Mar 26th - Mar 29th 2009
Next Tournament:
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Steve Bamford’s Arnold Palmer Invitational 2009 Tips
Let’s summarise this tournament succinctly. Bay Hill is tough; not Copperhead tough, but it has other challenges. Its longer, has more water in play and the greens although larger are multi layered and tremendously difficult. We must take into account the current Florida drought. The rough will be slightly lower than last year at 3 – 3.5 inches, so inaccuracy won’t be punished as much. The greens though will be absolute lightening.
As you can see within our Marking Your Card article, those based in Florida thrive here.
My tips are below:
Nick Watney 1pt EW @ 40-1 General. His game is ideal for Bay Hill. Has course experience but is playing much better than when he finished 21st here last year.
Sean O’Hair 1pt EW @ 40-1 General. Forget about Copperhead. He was defending champion and all players have off weekends apart from Tiger. He loves the Florida swing, has great ball striking capabilities and can contend here.
Stephen Ames 1pt EW @ 66-1 Ladbrokes. Although not a Florida resident he might as well be. Educated in the Sunshine state he plays the swing well. A renowned ‘wind’ player lets hope it blows just a touch harder this week. Has a superb Bay Hill record.
Rocco Mediate 0.5pts EW @ 100-1 General. Florida based and having a reasonable season. With 4 Top 10s here this price is too tempting.
John Rollins 0.5pts EW @ 100-1 General. Twice second on tour this year, both on courses where accuracy was key. Snap it up.
Scott Verplank 1pt T10 @ 9-1 Bet 365. Verplank is starting to find some real form this season. Typically Verplank, his results don’t grab the attention, but look at him this season and he’s improving tournament on tournament and plays Bay Hill well.
Jeff Klauk 1pt T10 @ 12/1 Sporting Bet. Following the Florida, I like this price. His home course is TPC Sawgrass, but he will have played Bay Hill many times. His game fits and his game is right just now.
PW’s Arnold Palmer Invitational 2009 Tips
I've spent some time this week playing the course on the PSP (invaluable - get one if you want to understand the course layout in more detail!). This will suit those players who can draw the ball consistently and keep it in play. My tips:
Kenny Perry 1.5pts EW, 33-1 Expekt.com. Natural drawer of the ball, in very good form. Will go close if he can get to bed on time this week.
Stuart Appleby 1pt EW, 66-1 General. Interesting return to something like form last week. Streaky player who blew a great chance to win in 2004 and also finished runner-up in '97.
Fred Couples 2pts Top10, 11-1 Stan James. Lightly raced veteran, previous CD winner. Beaten by a length last time out. Improve.
Tom Lehman 3pts Top 10, 14-1 Stan James. Blew out when in contention last week, if he can get himself prepared mentally then he can make it a t-10 for the 3rd year on the trot.
