Mercedes Championship Golf BettingChoice Preview and Tips

The US PGA Tour season begins this week in traditional fashion, with the Mercedes Championships. Qualification for the event requires winning a PGA event in the previous season, and on this occasion there will be 31 entrants. For the seventh year in succession it will be played on the Plantation Course at Kapalua on the specific Pacific Island of Maui, Hawaii.It is a stunning venue featuring rolling hills and a good deal of length at 7263 yards. However, the main defence comes by way of the wind, and when it is not at its strongest, players of this quality find birdies far more frequently than bogeys. The worst winning score here was 16 under par in 2000, whilst Ernie Els set an all time low scoring record in 2003, when he completed the 72 holes with a total of -31.There are not many days when the wind doesn't blow, but four rounds in the sixties are almost certainly to be needed if the title is to be won.Topping the bookmakers lists is Tiger Woods at a best price of 3/1. A former winner at Kapalua in 2000, Woods was coming back into form at the end of 2004 and the compilers have obviously reacted to this. His last two starts have ended up as victories, at the Dunlop Phoenix in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Japan, and then at his own tournament, the Target World Challenge. However, neither of these are PGA events, and he has not won a stroke play event on Tour since September 2003. With this in mind, and a natural hesitance for any player still undergoing swing alterations, we are going to give Woods a wide berth at this stage.The top four players in the world are all taking part although Vijay Singh and Ernie Els also look on the short side to us at 5/1 and 6/1 respectively.Retief Goosen holds more appeal at 11/1 however. There are few more accomplished players in the wind, and this is reflected in top four finishes at Kapalua for the past two seasons. As one of the longest hitters in the game the South African also has that to his advantage, as well as victory in his last tournament outing. That came in convincing fashion at the Nedbank Challenge in his homeland during December. Directly prior to that he took the spoils against a top class field at the Tour Championship.Last year he averaged over four birdies per round, and this is especially impressive when one considers that he really considers the European Tour his home, and only ventures to America for the tougher events. His from at the end of lat term was hotter than anyone's, including Woods's, and with a proven ability to perform at this venue, we see 11/1 as a decent outright price.Further down the list in this small field, we have picked out Rod Pampling who is available at 80/1. Whilst most of the competitors have been resting since November, with the odd exception taking part in a silly season event or two, Pampling has been in his native Australia playing in two instalments of the Triple Crown of Aussie golf tournaments. At the Australian PGA he came ninth, and at the Australian Open, third place was registered.These are competitive events and as with most Australian players, the wind is something in which he is comfortable in and his residence in USA happens to be in Texas, another location well known for such conditions. Some strong efforts in the Open Championship are evidence of this, although he remains most famous for being the man who led after one round and then missed the cut at the 1999 edition.Qualification for the Mercedes came by virtue of winning the International last term, his only PGA Tour victory but proof of a capability to hold firm under pressure. His play down under should mean that his game is fresher than that of many taking part, and at 80/1 we feel Pampling is worthy of a small each way bet.Have a free bet on the Mercedes Golf Championship with VCBet