going. Pat has had two Top 10s and a Top 20 in the last four years here so he certainly enjoys playing the course and in his current form of a win and two Top 10s from his last four starts, he will fancy his chances this week.
After two solid rounds at the Tournament of Champions Jason Dufner 50/1 – with Bet365 – started to go backwards, but like Jimmy Walker I think this could be just a case of knocking the Christmas rust off. Jason has a love/hate relationship with his putter but when he gets it going and added to his ball striking he is great to watch with that languid manner of his. Dufner has a couple of Top 10s here from the times he has played in this event including last year and I feel these are good odds.
My outside tip:
I am not sure what has happened to Luke List 90/1 – with StanJames – who seemed like he would just turn up at a tournament to miss the cut, whether his had a kick up the butt, or swing change it has certainly made the difference to the Washingtonian. Luke has only been outside the Top 25 once in his five starts of the wraparound season, in that run he has a runner-up and another Top 10 finish and currently sits in the Top 10 on the FedEx Cup rankings. List doesn’t have a good record in this event, but to be fair he doesn’t have a good record in any event, but he is hard to ignore in his current form at these odds.
As always good luck
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