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WGC Cadillac Championship Preview, Picks, Analysis

By: Golfshake Editor | Mon 29 Feb 2016


Post by Sports Writer, Derek Clements


DUSTIN JOHNSON completed his rehabilitation with victory in the WGC Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral 12 months ago. It was his first victory after his still unexplained absence from the PGA Tour.

Most of us believed it was precisely the spur that Johnson needed to go on and have a stellar season, but it didn't quite turn out that way. He had a putt on the final green at Chambers Bay to win the US Open, but two three and so even missed out on a playoff. And he led The Open after 36 holes, only to suffer another of his all too frequent meltdowns.

He has come out this season with his driver fine tuned – the Dustinator is hitting the ball miles, and mostly arrow straight. Most encouraging, however, has been his short game. He finally seems to have dialled in the distance he can hit his wedges and his even his putting is beginning to look pretty strong. And when the week comes around that he puts it all together, then everybody else had better watch out.

Johnson loves Trump National Doral and could easily buck the trend and make a successful defence. The PGA Tour is less enamoured of Trump National in light of some of the comments made by the man who owns it, one Donald Trump. Next year this tournament will be played elsewhere. Things could get very interesting indeed between the tour and Trump if the businessman is elected as the next president of the USA.

These events start to matter more with each passing week, as the countdown to The Masters begins in earnest. The likes of Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy in particular all want to put wins on the board before they get to Augusta, just as Spieth did in 2015 by winning the Valspar Championship before going on to shoot the lights out at Augusta.

After a disappointing performance at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Spieth missed the cut at the Northern Trust Open and will quickly want to prove his game is back on track. And that, essentially, means holing putts, and lots of them.

McIlroy continues to be a walking conundrum. One minute he looks like the best golfer in the world by a country mile, the next he resembles somebody who has forgotten how to play the game. He played superbly for three rounds at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera, began the final round with an eagle and then dropped shots like confetti until closing his round with a birdie. What will worry McIlroy is that one day his driver works fine, the next he is all over the course, and one day he holes putts for fun, but the next looks like he will never hole a putt again.

The swing is as fluid as ever, and he will surely work out what's wrong. His putting stroke is a rather different matter. When he is on song on the short stuff, all looks fine, but there are days when he looks hesitant, and struggles to read the line and work out distance control. He says that he doesn't want to keep running to Dave Stockton, but that is a bit like a young racing driver saying he doesn't want any advice from Jackie Stewart. It makes no sense.

Missing the cut at the Honda Classic infuriated him to such an extent that he refused to speak to journalists afterwards – and that is just not like him.

There are signs that Adam Scott has finally found a putting method that works. He will always be vulnerable with short putts but has discovered that gripping the short stick left hand below right enables him to hole more than his fair share of bombs. Throughout all his suffering, Scott's ball striking has remained imperious, but it is inevitable that if you keep missing putts it will eventually have an effect on your confidence. After his win at the Honda Classic, the Australian, it seems, has ridden the storm and could be a great each-way bet for The Masters.

And exactly the same can be said of Phil Mickelson, who has come back from the dead in 2016 after a great deal of hard work on some swing changes. No longer does he appear to be trying to smash the ball as hard as he can and, surprise, surprise,  he is finding fairways once more.

If 2014 was McIlroy's year and 2015 was Spieth's, there is increasing reason to believe that this might be the season when Rickie Fowler makes his breakthrough. He is playing at an astonishingly high level and seems to contend every time he tees it up. Some players struggle after winning or contending. With Fowler, you get the impression that the more he does it, the more he wants it.

And last, but by no means least, you have to fancy the chances of Justin Rose, who has started the season pretty well and looks to be ready to win again – a WGC event would do nicely!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aClTB6tsz8

Betting Picks

To Win: Dustin Johnson. Adores this course

Each Way: Adam Scott. Looking like a contender again

Each Way: Phil Mickelson. Has played well her in the past

Fantasy Picks

Dustin Johnson. Would love to successfully defend

Adam Scott. Not afraid to win in successive weeks

Phil Mickelson. He will attack, as usual

Justin Rose. Another steady start to the season

Danny Willett. Belongs in this class now

Rickie Fowler. Will win a major in 2016

Jordan Spieth. Desperate to putt poor run behind him

Marc Leishman. Class act

Sergio Garcia. Looking better with every round he plays

Justin Thomas. Due another big week


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Tags: PGA Tour european tour Dustin Johnson



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