Game Time: 09/28/2007 04:00 PM
By: Brian Gabrielle | bgsports.com
While the Presidents Cup takes place in Canada this week, many may not know there's another tourney on the wagering front at the Annandale Golf Club in Madison, MS.
I looked at the Presidents Cup on the schedule and went, "Ah, for *$#@! sake, not again!" Americans versus the world. Nice message.
The Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup -- the latter which is old country versus new country, Atlanticism at its harmless, silly worst -- should find an exile island.
Cups Ryder and President are impossible to handicap. I generally wait to the last minute, like buying a gift for a difficult relative. Safe money can be had on anti-American sentiment in the Ryder, but the Presidents Cup has been more even in its recent history. (One of these tournaments might be sufferable every two years; sticking us with one of them every year is not nice.)
The Americans always ramp up the importance of these ridiculous biennials while the Europeans (Ryder) and rest of the world minus Europeans (Presidents) also talk about their importance but seem to mean it more and tend to win more.
We have not talked about the fact that this is meant to be a team competition. It seems to escape the golfing establishment that golf is not a team sport. So how do you try to gauge players who play for themselves all year and then have to go through the motions of playing together as a twosome or foursome or twelvesome, whatever, looking over each other's putts as if that actually helps?
No worry, though. Because it can be ignored. There is a regular Tour event, called the Viking Classic, where risk and reward are still somewhat commensurate.
Last week: Justin Leonard had a good week at Turning Point, finishing T13. His counterpart in the head-to-head, Peter Lonard, missed the cut. Important to win the head-to-head in these tournaments of limited talent. Leonard's win at -110 yielded 0.9 units.
At this week's Viking Classic in Mississippi, take Brett Wetterich (25-1), 1/6 unit: This time last year Wetterich was playing for the American team in the Ryder Cup. I wonder if it is a coincidence that he came back after that tournament and had a strong finish to the year. He looks good going into this one, with a T2, T30 and T29 in the last three FedEx Cup playoff tournaments.
Take Chad Campbell (50-1), 1/6 unit: Campbell was also on the Ryder Cup team last year and also played well when he got back from it to close out the year. He has sort of fallen off the radar. But I saw some of his play from a first round 65 at Turning Stone and saw the guy who won and who should still win yet again.
Take Brian Gay (80-1), 1/6 unit: A tournament made for Gay, a strong late finisher in these less than ultra competitive tournaments. Excellent putter, and we have seen what that can mean in the form of Steve Stricker.
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Brian Gabrielle: PGA - The Viking Classic
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