All eyes will be on Melbourne this week to see who will be wearing the Gold Jacket after winning the Talisker Masters.
The tournament this year is being played at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Cheltenham,Victoria. Royal Melbourne is the No.1 ranked golf course in Australia and is regularly in the World Top 10.
The Royal Melbourne consists of two courses, the West and East. This week the event is played on the composite course which consists of 12 holes on the West course and 6 from the East. It measures 7,024 yards and is a Par 71.
The key this week is to keep it straight as the rough consists of a mix of native grasses which can cause all sorts of issues should you stray off the fairway. The greens are some of the finest putting surfaces in the country so expect to see some wonderful footage on TV this week.
Another aspect of the course is the bold bunkering which makes the player think about each shot. It is a real thinkers course with multiple options open to the golfers this week. It is a dramatic undulating course with fertile sandy soil which is very common on the sandbelt of Melbourne golf courses.
The bookies Top 5 in betting this week are- 2/1 Adam Scott, 13/2 Matt Kuchar, 16/1 Marc Leishman, 20/1 Brendon De Jonge and 28/1 Geoff Ogilvy.
Adam Scott is coming off a win at the Australian PGA Championship last week inQueensland. He is also the Defending Champion here and is expected to continue his winning ways this week.
Hardest to beat will be Marc Leishman 16/1 (www.sportsbet.com.au) who only missed eight cuts in 2013 from 26 starts. Highlights on the PGA Tour were T8th Players Championship, T9th RBC Heritage, T4th Masters Tournament and T12th US PGA Championship.
If he can play like that this week he would romp away with the Gold Jacket. Marc is in good nick at the moment after finishing T11th at last weeks Australian PGA Championship.
In 2012 he won the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour and finished T3rd at the Byron Nelson. Leishman performs well on the big stage so a trip back home to Australia should have him relaxed and ready to produce the goods.
A player worth keeping an eye on is Mark Brown 66/1 (www.sportsbet.com.au). I selected him in this tournament last year when he finished T3rd at 80/1 behind Adam Scott and Ian Poulter. He will have great memories of this event from last year and will be aiming to finish even higher up the ladder this week.
Brown enters this week in good shape after finishing T4th last month in the Nanshan China Masters which was won by Charl Shwartzel.
The last player to get a mention is Jack Wilson 80/1 (www.sportsbet.com.au). The young Aussie is sure to be a name to remember for the future. He is a trainee at the nearby Kingswood Golf Club in Melbourne so he knows how to play the sandbelt courses.
He won the Royal Melbourne Purse on this course back in June which was a pro-am tournament so knows how to win on the course. Back in October he also won the WA Goldfields PGA Championship after beating Nick Gillespie in a play off. One shot back was James Nitties and Adam Bland.
Wilson then missed his next two cuts before playing at the Australian PGA Championship in Queenslandlast week. After rounds of 68, 71, 69 and 68 he finished 3rd behind Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler. Two great players in anyone’s book!
Good luck and good punting.
