|
The opposite field Puerto Rico Open is now 15 years old and returns again to its home at the Grand Reserve Country Club. It was originally known as Trump International and then became the Coco Beach Golf and Country Club but it remains the same challenge. It is a Tom Kite design that plays to a par of 72 and can be stretched out to over 7,500 yards. All of that said, not one of the par-4s is longer than 465-yards which drops a big hint – this is a coastal course regularly bashed by high wind so it represents the biggest defence of scoring. The second defence is water which comes into play on seven holes. What of the greens? They are paspalum and, owing to the gusting wind, tend to be on the slow side. Rafa Cabrera Bello gave us a deep dive into the test, saying: “It’s a tricky course and you definitely need to drive it well. The greens are nice and tricky. Some of them are really, really small. Others are bigger, but definitely some tough run-outs with some tight up-and-downs to tricky pins.” Hunter Mahan is not quite so convinced about the difficulty from the tee but agrees thereafter saying: “You’ve got room off the tee but the greens are all very unique to themselves and you’ve got to really know where you’re going to attack from and how the ball’s going to land.” And Danny Lee backed him up: “You can hit some bad tee shots, but second shot is very critical out here. You want to hit it in the right area to make your putts, or you want to miss it on the right side to make up-and-downs, otherwise there's impossible up-and-down areas out there.”
Angles to consider 1/ Pebble Beach It has Poa Annua on the greens but there are other similarities, namely the ocean, small greens and blustery wind. Seven of the last nine winners in Puerto Rico played the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am before and all of them made the cut (if you want to be specific about it, they all finished between T10th and T50th). 2/ Similar conditions Think Florida or Latin America. Nine of the last 12 winners had a top three finish in those parts of the world. 3/ Outsiders Viktor Hovland and Branden Grace were well-fancied (we even tipped the latter) but otherwise the winners here have been all sorts of prices.
Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Harry Higgs He was T48th at Pebble Beach and it’s not the only hint he’s dropped in recent months. He carded a 62 and was sixth at halfway at El Camaleon in Mexico, opened 65-63 to share the halfway lead when T21st at Sea Island, had another 62 when T18th at The American Express. He has also been second at the Bermuda Championship, the Jamaica Classic and has multiple top three in Latin America. All nice pointers. Tano Goya The Argentina was T55th at Pebble Beach and this week might be his type of thing. He’s well travelled now but consider some of his top European efforts: victory in the Challenge Tour Grand Final at San Domenico (windy, grainy greens, by the sea), a win at Porto Santo on Madeira (ditto), third at Four Seasons in Mauritius (ditto) and another top 10 at Verdura (ditto), briefly contending at Al Mouj (ditto). Or on the Sunshine Coast? A win at blustery Fancourt. He was also third at halfway at Torrey Pines and eighth at the same point last week at PGA National. Rafael Campos The 34-year-old local had early difficulties playing on home turf but has made the cut in the last five editions including eighth when the first and second round leader in 2016, 10th in 2017 (top five through three rounds) and third in 2021 (co-leader after 54 holes). He plays these opposite field events well – he’s also been third and second in the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic. And he’s won and finished third in the Bahamas on the secodn tier. Indeed, at the end of last month he carded a 65 and was second with 18 holes to play back in the Bahamas.
Tips: 0-3; -6.00pts 1.25pt e.w. Harry Higgs at 50/1 (Unibet, BetUK 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) 7th 1.25pt e.w. Tano Goya at 50/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes, Betway 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) 11th 0.5pt e.w. Rafael Campos at 100/1 (Unibet, SkyBet, BetUK 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6) 48th
|
