2014 PGA Crowne Plaza Invitational Odds: Matt Kuchar Favored

Colonial offers betting value
By Sportsbook.ag

Tournament: Crowne Plaza Invitational
Date: May 22-25, 2014
Venue: Colonial Country Club
Location: Fort Worth, Texas

After a surprising win by Brendon Todd last week at the Byron Nelson Championship, the PGA Tour makes the short trip from Irving, TX to Fort Worth, TX this weekend for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, a Par-70, 7,204-yard course. The tournament is 1-of-5 invitationals on the tour, as the field will be reduced to just 125 players.

Boo Weekley was able to pull out a close win last season at this tourney with a score of 14-under, defeating Matt Kuchar by one stroke and Zach Johnson (a two-time winner here) by two strokes. Phil Mickelson is the other recent two-time winner at this event, being victorious in both 2000 and 2008. Adam Scott moved to the No. 1 spot in the World Golf Rankings this past week and will be playing just his eighth tournament of this year when he hits the course on Thursday.

Let’s take a look at a few players in the field who have an opportunity to grab a win this weekend.

Golfers to Watch

Zach Johnson (14/1): Johnson has been spectacular at this event, winning twice (2010 and 2012) while finishing in third place last season and fourth in 2011. He has been tremendous on Sundays in those four years, putting up a scoring average of 66.8 in that time. This season he is ranked fifth on tour in driving accuracy (71.8%) and is seventh in scoring average (70.0). Johnson should garner your largest wager for the weekend's action.

Matt Kuchar (12/1): The player with the lowest odds this week is the 35-year-old Kuchar. It is hard to not put a bet right now on Kuchar who is third in the FedEx Cup standings, fourth in the World Golf Rankings and has placed in the top-7 in five of his past six tournaments this year. He has the best scoring average (69.4) on tour this year thanks in part to shooting a combined 22-under on par-4’s this year (best on tour) and gaining .490 strokes from putting (14th on tour). Kuchar is in great shape to earn his second win of the season come Sunday.

Jim Furyk (15/1): Furyk is playing just as well as Kuchar right now after posting back-to-back runner-up performances in his past two tournaments. He has finished in the top-7 in four of the past six times out and is first in scrambling on tour this year (69.2%) while also having a driving accuracy of 69.7% (10th on tour). Furyk has a good chance at his 17th career PGA victory, which would tie him for the 48th most in tour history.

John Huh (40/1): Huh will turn 24 years old on Wednesday and hopes to grab his second career PGA victory as a gift. After missing the cut in 6-of-8 tournaments between late January and The Masters, Huh placed third in the RBC Heritage and 16th last week at the Byron Nelson Championship. In his first two attempts at this particular event, he placed fifth (2012) and 11th (2013), and should make a push in this year’s installment.

Brice Garnett (200/1): Garnett has been one of the better rookies on tour this season and has made the cut in 14-of-17 events while placing in the top-25 twice. He is coming off a 29th-place finish at the Byron Nelson Championship, but he likes playing in Texas with his best finish coming at the Houston Open last month when he placed tied for seventh. In a season where new names are popping up at the top of the leaderboard each week, Garnett has a good chance to compete as a big sleeper and would be quite a payoff at his 200-to-1 odds.

Check out more Golf Future Odds and Matchups at Sportsbook.ag!

Crowne Plaza Invitational Preview and Picks
By Matt Fargo
Playbook.com

The PGA Tour remains in the Lone Star State for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. After coming directly after THE PLAYERS Championship three years ago, this is the second straight year the Colonial comes two weeks after and a week after the HP Byron Nelson Championship. The Colonial has had it share of exciting finishes as in the last eight years, three have been decided by a sudden death playoff with four others decided by just one stroke. Don't be surprised to see another close finish this year.

Colonial Country Club has hosted this event since the tournament's inception in 1946, making it the second oldest PGA Tour event still being played at its original site with the Masters at Augusta National being the oldest. Colonial remains a shot-maker's course. A long drive is nice, but to win Colonial, a golfer must have a skillful touch on his approach and on the greens. Ben Hogan, who is memorialized all over Colonial, once said, "A straight ball will get you in more trouble at Colonial than any course I know."

After playing holes no. 1 and 2, Colonial jumps into a three-hole stretch referred to as the "Horrible Horseshoe", the three most difficult holes on the golf course that are shaped, well, like a horseshoe. After this, the track lightens up and players can go low here. Over the last eight years, the winner has achieved -12 or better with the four-day record being -21. Last year it was ranked the fourth easiest par 70. Given the fact that there is a two-week break between THE PLAYERS and the Colonial, the field this week is strong.

It comes as a surprise that Jim Furyk (+1,200) has not won a tournament in four years but he has certainly been close. He has five runner-up finishes since his last victory including two this year which happened to be in his last two starts. He has had a lot of success here as he has seven top tens, the latest being a solo fourth in 2010. Despite the lack of recent wins, being a favorite is not shocking.

Graham DeLaet (+2,900) continues to tease us week in and week out as his T7 last week at the Byron Nelson was another excruciatingly close call. It was his sixth top ten of the season which includes two second place finishes and still in search of his first win, everything seems to set up well again. He is ranked first in greens in regulation and ball striking, two huge assets to tame this course.

It has been a quiet year for Jason Dufner (+4,500) and part of the reason is he has made only 10 starts. He has three top tens but none since March and that is adding to the value of his odds. He is off back-to-back T48 finishes so he is certainly due. He finished T46 here last year but was solo second in 2012 so he knows his way around Colonial. If his putter gets hot again, he could surprise many.

We used Ryan Palmer (+4,500) last week and while he played well, an average weekend ended with a T22 finish. He has missed only two cuts all season and in 11 starts that he played the weekend, he finished in the top ten four times including a pair of runner-ups. After missing the cut in 2010 along with 11 other tournaments, his last three starts at the Colonial have been T31, T5 and T14. And he is a member here.

Chris Kirk (+5,000) will be our longshot this week but he is no longshot. He won early in the season at The McGladrey Classic and in 16 starts this season, he has hung around for the weekend in all 16. A Sunday 74 hurt him here last year as he finished T35 but that followed a T5 in 2012 and a T16 in 2011. He has shot par or better in three of four rounds in each of those years so making it 4-for-4 this year could be the difference.

Recommended Tournament Win Five Pack at Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial - All for 1 Unit

Jim Furyk (+1,200)
Graham DeLaet (+2,900)
Jason Dufner (+4,500)
Ryan Palmer (+4,500)
Chris Kirk (+5,000)

2014 Record to date after 18 events: -37 Units