Zurich Classic Preview

This preview is brought to you by our friends at golf bet tips. For all the latest information follow on twitter or facebook

We are this week assessing the golf betting opportunities in the field for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, taking place at TPC Louisiana – Avondale, Louisiana.

TPC Louisiana is a scoring friendly 7,341 yard par 72 and ranked as the 39^th most difficult course out of 49 on the PGA Tour in 2012. There are plenty of birdies available here, with the main course protection coming in the shape of many fairway bunkers. If you can find a golfer with good total driving or GIR from fairway bunker stats then that’s a good place to start. Your golfer will also need to make the most of the par 5’s, with the last two winners (Dufner & Watson B) each recording at least -10 on the longer holes.

Players to watch...

Justin Rose (12/1) has played in 5 events this year and recorded top 25 finishes in all of them. For 2012 Rose ranked 17^th for total driving and 14^th for GIR from fairway bunker. This year he has found an extra 10 yards off the tee that has propelled him up to 8^th in the total driving ranks and helped him to 2^nd place in the rankings for par 5 birdie or better. Rose finished T10 here last year and we think he is a well justified favourite.

Keegan Bradley (18/1) has recorded 5 top 10’s from 11 events in 2013. Bradley is 6^th in the total driving rankings for 2013 and 7^th in terms of par 5 birdie or better. He has the game and the form to notch a victory here.

Billy Horschel (33/1) is the form player of the moment, with top 10 finishes in each of his last 3 events (T2 Shell Houston, T3 Valero Texas, T9 RBC Heritage). Horschel is 16^th in the total driving rankings and 15^th in terms of par 5 birdie or better. Horschel was MC at this event last year but he is coming into the event with his game in top shape so we think he could feature on the leaderboard.

Rickie Fowler (25/1) has recorded 3 top 10 finishes from 8 events this year. Fowler has played this event a couple of times with finishes of T26 and T10 so we know that he is capable around here. For the 2012 season Fowler ranked 15^th for total driving, 26^th for GIR from fairway bunker and 9^th for par 5 birdie or better. Whilst he is not quite matching those rankings yet in 2013 (46^th, 11^th, 19^th) he is close to where he needs to be and this week we think he could move up a gear.

John Senden (66/1) has one PGA Tour victory to his name, back at the 2006 John Deere Classic but has not been able to add to that since. Senden ranks 36^th in the 2013 rankings for par 5 birdie or better and he will need to draw on that this week. While his 2013 stats have been a bit shady, if he can recapture the kind of form that found him end 2012 in 13^th for total driving then he has an each-way chance this week.