PGA Tour – Zurich Classic of New Orleans Golf Betting Odds & Preview

Masters winner Bubba Watson back to defend Louisiana title

Bubba Watson
Bubba Watson © GEPA pictures

Zurich Classic of New Orleans Golf Betting Info
There is a good strong field on show at TPC Louisiana for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans including new Masters holder Bubba Watson and Graeme McDowell who is starting to ramp up his game. This is a long course, almost seven and a half thousand yards long, and this is a course which benefits from some big drivers. This isn’t an easy course to tame because the greens are tough to read and taking chances after making it to the green is hard. This has been one of the top ten most difficult courses on the PGA Tour for the past few years, in terms of sticking it on the green and getting the ball down. So a tough challenge, but there are enough driving chances for players brave enough and confident in their length to carve out some extra strokes.

Zurich Classic of New Orleans Golf Betting Defending Champion
Bubba Watson won a thrilling conclusion to last season’s Zurich Classic. He went up against Webb Simpson in a play off and prevailed. He admitted after that the course didn’t even suit him, but what he did was play his Bubba golf, and lead the way in driving distance off the tee. Watson has superb, if a little unorthodox, manipulation of the ball through the air off the tee. Now he has gotten his eye in on the course with a win, you would expect him to come up and put in another big performance here, especially on the back of the wealth of confidence he should have picked up by winning the Green Jacket at Augusta. Not too surprisingly he leads the PGA with distance off the tee, but there is more to his game than that. He ranks second on the Tour for greens hit too. Going well, strong contender, and going off at 14/1 with Bet365.

Zurich Classic of New Orleans Golf Betting Favourite
England’s Luke Donald is actually trading as favourite here. Not sure that we have seen the best of Luke Donald this season yet. He has one win under his belt, taking a play off victory at the Transitions, but other than that he hasn’t really threatened the top of the leader board He has lost his world number one ranking to Rory McDonald, and while he has made the cut on each of his six PGA outings this season, there should still be stronger finishes coming from him. Donald was pretty much a shoe-in for a top ten finish wherever he went last season, but he has landed only two from six starts this season. Still, his accuracy around the greens is still good, he is second on the PGA Tour for strokes gained in putting. Just needs an extra ten percent to his all-around game and he’ll back back to winning ways. Tied for eighth here last season, in what has been his only visit so far. Donald is 13/1 at Boylesports. 

Other Contenders
Great field in attendance and a couple more European challengers to look at. Graeme McDowell put in a very solid performance at The Masters, where he tied for 12th. He has found a touch more consistency this season, which is good to see, as he went AWOL during 2011 pretty much. He has landed four top fifteen finishes from six starts on the PGA Tour this season. Decent stats in the all round game, and if he is getting his confidence back, then he should be in good standing here and well worth a punt.

Justin Rose, winner of the WGC Cadillac, has been in fine form this season and has to be in contention here for your golf betting. Rose fired a T8 at The Masters, giving him three top tens from eight events on the Tour this season, three in his last five. So Rose is in very solid form at the moment, and he has started taking a few more chances, being a little bit braver, a bit more maverick with his shot selection. He hasn’t really gone very well at TPC Louisiana before, but his game is right up there at the moment, and finding greens in regulation very, very well.

On to the American challenge, and that will be led by Keegan Bradley. Bradley has been one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour this season without a shadow of a doubt. He often gets overlooked, but he has only been outside of the top twenty once in ten starts this season. He is the best all rounder in the game at the moment, and swinging very confidently. Two top ten finishes in his last three, but hasn’t been able to get over the winning line this season, although he has come close. Would expect him to win something sooner or later, simply because he has form and a lot of momentum on his side.

Steve Stricker likes the course and that may just be enough to sway your bet here. Sticker has landed three top finishes in a row now at TPC Louisiana over the past few season. He is one of the coolest heads in the pack, and when he is on song, is a joy to watch. He has tasted victory on the PGA Tour this season, winning right back at the start of the season in Kapalua. Solid all round stats as you would expect from the big man. Good course history, very good player and therefore adds up to a great place bet, or a top ten at the very least.

There are some other big names in the field, like Webb Simpson, Nick Watney, Carl Pettersson and Peter Hanson, all of which could make a very good case for themselves. A great field in attendance at TPC Louisiana and therefore there should be some competitive scoring across the tricky course, which has had a few subtle adjustments made to it for this season. The finish on the 18th now should be speculator after changes there.

Best Outside Bet
We have already mentioned him briefly, but it may be worth looking at Webb Simpson. This guy could do no wrong last season, but he hasn’t done much right in 2012. He has landed only three top ten finishes this season from nine event, but he has made the cut in each of his starts. But he has been mostly hovering around the thirties for finishes though and looks short of the game and confidence that produced so many fantastic results in 2011. Still, he reached the playoff here last season, and he probably should have won because he picked up a penalty in the final round. Really hasn’t got the iron work or the putter going this season, but, course history is on his side and he has a good chance of coming good again.

Latest Zurich Classic of New Orleans Golf Betting Prices
Luke Donald: 13/1 at Boylesports
Bubba Watson: 14/1 at Bet365
Keegan Bradley: 20/1 at Totesport
Justin Rose: 22/1 at Blue Square
Webb Simpson: 22/1 at Ladbrokes
Steve Stricker: 25/1 at SkyBet
Jason Dufner: 28/1 at BetFred
Graeme McDowell: 33/1 at Totesport
Nick Watney: 33/1 at Be365
Carl Pettersson: 35/1 at 888Sport
Peter Hanson: 40/1 at Bet365

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