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This week, the PGA tour heads to New Orleans, Louisiana for the Zurich Classic. The tournament has been named this since 2005, although has had various other names dating back to 1938 when it opened as the Crescent City Open for one year. Then in 1939 it was changed to the New Orleans Open.
It’s a historical tournament that boasts a wide variety of winners, and is quite a tough course. Last year, Noh Seung-yul was the winner of the tournament. The South Korean hit a -19 to stop a 5 year run by American winners of the tournament.
Repeat winners are surprisingly rare at this tournament. Carlos Franco was the most notable, winning it in back to back years in 1999 and 2000. 9 players in total have win it multiple times – and even then it was only twice. The most notable moment on this tour in recent memory was in 2004. Vijah Singh came into the final round and played the performance of his life. He shot a 63, and topped Mickelson and Ogilvie with 1 stroke to spare. Just amazing.
Let’s see the betting odds:
Zurich Classic 2015 Betting Odds:
- Dustin Johnson: 8/1
- Justin Rose: 10/1
- Jason Day: 10/1
- Rickie Fowler: 16/1
- Keegan Bradley: 22/1
- Harris English: 25/1
- Billy Horschel: 30/1
- Brendan Steele: 40/1
- Justin Thomas: 40/1
- Sean O’Hair: 40/1
A very interesting set of odds this time around. With no Jordan Spieth or Rory McIlroy to tilt the odds heavily, we have a fairly balanced top 3, then the odds jump huge. Usually the golfers around 10th in the odds are no higher than 30/1.
Zurich Classic 2015 Betting Tip #1: Lucas Glover
This bet is borderline at best.
Glover comes into this tournament with an interesting history here. He has struggled to make the cut some years, but he also has 4 Top 10 finishes. He came 4th in 2013.
However he had an extremely solid performance at the RBC Heritage. He played solid all 4 days, shooting a 70-67-70-69 to end up -8. Nothing mindblowing, but still some damn solid golf.
Based on his history on this course, and last weeks form we think it’s worth a small risk. Nothing major – just a quarter unit – but 100/1 we feel is worth the bet.
Betting Tip #2: Troy Merritt
Another very borderline betting tip.
Merritt has played here thrice. In 2010 he came 3rd. He missed the cut in 2011, then 48th in 2014.
He’s not played a lot on the PGA this tour, but in the tournaments he has played in he has shown some interesting form. A bunch of missed cuts but then also a 6th place a month or so ago, and 3rd at the RBC Heritage last week. It could be that he pushed himself too much there – but it’s another one where the price makes it worth a shot.
Quarter unit bet again.
And that’s all for the Zurich Classic. Dustin Johnson is a decent bet but his form just isn’t enough. Maybe if McIlroy or Spieth were playing and he’d jump to about 12/1 then it’d be worth the bet. But 8/1 just isn’t a good enough price unfortunately.
ZURICH CLASSIC RESULTS & ANALYSIS:
Justin Rose took the Zurich Classic down in spectacular form.
We went with two big underdogs. Merritt failed to make the cut, while Glover did and shot a respectable -7. Unfortunately he was marred by a 76 day on round 3. However even if he had a better day – he was still a whopping 12 strokes off a top 5 finish. But hey – that’s why we only risked a quarter unit on it!
