First of all, I am calling it The LA Open because she's a classic and I like it that way.
A classic indeed. Riviera Country Club..Humphrey Bogart, Ben Hogan, Freddie Couples.. Kikuyu grass, Steve Elkington holding off Colin Montgomerie, Hal Sutton, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els.. it is one of the real gems of a golf course on the Tour rotation. Riviera has held Major Championships and stands up year in and year out as a regular stop as well. In fact, it ranked the 17th hardest course on the PGA Tour last season. What gives Riviera it's teeth is that it demands shot making.. clean ball striking and shaping shots in both directions. It is not necessarily a big hitters playground as only one champion here in the last 17-years has ranked in the top 10 in driving. And did I mention the Kikuyu Grass? Get ready to hear about this on the broadcast as it is a gnarly, sticky grass, prevalent in the rough, and it will grab a club something nasty, sending shots astray. Because of its presence, we are going to also focus on scrambling. When these guys are not hitting greens, who can get their ball up and down out of this tough turf.
So this week we turn our attention to Ball Striking, Greens In Regulation, Scrambling, and Putting.. and here is who I like for a couple of Freebie Head to Head Match Ups - for the whole tournament.
Webb Simpson (+100) over Dustin Johnson (5Dimes)
Simpson ranks in the top 50 on tour in all four categories of focus this week - in fact, he ranks in the top 10 in three of them. Johnson has been playing very nicely as of late with three top 10's in the last four months including the Sunday charge at Pebble last week to finish second, but he does not fare all that well in the categories we feel are key this week in Pacific Palisades. He has been very erratic here at Riviera going CUT, T4, CUT, T3 the last four years. Simpson finished T6 last year and T15 in 2010 and skipped the event in 2011 and 2012 - but The Webber has been smoking recently.. with three top 5's including a Win in the last 5-months. Johnson is a bomber, which seems to lead to his inconsistency here - but I like Simpson's ability to work his ball and also his flatstick.
Secondly, I will take Bill Haas (+115) over Bubba Watson (5Dimes)
We are again fading the bomber here and it seems to have played out in his track record at Riviera. Bubba Watson over the last four years here has gone; CUT, T13, WD, and CUT. Bill Haas meanwhile, has gone; T3, Win, and T12 in the last three visits to LA. They rank very similarly in the categories of note but Haas actually ranks a little better in three of the four. It is possible that Bubba is getting the majority of the attention here after his near miss in Phoenix just two weeks ago but the problem is, this is a very different golf course and climate and while I do believe Bubba is playing well, I just think this is a very different test and am not sure we can bank on what we have seen out of him in just the past few weeks. Haas has been playing okay too and has the stats to prove it.. but he also has the history at this particular venue and in this match up, we are getting the value.
I am hoping to have two Premium Plays loaded before the end of the evening. Stay tuned!
Enjoy The LA Open - which they now call The Northern Trust!
Thank you and have fun,
Brady Kannon
@lasvegasgolfer
www.LVTeeTimes.com