Analysis of the Wales Open and The Northern Trust at TPC Boston, August 20-23.
A big let down in Wales last week when Connor Syme, our 50/1 shot, led going into the final round at Celtic Manor, only to fall apart in the final nine holes. The number of points that cost us stopped us hitting our 2020 profit target of 120 points. There are some fine margins in golf.
We made a loss of 5.6 points overall last week, due to our lack of success in Wales. Please ensure you read the blog below to understand what happened last week and what we can take from it.
The ISPS HANDA Wales Open at Celtic Manor.
Was won by Romain Langasque of France, who carded a final round 65 to come through the field to win by one stroke. The talented but inconsistent Frenchman was aided by those in front of him playing badly and making bad mistakes on the final nine holes. This tournament will not go down as one of the European Tours greatest.
In second place was Finland’s Sami Valimaki, a previous winner on tour. He led on a couple of occasions in the final round but dropped shots unnecessarily and was caught. Matthew Jordan and David Dixon both finished well to finish third after those above them dropped a number of shots coming home. Our in play selection finished in a tie for 5th after a slow start to his final round and only carding a 69 in the final round. However at 66/1 3 places he was a value bet at the time.
Connor Syme finished in a tie for eighth after two double bogies, including one on the final hole when he needed a par for a place finish. Until Connor can show he can stand the pressure in the final round his talent is wasted. Thomas Pieters trundled around for four days finishing six off the winning score. He did not look greatly interested at times here. Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston did not contend as predicted and should be swerved for betting purposes. Kurt Kitiyama continues to struggle as does Robert MacIntyre. Last weeks winner Sam Horsfield was way down the field but finished with a 65 to show that he can always put in a low score.
No more to say on this one and we move on to The Belfry.
The Northern Trust at TPC Boston
Dustin Johnson (DJ) romped home by 11 strokes to record a winning score of 30 under par. He easily landed our 4 point match bet versus Xander Schauffele for us. Stellar golf from DJ. In second place was Harris English and third was our in play without DJ bet Daniel Berger. We missed a win in the without market by one stroke but landed a place. Kevin Kisner and Scottie Scheffler were a further stroke back and behind them a resurgent Jon Rahm and a very solid Webb Simpson.
Justin Rose was much more solid this week finishing in the top 25. Tyrrell Hatton had a 63 in round three but was average the rest of the time. Matthew Woolf had a 77 in round three but scored low the rest of the week. He does need to eliminate this habit of throwing in one big score in a tournament. Our selection on Patrick Reed was never in the running. he was consistent all week but a total of minus 7 on a low scoring course will never do it. Tommy Fleetwood and Paul Casey both struggled this week. Casey as expected looked tired after playing so many back to back weeks. Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas were also in the also ran’s all week here.
Tiger Woods completed four rounds and finished with a 66 and a tie for 58th. It will be interesting what the betting markets make of him next week. I cannot see him winning anything. Rory McIlroy seems to be getting worse and tied for 65th at minus 2 total. He has not been good since the restart. Tony Finau, Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa, Gary Woodland and our second selection Billy Horschel all missed the cut. But at least they got the weekend off to rest and go to the range to work on their game.
DJ is in great form at present but can he carry it forward to the next stage of the FedEx play offs, where the top 70 will compete? We shall see,