Barracuda Championship golf betting preview and tips
David John has a 400/1 selection among his picks for this week's Barracuda Championship in Nevada.
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The Super 6 Perth and GolfSixes provided a bit of light relief on the European Tour from regular 72-hole stroke-play but neither can hold a candle to the Barracuda Championship.
The modified stableford event works a treat around a beautiful course at the lofty Montreux Golf and Country Club in Nevada with the aim that aggressive play will be rewarded.
The scoring system is thus - eight points for an albatross, five for an eagle, two for a birdie, zero for par, minus one for a bogey but the minus three for a double or worse can halt anyone in their tracks if they decide to bite off a bit more than they can chew.
Tally it all up at the end of the week and you have a winner - the mindset for players definitely changes compared to a regular tournament with perhaps even more chance to make a charge from off the pace and get involved on Sunday.
It is 25/1 the field and there has been interesting mix of winners over the years with ultimate plodders JJ Henry (twice) and Greg Chalmers lifting the trophy recently alongside genuine quality like Gary Woodland and major champion Geoff Ogilvy.
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Henry, Chalmers and Ogilvy all managed to give their flagging careers a jolt and I just wonder whether this year’s fairy story could be provided by Robert Allenby at massive odds.
A four-time winner on the PGA Tour in his pomp to go with a 18 other worldwide successes, Allenby has just turned 46 but still feels he has plenty to offer as he bids to get back amongst the game’s elite.
He revealed in a recent interview: "I am hitting the ball great and playing great. It is just a matter of making a few more putts and piecing it all together.
"I have just got to stay patient and hoping for one of those crazy things."
Allenby has been forced to take starts where he can and that has included on the Web.com Tour where he has admitted it can be difficult to get motivated against some tough competition from the up-and-coming 20-somethings.
He posted a couple of top 30s in that sphere in the middle of June while another at last month’s Barbasol Championship in Alabama was also encouraging.
Allenby will have hardly any more opportunities from 224th in the FedEx Cup standings with events running out quickly so now has to be the time to act if he is serious about getting his playing rights back.
Ogilvy and Chalmers highlight this is a reasonable place for Australians to thrive and Allenby is well worth a speculative dart at 400/1.
A more obvious selection is Andres Gonzales, who looks a very backable price at 66/1 to keep up the momentum from Canada last week.
He is also well down in the FedEx Cup standings and looked like he was going to give himself a real shot in the arm at Glen Abbey having holed his second shot for an eagle on the fifth in his last round on the way to an outward half of 31.
The wheels came off a bit at the last when he chipped into the water on the way to a costly double bogey seven but a T10 was his best effort of the season by some way and certainly something to build on.
Gonzalez has great vibes in Nevada – he went to college here while this event two years ago saw him shoot a 62 (21 points) in round two and wrap up his card for the following season by finishing in a tie for fourth place.
He enjoyed a very good week with the putter on that occasion and will need to a do so again but he looked sharper on the greens last week (T34 in SG: Putting) while he was inside the top 15 of the field having rolled in 21 birdies.
I am going to take a slightly different approach to the burly Gonzalez with next pick Zac Blair.
He has threatened to be a good player for some time and a repeat of his performances earlier in the year from Houston and the Wells Fargo in much hotter company would put him right in the mix here.
His two efforts at Montreux so far have not been anything to write home about but hails from neighbouring Utah and grew up playing golf at altitude outside of Park City.
"The ball used to go far - at least I know what it is going to do," he said.
He missed the cut in Canada but might not be too far away from a really decent week judged on a top 30 at the Barbasol as he looks to cement his position inside the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings.
Finally, Rory Sabbatini has one top 10 at this tournament back in 2013 and his current form suggests he could be well capable of challenging for a first title since the Honda Classic back in 2011.
The South African probably won’t need too many things to fall into place to get right in the mix on the back of three top 25s from his last four outings.
"I have been playing really solid golf,” he said. “Even in June when I was missing cuts, I felt I was playing good golf and just wasn’t scoring well."
He turned things around in no uncertain terms last month at the Barbasol with a sizzling 62 in round three (sandwiched in between a couple if 74s!) so it is clear what Sabbatini is capable of at the moment if he gets in the zone.
He is the attacking type of player I guess you would ideally need here and if he can avoid the big numbers and subtractions from his points total then he would have a very sound chance.
Posted at 1825 BST on 01/08/17.
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