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The Buick Open
By: Jeremy Church
I remember Corey Pavin. He was a regular on leader boards in the late 80s. He had a moustache. Greg Norman was No. 1 most of the time, and wore pink shirts, white pants. Crocket and Tubbs were setting the pace then.
Chewing gum was also big and many-hued and decidedly not sugarless. Hair was big in certain quarters.
Long time ago. Which is why, when a friend of mine says he?s going to teach his kid how to long snap because the NFL is always looking for long snappers, I say put a golf club in the kid?s hands. Pavin has now won a golf tournament in three separate decades. And senior play kicks in at 50. If he was a baseball player, you?d need a magnifying glass to see his career stats on the back of a Topps.
It wasn?t quite like seeing Larry Bird or Magic Johnson come out of retirement and go triple-double, but seeing Pavin, one of the shortest and straightest hitters on Tour, put up a 61 on Thursday with 10, count ?em, 10 putts on the front nine, and go wire-to-wire for his first win in a decade was nice in a ?let me show ?em how it?s done? kind of way.
Anyone out there pick him to win? If so, no need for long snap lessons. Put your winnings on Bob Tway to win the PGA Championship in a few weeks.
Last week: Ben Crane was disqualified for bad math, taking me out of H2H contention. Minus a unit. And, well, yeah, so you may have guessed I didn?t pick Pavin in the outright. Minus half a unit there, one and a half for the week, bringing the season total to -22.5.
Last year Vijay Singh won this week?s tournament, The Buick Open, with 22-under. Pavin finished 20-under last week. Target golf continues ?
Take Zach Johnson (40-1), 1/6 unit: You thought he had a win this year, too? Probably because four times he?s finished in the top 5. He won the BellSouth a couple years ago, so he can do it. He does everything well, even if he?s not long off the tee. Ask Pavin how important it is to be long off the tee. Last year Johnson finished T2 in this tournament.
Take Tiger Woods (9-4), 1/6 unit: What. What?!?! Whatever. I like his chances against whoever is the Pavin of the week, if there is one.
Take Aaron Oberholser (50-1), 1/6 unit: It?s been a very good year for Oberholser. He got his first win back in February at Pebble. He withdrew the following week, and since then has gone T17, T45, T34, T14, T65, T13, T4, T47, T16, and MC (at the British Open). The T45 was at The Players Championship, where four straight birdies on Saturday had him moving up the leaderboard until he Mickelsoned Nos. 17 and 18---two doubles---then shot an 81 Sunday. He sort of had this goofy, ?Man am I an idiot? look on his face. Didn?t inspire confidence. But you have to like that T4 (Colonial) and T16 at the trying Winged Foot. And with the low scores expected this week, keep in mind he shot a 60 at the Byron Nelson this year, had a putt for 59.
In the head-to-head, take Oberholser to finish higher than Sean O?Hair (1-1), 1 unit: One is among the leaders on Tour in hitting greens (Oberholser), the other is not close. One hits it pretty long off the tee (O?Hair), the other does not. Different styles. I?ll take the guy who hits greens.
Jeremy Church is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League. Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com/Jeremy_Church.htm |
