Niall Lyons has four tips for the Singapore Classic.
Singapore Classic
The DPWT is back after a few weeks gardening leave and a return to the Laguna National is the destination for the Singapore Classic. It's a pleasant surprise to see the top of the market littered with a few stars and Shane Lowry heads the betting following a top 20 finish last week at Sawgrass.
Rasmus Hojgaard, Mathieu Pavon and Paul Casey are the other three who complete the top quartet in the betting and it'll be interesting to see if they can show their quality dropped down in class.
Singapore Classic Tips
- 3pts WIN M.Pavon 16/1 (General)
- 3pts WIN P.Casey 19/1 (Enhanced win market bet365)
- 1pt each-way B.Wiesberger 50/1 (1/5 6) Skybet
- 1pt each-way M.Jordan 50/1 (1/5 7) Paddypower
With only one year of statistics to look at it remains to be seen what we can glean from them and whether we'll see any continuation of what we saw last year.
Certainly strokes gained around the green and scrambling featured heavily in the contenders and whilst there looked to be no necessity to hit the ball either long or straight off the tee, the longest driver in the field Alejandro Del Rey finished third. Below are the stats for last years competition here.
We see Paspalum greens here and Valimaki has a win in Doha on the same surface whilst finishing runner up here last year and in Mexico a few weeks ago.
Matthieu Pavon at 16/1
When we backed Mathieu Pavon when winning the Open De Espana last October I remarked how impressed I was by his performance there, in particular the final day, so much so I selected him again the following week in Andalucia.
His 7th place to kick off the year in Hawaii was maybe a sign I should have stuck with him, but I couldn't have imagined he would win the Farmers Insurance Open a couple of weeks later. Nevertheless, following a missed cut at Sawgrass he may arrive slightly fresher than Shane Lowry and for that reason, and his recent form I believe the 16/1 is worth taking a chance on here.
Pavon has produced three or four efforts in the past five months that would comfortably win this event if repeated and I suspect he will want to capitalise on this purple patch in his career and land another victory.
His short game has always been a big positive which bodes well for this venue and in him and Shane Lowry we see two players dropping significantly in class this week and we have seen down the last few years just how important that can be. It's a long trip from Florida and I'm unaware whether or not Pavon will have made the journey shortly after missing the cut, I certainly hope so.
Either way these things can often be overplayed and anyone who just backs these two golfers this week alone may have the correct strategy.
3pts WIN M.Pavon 16/1 (General)
Paul Casey at 19/1
This may prove a rather simplistic strategy to many but I can't ignore some of the recent form for the market leaders in this event and for that reason I'm going to beef up my staking plan by adding Paul Casey to Mathieu Pavon.
Now 46, just what winning an event such as this will do for Paul Casey is debateable as until there some sort of reconciliation or change to the world rankings, the days of us seeing him in the biggest events are long gone.
Nevertheless, take this event as stand alone and he must have a huge chance. 11th in the opening LIV event in Mayakoba in February was followed up by a top 5 in Las Vegas beating Rahm by a shot there.
Last time out in Hong Kong there is no doubting the course suited him so an upturn in performance could be predicted, but being beaten in a playoff alongside Abraham Ancer and Cameron Smith is a sure sign that Casey's form is rock solid.
Smith rates a 25/1 shot for the Masters in a few weeks, whilst Rahm who he has beaten on two of his last four outings is a 10/1 shot for another green jacket. The 18/1 we see here looks worth chancing on that evidence and if any of the DPWT regulars step up and win this event then so be it.
My preference is to give these players a chance who have shown recently their consistent capability of beating some of the best golfers in the world, and with the greatest respect to Tom McKibbin as 5th favourite, this looks to be a huge opportunity for one of them to comfortably topple a field of this quality.
3pts WIN P.Casey 19/1 (Enhanced win market bet365)
Bernd Wiesberger at 50/1 (Six Places)
One who has returned to the DPWT from LIV with a lot of class in tact is Bernd Wiesberger and it'd be no surprise should he manage to get back to the level he once held on this circuit.
His performances thus far this year have been eye catching finishing 21st in the Dubai Desert then 37th in Ras and 16th in Bahrain. The two most recent efforts were compiled with an absolute horror show on the greens on both occasions. That has often been the story of his career with his long game being hugely impressive only for his putter to let him down.
His work around the greens in those events has been exemplary also ranking 1st in SG ATG in Bahrain, and 7th in Ras. Tee to green dominated here last year and it's worth nothing that putting wasn't all too important. The winner, Ockie Strydom finished 58th in putting for the week, whilst Wang who finished 3rd ranked 57th.
Just like Scheffler at Bay Hill a few weeks ago where putting doesn't matter as much as other venues, this looks like the perfect time to chance Wiesberger and hope that the rest of his game pays around this venue, just like it did for Strydom last year. With two wins already during his career in the Far East Wiesberger will arrive here with high expectations.
1pt each-way B.Wiesberger 50/1 (1/5 6) Skybet
Matthew Jordan at 50/1 (Seven Places)
One who looks to have been overpriced by the bookmakers is Matthew Jordan and at anything around 50/1 looks a bet in this field.
Jordan has somewhat failed to make the impact many expected of him on tour but signs lately have been good. He has been performing well off the tee for the last month or so and his game around the greens has always been solid which should give him an advantage if we see similar play out to what we saw in 2023.
The Englishman shot an opening 74 in Kenya last time out only to steam through the field the next three days to eventually finish 4th. That results in him being outside the top 25 only once after his last eight rounds following a top 20 finish in Bahrain also. He may have just clicked upon something and a previous top 5 in Qatar looks good given we had two Qatar winners in the top five last year.
1pt each-way M.Jordan 50/1 (1/5 7) Paddypower
