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Once the Reno-Tahoe Open, hosted by Montreux Golf & Country Club and held opposite the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, this week’s PGA Tour event became the Barracuda Championship in 2014, is now played at Tahoe Mountain Club and now sits alongside the Open. As such it has always had a less than stellar field but it has always been an interesting riddle for punters for a number of reasons. Two of those have been constants. The first is that the tournament has always been held at altitude and the second that the course designer, Jack Nicklaus, is also a constant – both of these are discussed in full below. The other detail is the scoring which is modified Stableford which works as: 8 points for an albatross, 5 for an eagle, 2 for a birdie, 0 for par, -1 for a bogey and -3 for a double bogey or worse. It’s a moot point to what extent this has had a profound effect on the result even if it does imply that an aggressive approach should help. Since the move to the new course in the town of Truckee, high up in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the winners have been Ricky Werenski, Erik Van Rooyen and Chez Reavie. Hurly Long on the course: “Not the longest when you consider elevation, but very tricky around the greens.” Geoff Ogilvy on the scoring: “I think you’re just a fraction more aggressive. You might go for a par-5 more often maybe over the water or something like that.”
Angles to consider 1/ Altitude Truckee is at 1,773 metres above sea level and, as suggested above, this appears to have had an impact. The event’s previous home Montreux was at 1,373 metres. TPC Summerlin is not so high but is at 610 metres. First Tahoe Mountain winner Werenski had already finished second at Montreux. Andrew Putnam and Scott Piercy are Montreux winners who finished second and third at TM. Troy Merritt has finished second at both. Martin Laird was third at TM, has been second at Montreux and had two wins (and two seconds at Summerlin). Fabian Gomez has been third in Truckee and has experience of altitude on the Latin America Tour. Last year’s runner-up Alex Noren is a two-time winner at Crans (around 1,500m). Van Rooyen plays lots of golf in high-up Johannesburg and has four top 20s at altitude beyond the high veldt on the DP World Tour. Matthias Schwab, third here, has six top 10s at altitude. The odd one out is Reavie who’d done little in thin air. 2/ Jack Nicklaus Again as mentioned above, Montreux is, like Tahoe Mountain, a Jack Nicklaus design. The fact that so many golfers have excelled at both is intriguing. What of the other to have finished top three? Noren has four top 20s on Nicklaus designs, Van Rooyen had been second at St Francis Links and Reavie was already a winner on his tracks – at Glen Abbey in Canada. 3/ Form The three winners all had a top 10 finish in their previous four starts.
Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Mark Hubbard He’s finished fourth on the course and has also been second at Summerlin. In great form with three top 10s in his last six starts including sixth last time out at Deere Run. He’s also made the cut in all three Nicklaus-staged events this year. Sebastian Soderberg A winner at altitude in Crans and Nairobi he has two top 10s at the Nicklaus designed Steyn City. Played well last week in the Scottish Open until the final round. Johannes Veerman A winner at mild altitude in the Czech Republic and he also has a third at the Nicklaus crafted Mount Juliet. A big price for a fellow who was T10th just two starts ago.
Tips: 0-3; -6.00pts 1.5pt e.w. Mark Hubbard at 25/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5) 10th 0.5pt e.w. Sebastian Soderberg at 150/1 (PaddyPower, BF Sportsbook 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) 10th 0.5pt e.w. Johannes Veerman at 300/1 (PaddyPower, BF Sportsbook 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) 20th
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