2011 WGC-Cadillac Championship Predictions
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
Rory Sabbatini captured his first PGA Tour win since since May of 2009, taking home a one shot win over Y.E. Yang at last week’s Honda Classic. Sabbatini will try and make it two straight when he tees it up at the 2011 WGC-Cadalliac Championship this week, but winning won’t be easy, as the field resembles that of a major event. The WGC-Cadillac Championship is held at the TPC Blue Monster at Doral. The tournament was previously named the WGC-CA Championship, and is the second of four annual Word Golf Championship events. Luke Donald won the first event at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship two weeks ago.
The key to having success this weekend is being able to get on the greens in regulation. While finding the fairway is the first step, and not an easy one on this course, putting for birdie is the ultimate must for players to score low at this event, as Doral features some of the easiest greens on the entire schedule.
Ernie Els is your defending champion, winning this event for a second time with a 18-under 270 in 2010. Don’t be surprised to see another big name win it this week, as the only players to win this event since 2002 are Els, Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, and Tiger Woods. All eyes will be on Wood again this week, as he tries to capture his first win since 2009. Woods, who has won this event six times in his career, is matched with Mickelson for the first two rounds, making the opening rounds of Thursday and Friday a must see!
For those of you looking to possibly place a wager on who will win this tournament, I have decided to give my three picks to win from all over the field, as I not only look for a good favorite to win, but a couple of other guys who have much better odds for your money. Last week my sleeper was Yang, who just missed out on the win.
Phil Mickelson (+1500) – Mickelson has the third best odds to win this event behind Martin Kaymar (+800) and Woods (+1000), but he earns my pick as the favorite to win this event. Mickelson won this event in 2009 with a 19-under 269. I feel the pairing with Woods will bring out the best in Mickelson this week, which should get him off to a great start heading into the weekend. While Mickelson ranks just 150th in driving accuracy, he is 32nd in greens in regulation, and his unbelievable shot-making ability makes him a solid pick to bring home the win.
Matt Kuchar (+2500) - I went with Kuchar as my overall favorite to win the Honda Classic last week, and while he didn’t come through with a win, he did have a solid showing, finishing tied for 17th. That however was just his second-worst finish on the season, as he already has four top-7 finishes, including a third place finish at the WGC-Match Play Championship. Kuchar is also comes in off his best finish at this event, as he tied for third here in 2010. With pretty good odds for your money, Kuchar has a great shot at being right in the thick of things come the final round on Sunday.
Steve Stricker (+3500) – Stricker earns my sleeper pick this week, and it’s hard to not like this guy with these kind of odds. Stricker has in the top 20 at this event in each of the last three seasons, and has the game to win at Doral. Stricker ranks 8th in greens in regulation, and 2nd in scrambling. He already has two top-10 finishes this season, and I really like his chances of making a run this week.
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