The PGA Tour stays in Florida this week as we head to the Copperhead course at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbour for the Transitions Championship. This is a Par 71, 7340 yard course that was ranked 27th most difficult from 51 events in 2011. The tournament was founded in 2000 and has always been played at the Copperhead course. There are five Par 3’s and four Par 5’s to contest and the closing three holes (16,17,18) were rated the seventh most challenging closing stretch on the Tour in 2011.
The fairways and Greens are Bermudagrass with the fairways being tighter than most courses on the tour an the greens smaller than average. The Par 4, 460 yard, 16th hole is the most difficult on the course with water along the whole right hand side. This can create havoc if the wind is coming in from the left.

This event has gone through a few names changes in its short history. It was originally known as the Tampa Bay Classic from 2000-2001, however there was no tournament in 2001 due to September 11 terrorist attacks. In 2002 it became the Tampa Bay Classic Presented by Buick. After one year of sponsorship from Buick it became the Chrysler Championship from 2003-2006. Pods then sponsored it in 2007-2008 as the PODS Championship until it finally became the Transitions Championship in 2009, which it still remains as today.

After two stellar fields at the WGC Cadillac Championship and Honda Classic in the past two weeks we still have a good turnout of top players for this tournament. Former World number One player Luke Donald heads the field along with last weeks WGC Cadillac Championship Winner Justin Rose. Throw in players of the calibre of Nick Watney, Jason Day, Matt Kuchar, Charl Schwartzel and Sergio Garcia and you have yourself a great line up of players worthy of any field.
There are 7 past Winners in the field such as K.J.Choi (2002,2006) and Retief Goosen (2003,2009) and 17 Major Winners like Louis Oosthuizen, Vijay Singh and Geoff Ogilvy.

We also have 5 PGA Tour winners from this season like Farmers Insurance Winner Brandt Snedeker and Humana Challenge Winner Mark Wilson. And to top off the field we have international players representing 17 different countries such as Sweden, Korea, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Looking at the Copperhead course this week we can expect to so some real challenging golf as it can play difficult at times, especially if the wind decides to make things exciting which always plays a part in Florida. This can cause a lot of problems for many players especially those with little experience on the Copperhead course.
The Par 5’s will also play a major part this week as they are all reachable for most players, so Par 5 stats should be closely monitored.

When looking at the past winners of this tournament they have all ranked highly in Greens in Regulation stats and have been good ball strikers, so again keep this in mind when looking for the winner as most of the greens are smaller than the tour average.
It will also pay to look at good Par 3 performers as there are 5 of them to contend with this week.
Taking all this into consideration I have found two players who fit the bill this week.

WEBB SIMPSON

Web had a real breakthrough season on the Tour in 2011 recording victories in the Wyndham Championship and Deutsche Bank Championship. He was also a member of the successful Presidents Cup Team. While he hasn’t hit the same form just yet this year he has been playing consist golf with all 5 starts finishing inside the Top 40. Two of these were Top 10 finishes (T3rd Hyudai, T8th Phoenix Open). He was 2nd here last year as well as a T13th in 2010 so we know he plays well at the Copperhead course. His stats also shape up well with 6th in GIR’s, 4th in Birdie average, 17th in Par 3 Performance, 4th in Par 4 Performance and 1st in GIR’s from other than the fairway. We know he has the talent and this could be the week to get on his side as he is sure to claim his 3rd career victory very soon.

Odds: $19.00 Sportsbet

BO VAN PELT

Bo is having a great start to the season. From 6 starts to date he has has three T8th finishes in the Phoenix Open, Northern Trust and WGC Cadillac Championship. Last week in the WGC he was ranked 1st in strokes gained from putting which would take him a long way this week if he could produce the same form. He has had 8 starts at the Transition Championship for two Top 10’s. The most recent being a T8th in 2009. He is currently ranked 26th in the Official World Golf Rankings and his current stats also add up well with 6th in Birdie average, 9th in Total Driving, 6th in Par Breakers, 10th in Par 5 Performance and 12th in Ball Striking. I expect Van Pelt to be up there contending come Sunday and at the current odds he could be a great each way value bet.

Odds: $41.00 Sportsbet

LAST WEEK

Justin Rose continued his good current form with a one shotwin in the WGC Cadillac Championship. Rose loves challenging courses and this was evident at Doral over the weekend. Bubba Watson went into the last round on top of the leaderboard however a round of 2 over par was never going to see him hold on for victory. Tiger Woods had to withdraw during the 4th round with a left Achilles injury and is expected to return to the tour in a few weeks.

NEXT WEEK

We stay in Florida next week for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill where Scotsman Martin Laird is the Defending Champion.