the course here at KAPALUA is long but has extremely wide fairways so you can get away with blasting it wildly off the tee; add to this some strong breezes which are common and you can make a mockery of the longer holes...
this should help the big hitters for sure although the greens are very large too so there will be a lot of lag putts required and good putting will as always help here
expect a winning score around the -20 mark as -6 or -7 will be about right for the leader of each round.. chuck in the odd par score and your winner will probably need to be notching about 36 birdies or so (+/- eagles)
a few picks for this opening week >
jonathan BYRD > he is the defending champ and also boasts a good record here with four top 15 finishes (albeit small fields) and nearly always shoots below par - may again take advantage of slow tour starters being the first event, also has good 3 putt 'avoidance' stats as well so isn't bad at all at nearly 30 price-wise > 29 Betfair
gary WOODLAND > could be a very big year for this strong young powerful athlete - popular this week too with his game looking suited and some good recent performances (imppressive in the end of year tourneys) - hits it a huge distance and can score really well here too if he putts as well as he can; great chance to really move onwards and upwards in 2012 > 20 Betfair
scott PIERCY > another blaster like woodland who hits it a long way and also goes for the birdies so therefore a good week beckons although he may be a bit outclassed in this field, odds tempt however so will dabble > 75 Betfair
bryce MOLDER > was ranked 3rd last season in the 'strokes gained putting' stat on PGA TOUR (and also 3 putt avoidance) and really finished the year well so perhaps this is a nice stepping stone for him on the upward path he seems capable of > 34 Betfair
some others worth noting > Brendan Steele > I have high hopes for Steele, the likeable Bill Haas should go well here and I also think Jonatthan Vegas will be worth watching here - basically most of the new young guns should enjoy it and although there may be 1 or 2 obvious mature players (Bubba perhaps) one of the above hopefully will fire enough birdies to take this... I'm avoiding the top of the market and looking for one of these 4 above and might trade the other guys if odds look decent and they are still within touch after a round or so
let's hope for a decent start and I'll use smaller stakes here as always wary of the first event although will count them as 1 LSP as usual for stats purposes
* looking to maintain last year's huge profits tip-wise! *
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