Welcome to week four of Virtual Insanity, where we spend virtual money to try and win virtual money on golf betting. It's that simple!
Last week our headline tip Tony Finau was placed at the Farmers Insurance Open at 25/1!
So the pot is at €954 entering this week's tournament of focus, the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Arizona.
This week's event starts at 2.20pm Irish time on Thursday.
The tournament is played at the TPC of Scottsdale.
Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler are among those in the field.
It's desert golf, with good approach play a must. It's also a track that generates low scores, so it's important for contenders to keep the foot on the throttle in front of the raucous crowds on SuperBowl weekend.
I am picking three players all available at 1/5 the odds to finish in the first 8 places with Paddy Power, Betfair, SKY Bet and Boylesports.
This week's philosophy is to concentrate on youth. We were all young once, even me!
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry all made breakthroughs once upon a time and I am counting on three twenty somethings to do the same by Sunday.
Our first selection is Viktor Hovland for €4 each way at 45/1.
22-year-old Hovlald won the 2018 US Amateur and then finished as the low amateur at last year's Masters and US Open, the latter performance a tied 12th finish. The Norwegian is a beautiful ball striker and upon turning professional, he finished inside the top 20 four times on the PGA Tour. A second placed finish at a satellite Korn Ferry Tour event helped secure his 2020 card and he was in contention in Dubai last week before falling away over the closing 27 holes. His statistics are good and although it's his first look at the TPC of Scottsdale, he's an exceptional talent who can be there or thereabouts.
Our second selection is Scottie Scheffler for €3 each way at 50/1.
Scheffler has made himself at home on the PGA Tour without delay. He's been in the top five on three occasions already this season, including a third place finish at a similar desert based venue at the American Express tournament in California a fortnight ago. Scheffler set the Korn Ferry Tour on fire last year with 10 top tens in 20 starts, two of them victories. He's a big hitting 23-year-old that doesn't seem to have any fear. A win may be just around the corner.
Our final selection this week is Beau Hossler for €3 each way at 125/1.
In 2016, Hossler played at the US Open as a 16-year-old, and a year later, he was a part of the leaderboard at the same major as a 17-year-old. He smashed college records for wins and his imprint on tour has been solid. Now 24 years-of-age, he has been a runner-up twice on the PGA Tour and what caught my eye was a 64 when he landed inside the top 20 at the Phoenix Open in 2018. He's tuned up nicely for this with a top ten in a marquee field at the Farmers Insurance Open last week and could surprise a few people over the coming days.
So that's €20 wagered on this week's golf.
Please gamble responsibly, never bet more than you can afford and good luck!
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