Related Link: 5 Things You Need To Know About Ken Duke & Chris Stroud
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LAS VEGAS — Last Sunday was a wild and crazy day on the PGA Tour, as the Travelers Championship lived up to its reputation for exciting finishes.
There were five guys tied for the lead at 10-under par – and four more at 9-under – as the field made the turn for the back nine.
The eventual winner was 44-year-old Ken Duke, who shot a final-round 66 to finish at 12-under for his long awaited first PGA Tour win.
It didn’t come easily.
Duke hit the ball into the trees on No. 10, and it bounced back out to land three feet from the cup – it looked like one of those Travelers commercials that played all weekend on CBS’ broadcast. He made that putt, later sunk a 40-footer on the back nine and looked to have the tournament wrapped up before 31-year-old Chris Stroud chipped in on the final hole to force a playoff.
Duke won the playoff when he hit a brilliant wedge to about 2 or 3 feet from pin on the second playoff hole. He made the birdie putt and earned a trip to Augusta National next year for The Masters to boot.
It’s quite a story. Duke had played in almost 200 PGA Tour events before his breakthrough.
Oh, and Bubba Watson absolutely gave away the tournament when he hit it in the water on the par-3 16th hole and ended up making a triple-bogey six. Bubba had a one-shot lead at the time and didn’t handle his disappointing play well, as he blamed caddie Ted Scott for the club selection. In and of itself, that would be not be a big deal, but he blew up at Scott in range of the microphones and basically made a fool of himself on national TV. He ended up finishing fourth.
By the way, Bubba was our top play last week. Ouch.
Now we move on to the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.
Tiger Woods hosts this event, but he will not be playing the 7,569 yard, par-71 monster. Tiger, who won the tournament last year, withdrew last week with an elbow strain. He will not play again until the British Open, which begins on July 18th.
You need to be long at Congressional to be a factor. You also need to be a good long iron player. Here are four guys with a big shot this week.
JASON DAY (15-1). Day likes difficult golf courses. He finished second at the U.S. Open, third at The Masters and sixth at Pebble Beach this year, and he has four top three finishes in the last 10 majors. This golf course is right up his alley.
GRAHAM DeLAET (30-1). DeLaet finished third last week, his best showing of the year. The Canadian can play, though, as his $1.3 million-plus in earnings for the year and No. 29 world ranking shows. He is as long as anyone out there and is going to get a win soon.
ANGEL CABRERA (60-1). Cabrera has rededicated himself this year, and it has shown. He was second at The Masters and tied for ninth last week. He plays well on tough golf courses, and this one certainly qualifies.
NICOLAS COLSAERTS (60-1). This guy is just scary long, and his iron play is solid as well. The 30-year-old Belgian has three top 10s on the year, including a tie for tenth at the U.S. Open at Merion. His game should be well suited for Congressional. He’s on the verge of doing special things.
Since we think Day has a very good shot this week, we are also using him at +130 in his matchup against tournament favorite (12-1) Adam Scott.
Next week is the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia. Enjoy the golf!
ODDS TO WIN AT&T NATIONAL, CONGRESSIONAL, BETHESDA, MD, JUNE 27-30 (LVH):
ADAM SCOTT 12/1
JASON DAY 15/1
HUNTER MAHAN 15/1
BRANDT SNEDEKER 15/1
RICKIE FOWLER 20/1
BILLY HORSCHEL 20/1
BO VAN PELT 30/1
JIM FURYK 30/1
GRAHAM DeLAET 30/1
SCOTT STALLINGS 30/1
BILL HAAS 40/1
RYAN PALMER 40/1
CHARLEY HOFFMAN 40/1
HARRIS ENGLISH 40/1
NICK WATNEY 50/1
FREDDIE JACOBSON 50/1
CHARLES HOWELL III 50/1
JIMMY WALKER 50/1
BRENDON DE JONGE 50/1
JOHN HUH 50/1
KEVIN CHAPPELL 50/1
JOHN SENDEN 50/1
RUSSELL HENLEY 50/1
JOHN ROLLINS 50/1
MARC LEISHMAN 60/1
NICOLAS COLSAERTS 60/1
MARTIN LAIRD 60/1
CHRIS STROUD 60/1
ANGEL CABRERA 60/1
JORDAN SPIETH 60/1
PAT PEREZ 60/1
ROBERT GARRIGUS 60/1
K.J. CHOI 60/1
KEN DUKE 80/1
JONAS BLIXT 80/1
JEFF OVERTON 80/1
BRIAN DAVIS 80/1
CHRIS KIRK 80/1
DAVID HEARN 80/1
BEN CRANE 80/1
CAMILO VILLEGAS 80/1
DAVID LINGMERTH 80/1
GARY WOODLAND 100/1
JOHN MERRICK 100/1
LUKE GUTHRIE 125/1
BUD CAULEY 125/1
STEWART CINK 125/1
VIJAY SINGH 125/1
RYO ISHIKAWA 150/1
FIELD (all others) 9/4
TOURNAMENT MATCHUPS:
JASON DAY +130
ADAM SCOTT -150
RICKIE FOWLER +105
HUNTER MAHAN -125
JIM FURYK -120
BILL HAAS EVEN
CHARLEY HOFFMAN -115
RYAN PALMER -105
HARRIS ENGLISH -120
JIMMY WALKER EVEN
CHARLES HOWELL III -110
FREDDIE JACOBSON -110
BRENDON DE JONGE -120
JOHN HUH EVEN
JOHN ROLLINS +105
JOHN SENDEN -125
RUSSELL HENLEY -120
JORDAN SPIETH EVEN
MARTIN LAIRD -120
MARC LEISHMAN EVEN
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