Selections for Italian Open, LIV Dallas and Rocket Classic

Plus picks from Le Vaudreuil and Memorial Health Challenge

With a busy week ahead, I don’t propose to spend too much time looking backwards. My frustrations about last weeks’ HPT and KFT selections are covered in my HPT and preview articles for Le Vaudreuil and Memorial Health (they are in the usual place) whilst my non-gambling takes on a couple of great outings to Royal St George’s for The Amateur Championship are on twitter/X. My picks on the PGA were too bad to be true. So let’s update the ledger (yuck) and move forwards.

Other that the events covered in the main articles, there’s a quality course for a LIV event, a lovely DPWT event and a tedious PGA event. I cover all three below, which alas means that there is inadequate time to look at the Alps Tour event or anything happening in Korea or Japan.

LIV certainly has the best course this week, though as ever the lack of strength in depth in the field limits the excitement. Maridoe, home of LIV Dallas, has aspirations to be a host course for a major – aspirations that are reasonable on the face of the challenge offered. This is a very modern redesign of an old course, essentially remade in 2017, and playing to 7,800 yards for a par 72, all very theatrical and with a genuinely pleasing reliance on natural features and drought resistant grasses. Despite the length, the results from last time (which was the team final) suggest that scrambling and lag putting, and accuracy from tee to green will be every bit as important as power. I seriously considered Bryson de Chambeau here, and at a much longer price wondered about Matthew Woolf but in the end I’m content to have just two representing me; Lucas Herbert and Patrick Reed, who I think are playing the best golf on the tour other than the “big three” – and should enjoy this severe challenge.

The DPWT returns to Italy for their national open this week, and whilst I’d love to be back at Adriatic Golf Club, which was fantastic last year, the move to Argentario looks good too. This is a short, beautiful course (6,857 yards par 71) and the references are to a coastal course with lots of exposure to the wind (though the forecast is calm) and frequent references to a links-style course. The greens clearly have lots of slope but from looking at their size I’m more interested in scrambling, as well as approach play, in finding a winner. That said, some links experience and decent putting wouldn’t hurt. In a weakish field, that interest in scrambling led me away from my early thought of Dan Bradbury, returning to his best but 117^th in SG around the green. In the end, I like the approach and scrambling game of Marcus Armitage very much and think he’s excellent value here. He’s supported in my team by young Jayden Schaper who might have the best short game on the tour, and by John Parry, who isn’t priced like a man who won at this course on the Challenge Tour last season.

Finally, I have to take at least a cursory glance at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. This is the PGA at the most tedious, and I’ve only found two players who interest me at the prices. Jesper Svensson has found his putting touch again and thus looks like a threat at the prices, whilst Davis Thompson has great form here, at other Donald Ross courses and at tracks that correlate well. He’s also red hot with the putter.

Italian Open:
Jayden Schaper, 22/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 8 places, Bet365.
John Parry, 33/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 8 places, Bet365.
Marcus Armitage, 70/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 8 places, Bet365.

Rocket Classic:
Davis Thompson, 33/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 8 places, Bet365.
Jesper Svensson, 80/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 8 places, Bet365.

LIV Dallas:
Lucas Herbert, 30/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 5 places, Ladbrokes.
Patrick Reed, 20/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 5 places, Ladbrokes.

Le Vaudreuil Challenge:
Jamie Rutherford, 25/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, Unibet.
Liam Nolan,70/1, 1pt e/w, ¼ odds 5 places, Bet365.
Santiago Tarrio, 35/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, Unibet.
Clement Guichard, 500/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, Unibet.

Memorial Health Championship:
Jeffrey Kang, 150/1, 1pt e/w, 1/4 odds 5 places, William Hill.
Kensei Hirata, 45/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, Unibet.
Emilio Gonzalez,35/1, 1pt e/w, 1/4 odds 5 places, Bet365.