Leishman to Kick Start Big Year

Best Bets

0.75 Pts EW (1-5) Marc Leishman (66/1 Coral)

0.5 Pts EW (1-5) Patton Kizzire (150/1 Coral)

The PGA Tour returns to Torrey Pines Golf Club this week, which is a familiar venue for most of the players. Most of the golf this week is played on the South Course, which measures out at a huge 7,698 yards! Under the regular format players will play one of their first two rounds on the North course which is significantly shorter. The North Course usually plays about three strokes easier than the South course providing players a significant early opportunity. Length off the tee is a crucial factor this week, and historically shorter hitters have struggled at this venue.

Jason Day returns to action this week and goes off as defending champion. His huge distance off the tee gives him a massive advantage over most and he is rightfully priced at the head of the market. Rickie Fowler also returns to US soil after a fantastic victory at the Abu Dhabi Championships. Although these two rightfully lead the betting we have looked elsewhere with our picks. Just to note, an interesting statistic for The Farmers is that the 54 hole leader rarely seals the deal on this course. The third round leader has only won once in the last twelve years, which indicates that big score differentials are out there each and every day. Anyway, on to our picks!

0.75 Pts EW (1-5) Marc Leishman (66/1 Coral)

Our headline pick this week is the Australian Marc Leishman who we can see having a big year. At the start of the year Leishman moved over to Callaway and a whole new set of gear. This has clearly had an impact on his early results whilst he gets used to the new clubs. He missed the cut last week at the CareerBuilder, but he demonstrated a progressive positive trend throughout the week finishing with a very strong 69 on the stadium course. Given the courses last week weren’t suited to his game this might just be the time where we see him kick start his season. He has the necessary tools, and with an average of over 300 yards off the tee he is one of the very longest hitters on the tour. He finished second in this event in 2014, showing he has what it takes to go well in this event.

0.5 Pts EW (1-5) Patton Kizzire (150/1 Coral)

Our second tip this week is Patton Kizzire who simply looks to be priced too big considering his talent. He has impressed this season so far and currently sits in the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings. He is no slouch off the tee averaging over 290 yards, and would appear to have the tools to go well this week. In 2015 he comfortably won the Web.Com money list demonstrating ultra-consistent golf throughout the year. We don’t expect anything less this year. There was an indication that he might be returning to form last week at the CareerBuilder. His final three

rounds of 67,69,69 might be an indicator that he is going to hit peak form. We are happy to make a small each way play on him this week.