Niall Lyons has three bets for this week's PGA Tour event at Muifield Village.
Muifield Village is the destination for this weeks PGA Tour offering and the Nicklaus design will no doubt once again take the plaudits in what is one of the better events of the season. A classical layout in style this course rewards a solid long game but more importantly those ball strikers who can hit pure shots into these greens and avoid the trouble. Plenty of birdies are available here despite the difficulty surrounding the greens. Overall those with a tidy enough long game and a silky smooth putting stroke on pure greens will contend and eventually prevail here. We have plenty of course form to go on here also.
Dustin heads the field and despite two top 5 finishes here down the years I'm not busting to back him at 6/1. His recent performances have lacked the killer instinct of those two and three months ago and I'd want a few pts higher before getting involved. Spieth played some wonderful stuff last week and it was great to see him back contending. The general consensus is that he holes putts for fun but that is not always the case. His reliance on his putter is huge and that won't always behave 100% of the time. Sure, he's the best in the business with the flat stick, but not every week.
This past few months has been one of those spells where he hasn't holed an awful lot, and that started to change last week. So, beware. At the time of writing I still haven't decided whether or not to weigh in. I'd love to back Jon Rahm but his gun-ho attitude on display last week won't cut it here at Muirfield I don't think. This takes a shade more precision and I'd be looking him to have a few years experience under his belt at this venue before I invest some dollars.
MATT KUCHAR doesn't get over the line an awful lot these days but if there's one tournament where he his consistency could pay off and return a victory it is here at Muirfield. 9th and 12 the Byron Nelson and Dean and Deluca the past two weeks are very solid and not unusual results for the big man. Both of his last two wins on tour have come off the back of at least 2 weeks golf on the trot previously. He returns to one of his more favourite haunts this week where he last notched a win in 2013. Add to that another 5 top ten finishes here and a 4th here last year and he adds up to one of the more likely contenders this week. Certainly, he doesn't win an awful pile but the 33/1 mark is far too big and anything of 25/1 or bigger is a fair bit of value in my eyes.
Having backed Kevin Kisner a few times this year I was left licking my wounds having not had a bet last week. This week I am determined not to let the same thing happen again so we must invest some cash in Tony Finau. Finau has been on my radar all year and has threatened a win a few times. He is showing consistent form this year with three top 5 finishes and with two consistent weeks (13th and 29th) under his belt last two weeks I think he's a nice enough price this week at 40/1. 8th and 11th here from two appearances so clearly likes the venue and I believe it is only a matter of time before this big hitter adds another tournament to his tally.
Although the bookmakers have gotten his price about spot on this week I think PATRICK REED is worth a few shillings. His long game is certainly erratic at times and I'd certainly worry about some approach shots into these greens but his short game is pure wizardry a lot of the time and that can get him out of trouble. Once again, like Nordea, a lot of respect has been given to the favs but these three golfers all hold lively chances. Reed has posted four top 25 finishes on the trot and comes here off the back of finishing 8th at Muirfield last year. I'll be surprised if we don't get a fair run out of one of these three this week.
