This week we head to Pacific Palisades in California for the Northern Trust Open at the Riviera Country Club.
The tournament dates back to 1926 when it was known as the Los Angeles Open until 1995 when it became the Nissan Open and more recently in 2008 it became the Northern Trust Open.
The Riviera course is a Par 71 measuring 7,279 yards. The greens are bent-grass and the fairways are kikuyu grass.
It has also hosted the 1948 US Open, 1983 and 1995 PGA Championship and was also used for the horse riding parts of the modern pentathlon at the 1932 Olympics.
Famous members have included Humphrey Bogart, Gregory Peck and Walt Disney. It was also used to film the movie ‘The Caddy’ with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin.
Another piece of trivia is that Tiger Woods played his first ever PGA tour event here in 1992 on a sponsors exemption as an amateur. He last played here in 1992.
The course ranks as one of the most difficult to hit in regulation and as such this is a major stat to look at when assessing the chances of a potential winner. We also need to look for experienced players who have a win under their belt as first time winners very rarely appear here.
Due to the difficulty in hitting greens it is also important to hit a lot of fairways and keep the ball in play.
The Top 5 in betting this week at are 12/1 Phil Mickelson, 20/1 Luke Donald, 20/1 Sergio Garcia, 20/1 Charl Schwartzel and 20/1 Adam Scott.
There are eight Australians in the field and they include Scott, Aaron Baddeley, John Senden, Marc Leishman, Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby, Greg Chalmers and Stuart Appleby.
The two players to follow this week are-
Ryan Moore $36.00 www.sportsbet.com.au
Ryan is a real shot maker and that will see him play well here atRiviera. In the last two years he has finished T17th last year and T4th in 2011.
This season Moore has had the three starts which started with aT28th at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions that was followed up with a missed cut in the Sony Open.
His last outing was in the Phoenix Open were he finished a very commendable 4th.
Last season he finished the season with four Top 10’s that also included a Win at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
From 24 starts last season he only missed the three cuts. That included eleven Top 25’s and eight Top 10’s.
Expect to see him high up on the leader board this week at a course that suits his game well. At the current odds he represents a great each way.
Zach Johnson $51.00 www.sportsbet.com.au
When it comes to favourite golfers Zach is high up on my list. He had an excellent 2012 season. He won the John Deere Classic and Crowne Plaza Invitational of Colonial as went as a second place finish at the RBC Heritage and The Players Championship.
This season his three starts have produced two Top 25 finishes. T18th at Hyundai Tournament of Champions and T23rd in the Humana Challenge.
His record at Riviera in the past two years has produced T17th last year and T29th in 2011.
What really stand out this week are Zach’s stats. They set up well for this course. He is currently ranks 8th in driving accuracy, 2nd in greens in regulation and 7th in Par 5 birdie or better performance.
When I saw the odds available this week I had to jump on board. For such a classy player it was far too tempting.
Last Week
Hunter Mahan was looking good however he faded slightly and finished T16th. Jimmy Walker on the other hand gave us another week of collecting. His odds of 40/1 represented an excellent each way return.
Good Luck and Good Punting
