The unofficial fifth major rolls around this weekend in the form of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. You know, the one with the island green?
It is no surprise the “unofficial fifth major” is held in the US and clearly no one that gives it this title has ever watched the Carramulka Men’s Open.
What is surprising, though, is that despite Australia having the most golfers in The Players Championship from any country outside the US, Neil Robertson has more chance of winning with his snooker cue than any of the Aussies.
According to the bookies, of the thirteen Aussies in the field, the best chance of a victory is Geoff Ogilvy at $61.
When our best golfer is listed at $61, it tells you something about the form of the Australians right now. Robert Allenby’s early great form has waned over the past month and former TPC Champion Adam Scott has shown only minor glimpses of his ability.
More disappointing has been the form of the young brigade.
Marc Leishman’s year has been pretty good but has not taken the tour by storm, and Mathew Goggin, James Nitties, Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day would rather be playing snooker.
The intermittent spikes of good golf from the rest of the Aussies has just not been good enough to spark any interest from the bookies.
The sole Aussie with any sort of form is Matt Jones.
He finished with a top-10 last week at Quail Hollow but at the moment he is not even in the field and hoping for a few more withdrawals as second alternate.
To give you a bit more of an idea of how poorly some of the Australians have been playing, James Nitties and Mathew Goggin are at $301 to win the event.
If they are at $301, what would Neil Robertson’s odds be?
Chris
Guest
rock on robert allenby - great opening round ... and after his woeful Masters effort cost me my $50 bet!
Mark
Guest
Allenby must have taken offence to his long odds and has come out firing in the first round, or maybe it was the chat he had recently with Jack Nicklaus about how he needs to be a bit more patient to take his game to the next level? Good to see a few of the other names mentioned above also having solid opening rounds, lets hope one of our Aussies can show the bookies up and pocket some serious coin!