Golf Update: Betting preview- The Barclays 26th-29th August, 2010 (Part 1)
For the players who are relying on Colon Montgomerie wild card, such as Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Padraig Harrington, it is safe to play on the state side rather than waiting to be dumped by the captain. The Barclays is here and the world’s best 125 players who are in the top100 of the FedEx points will contend for the purse amount of US$7.5 million and winner's share of $1.35 million.
The venue for the Barclays which is taking place from 26th-29th August is the Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey and it is the second time for the course to host a championship. The last time when it hosted an event was back in 2008, and ever since the course has been idle. So a little about the course of par 71; the course is designed by AW Tillinghurst and it is stretched on 7319 yards.
Now coming to the betting preview of the players who are perceived to be on the top of the Sunday’s leader board are as follows;
Phil Mickelson
The current world number two is all set to take over Tiger Woods title on this course, as he holds the reputation of giving very fine performance on greens designed by AW Tillinghurst. Moreover talking to the media, Phil Mickelson said that although he had very few tournaments on the courses designed by Tillinghurst but all of them were marvellous, as he is a big fan of his architecture. He further added that one o f the best memories of his career are linked with these courses, as the 2005 USPGA took place in Baltusrol, where he finished as runners up and at another place in Bethpage Black back in 2002 US Open he finished at the second place only few shots away from Tiger Woods.
If Phil Mickelson is so much in love with the course style this means he surely is confident that he is going to finish in top 3, which would result in a revised OWGR.
Steve Stricker
The second person on the list is Steve Stricker, who won the title at John Deere in May 2010; this player claims to be at home when he thinks of this course as it is similar to Medinah on which he practices. According to the player, both the courses are identical with similar undulating greens covered with poa annau grass.
Well this is what Stricker says but what history says is that Sergio Garcia lost in a play-off at Ridgewood country club in 2008, while he finished as a runner-up to Tiger Woods at Medinah in 1999. If the course was so similar then the results should have been identical as well but this did not happen, so if it did not work for the player who took third place here in the 2006 USPGA, what are the chances that it will work wonders for Stricker.
As for Stricker’s achievements are concerned, then he has two victories in three years of the play-offs, with a 2nd and a third position. Moreover, he won the same championship at the Westchester in 2007 and posted a 68 and 64 in the first two rounds.
According to the experts, Steve Stricker might show some very good results, although his last appearance at the whistling Straits, which happened to be his home town, was a little shaky, because of his nervousness regarding performing in front of his people. However, he finished at the 18th place by scoring a 68 in the final round.
This is it for the betting preview of the players that are perceived to perform outclass on the Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey from the 26th-29th August. However, to find out the names of the players that are on the list of top 2s, read the upcoming article on the top2s of the Barclay with the purse of $7.5 million.
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