Steve Stricker to beat the Tiger! Deutsche Bank Championship Preview | Thebigtip

First of all, TIGER IS BACK.  I’m sorry Tiger, I like many others wrote you off last week before the Barclays.  Who knew that as soon as your divorce papers were finalised you would dominate like the Tiger of old and shoot a 65.  Hopefully everyone ignored my advice to back him to miss the cut, but did take Matt Kuchar to win the tournament.

Matt Kuchar went onto win from Martin Laird in a playoff after an incredible second shot.  Kuchar now leads the FedEx standings, and has all but assured his place in the top 30 for The Tour Championship.

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The Australians has a great week with Jason Day T5, and Adam Scott T9.  Day lead after day 2 but will still be happy with his great performance.  Queenslander John Senden had his best week of the year finishing T15 and moving up 34 spots to 64 in the playoff standings.  Other notable performance came from Rory Sabbatini, Paul Casey, Vaughn Taylor, Dustin Johnson and Steve Stricker.

The tour heads to the TPC Boston for the Deutsche Bank Championship.  The course is a player friendly one, with plenty of attacking the flag, and low scoring is expected.  The two finishing holes of 17 and 18 offer great birdie opportunities which ensures we see an exciting finish.

This week the top 100 golfers will become 70 so everyone in the field will be feeling the pressure of making the cut.

12 Australians have made the top 100, but many will have to shoot low to continue in the playoffs.  Aaron Baddeley and Steve Elkington are the two most desperate to make the weekend, currently being outside the top 70; the next cutoff.  John Senden will be hoping his great form last week continues, while major winner Geoff Ogilvy cannot seem to get anything going and will drop out of the top 70 if his barren run continues.

Other well known golfers Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh and Kenny Perry also face elimination if they are unable to score low in Boston.  Jim Furyk will make sure he and his caddy have set their alarm clocks after being disqualified from last week’s event, after sleeping in and missing the Pro-am.  Although these midweek tournaments are not held in high esteem by the players, I think the punishment was a very harsh call made by officials.

Some of the World’s best golfers have been struggling in recent times, Ernie Els, Phil Mickleson and Rory McIlroy  all wanting to forget their performances last week.  All three golfers will want to tame the Boston course, and televisions producers will want to see all three big names in the final week.

Who can win this week

Steve Stricker FedEx Ranking – 2

Betfair odds to win $12.50

Has not finished outside the top 15 in the last four years here.  The defending champion was T3 last week, and is one of few top golfers finding their form at the right time.

Adam Scott FR 19

Betfair odds to win $32

Australia’s best hope this week, and is finding form at the right end of the season.  Scott finally has his putter running hot, and will hit plenty of greens this week in regulation.

Tiger Woods FR 65

Betfair Odds to win $9.40

One swallow doesn’t make a summer, but TPC is perfectly setup for Tiger to be his aggressive self, Woods will be looking to shoot low 60’s, and be on the prowl in his famous red shirt on Sunday.

Who won’t make the cut

Anthony Kim has been struggling since his comeback from injury, and won’t see any action this weekend.  I can see him being joined by Lucas Glover and KJ Choi.  The Australian’s who will have the weekend will be Geoff Ogilvy, Matt Jones, and Greg Chalmers.

My Best Bets

Ok not pressure, but I am coming off a 40-1 winner last week, this week I am looking at shorter odds with Steve Stricker heading the leaderboard on Sunday.  If Tiger is well placed on Friday night he will be a big danger, but is normally very short at the bookies.  Scott will be the leading Australian, but if punters are looking for some value in the field this week Rory Sabbatini is in form, and is coming off a 69-64 finish last weekend.

Do you agree with Davud Hards preview? Leave your comments below.

Betfair Odds correct as at 8.53 am on 1 September 2010