PGA Tour stays West
By Sportsbook.ag
Tournament: Northern Trust Open
Date: Feb. 19 - 22
Venue: Riviera Country Club
Location: Pacific Palisades, CA
The PGA finishes its “West Coast Swing” at Riviera Country Club before the players head east to Florida the following week. As usual for this time of the year, the field is fairly weak with just seven of the top-25 players from the OWGR teeing it up as nice additions from across the pond in No. 7 Sergio Garcia and No. 16 Victor Dubuisson make their first starts on U.S. soil this season.
Another big storyline is the mixture of different players that have won so far on the year, with no multiple victors on the season, as 10 different members attempt to change that this week. Bubba Watson will be trying to defend his title from last year in this tourney and will also be looking to be the first player in 2015 to have multiple wins after coming away with the trophy at the WGC-HSBC Champions back in November. Last year, he was able to card two consecutive 64’s on the weekend as he finished with a score of 15-under; just edging out Dustin Johnson, who was two shots back.
Let’s take a look at a few golfers who could be at the top of the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon.
Golfers to Watch:
Webb Simpson (+3500): Simpson has played in a mere four events this year, but has looked great in all of them, finishing in the top-10 twice and has shot a 70 or better in all but one of his rounds. In that time he has hit 75% of GIR, good enough for fifth-best on tour, as he also owns the best scoring average (68.93). Simpson had a poor showing here last season, finishing 70th, but was great in his previous two starts, getting 6th in 2013 and 15th back in 2010. Look for Simpson to be competitive each day and target his fifth career PGA win.
Charl Schwartzel (+3000): Schwartzel has played in the U.S. just twice so far this year with mixed results, but he has three top-15 finishes in five European Tour starts and has a nice track record at this event. He was four shots off Watson’s win last year as he netted a fifth-place finish with a score of 11-under after three straight 68’s to finish off the week. Last year, the South African ranked in the top-30 on tour in driving distance and scoring average and should get some nice numbers this week.
Bernd Wiesberger (+6000): Wiesberger has been tearing up the courses overseas with a top-six finish in each of his four events this year, shooting14-under or better each time out. He’s jumped all the way up to 36th in the OWGR with his stellar play as he is hitting 78.1% of GIR on the European Tour (11th on tour). He could also have some confidence in the United States after a nice 15th-place standing at the PGA Championship back in August where he shot 68-68-65 over the first three days before falling apart with a 74 on Sunday. He could be a sneaky pick that not many think of with his rare appearances in the States.
Cameron Tringale (+13000): Tringale hasn’t exactly had a great season thus far as he flip-flops between making the cut and heading home early from week to week. He will hope to pick up his year with a strong showing at a course where he has played some great golf over the past four seasons. He’s placed in the top-25 each of those years and is coming off his best finish (12th) last season when he shot 11-under on the par-5s over the week. Tringale won’t wow you with any specific part of his game, but has talent and should feel comfortable at Riviera this week.
Vaughn Taylor (250/1): Taylor has never been much of a force in his career, as his two PGA victories coming back in 2004 and 2005. In the past five seasons, he has managed just two top-10 finishes and has done worse in the FedEx Cup standings each successive year. With all that said, Taylor has seemed to find his stroke in the early going this season with top-20 finishes in each of his first two starts as he comes off a nice tie for 10th last week at Pebble Beach. Taylor could just as easily be cut after two rounds, but sometimes you need to look for a flash in the pan and run with it.
Northern Trust Open Betting Odds - Provided by Sportsbook.ag
Bubba Watson 10/1
Dustin Johnson 10/1
Jordan Spieth 10/1
Jimmy Walker 15/1
Brandt Snedeker 20/1
Hideki Matsuyama 25/1
Bill Haas 28/1
Jim Furyk 28/1
Sergio Garcia 28/1
Charl Schwartzel 30/1
Harris English 30/1
J.B. Holmes 30/1
Nick Watney 35/1
Webb Simpson 35/1
Keegan Bradley 40/1
Hunter Mahan 50/1
Graham Delaet 55/1
Bernd Wiesberger 60/1
Justin Thomas 60/1
Russell Henley 60/1
Ryan Moore 60/1
Sang-Moon Bae 60/1
Scott Stallings 60/1
Charles Howell III 65/1
Charlie Beljan 65/1
Gary Woodland 65/1
Marc Leishman 65/1
Brendon Todd 70/1
Kevin Chappell 70/1
Robert Streb 75/1
Brian Harman 80/1
Luke Donald 80/1
Pat Perez 80/1
Francesco Molinari 85/1
Brendan Steele 90/1
Jason Kokrak 90/1
Aaron Baddeley 100/1
Alex Prugh 100/1
Cameron Tringale 100/1
Charley Hoffman 100/1
Paul Casey 100/1
Shawn Stefani 110/1
Matt Jones 120/1
Tony Finau 120/1
Jhonattan Vegas 130/1
Kevin Na 130/1
Seung-Yul Noh 130/1
K.J. Choi 140/1
Rory Sabbatini 140/1
Brendon de Jonge 160/1
Ernie Els 160/1
John Senden 160/1
Kevin Streelman 160/1
Scott Piercy 160/1
Michael Putnam 170/1
Daniel Summerhays 175/1
Ben Martin 180/1
Brian Stuard 180/1
Bryce Molder 180/1
William McGirt 190/1
Andrew Putnam 200/1
Andrew Svoboda 200/1
Angel Cabrera 200/1
Geoff Ogilvy 200/1
Jeff Overton 200/1
Lucas Glover 200/1
George McNeill 210/1
Spencer Levin 210/1
Andres Gonzales 230/1
John Peterson 230/1
Adam Hadwin 250/1
Alex Cejka 250/1
Andres Romero 250/1
Billy Hurley III 250/1
Blayne Barber 250/1
Bo Van Pelt 250/1
Brian Davis 250/1
Carlos Ortiz 250/1
Chad Campbell 250/1
Chez Reavie 250/1
Chris Stroud 250/1
Colt Knost 250/1
D.A. Points 250/1
Danny Lee 250/1
David Hearn 250/1
Derek Fathauer 250/1
Erik Compton 250/1
Fred Couples 250/1
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano 250/1
Hudson Swafford 250/1
Jim Herman 250/1
John Huh 250/1
John Merrick 250/1
Justin Hicks 250/1
Kevin Kisner 250/1
Kyle Reifers 250/1
Luke Guthrie 250/1
Mark Wilson 250/1
Martin Flores 250/1
Matt Every 250/1
Michael Thompson 250/1
Morgan Hoffmann 250/1
Nick Taylor 250/1
Padraig Harrington 250/1
Retief Goosen 250/1
Robert Allenby 250/1
Ryo Ishikawa 250/1
Scott Langley 250/1
Steven Bowditch 250/1
Tim Wilkinson 250/1
Troy Merritt 250/1
Vaughn Taylor 250/1
Zac Blair 250/1