There was a time when I used to bet on the PGA Golf every weekend which meant plenty of late nights especially when my fancies were in contention. These days I tend to focus on the bigger events like the Majors and with the US Masters on the horizon, I am looking to get involved in the Players Championship, the event many call the 5th Major.
Rory Mcilroy, the defending Champion heads the betting at 7/1 for a win and 14/10 for a Top 5 finish at World Sports Betting. Rory is in good form with places in his last 3 starts although he is struggling to get across the line.
Another man in good nick, but at almost 4 times the price is Tommy Fleetwood who has a Top 5 and a Top 10 finish here in the last 2 years. Fleetwood missed the cut last week after disappointingly failing to win the week before, but I fancy that he will have now moved on and could be ready to contend at a course that he enjoys. He is my main bet this week.
There was a time that we would find plenty of South Africans towards the top of the betting boards, but sadly that is no longer the case and you have to scan quite far down to find Louis Oosthuizen at 66/1 for the win.
Erik van Rooyen is a massive 140/1 and Christiaan Bezuidenhout can be backed at a 175/1 for a win and 35/1 for a Top 5 finish.
Looking at the betting in the Top South African market, Oosthuizen is predictably favourite at 7/4 with van Rooyen 7/2, Bezuidenhout and Grace 4/1 and Dylan Frittelli, who has gone off the boil a bit, 15/2. Retief Goosen is a long shot at 33/1.
Van Rooyen makes his debut at the course and he has been a bit of a mixed bag of late with missed cuts as well as a Top 3 finish in recent weeks. I think he could be the South African to go lowest here and will back him at 7/2.
My best bet for the week will be Rory Mcilroy to finish in the Top 10 at 9/10, his current form is excellent and he is also the defending champion.
I look forward to competitive and exciting golf as we build up to a run of Major Tournaments.
Twitter: @BrentGraham.
This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was published on the 12 March 2020.
Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and sends a free weekly e-mail list just CLICK HERE to register