THE COURSE
Often cited as one of the best golf courses in all of China, Sheshan International Club features “deep valleys and rolling hills, combined with a large amount of trees and large spans of water.” This week the par-72 track will be playing 7,266 yards and will be an absolute birdie fest (expect the winning score to be south of 20 under). Driving Accuracy, Birdies or Better, GIR, and GIR Putting have been the stats that have produced past champions here, so those are the metrics we will be focusing on.
PAST WINNERS
2016 -23 Hideki Matsuyama (Runners Up: -16 Daniel Berger and Henrik Stenson)
2015 -20 Russell Knox (Runner Up: -18 Kevin Kisner)
2014 -11 Bubba Watson (Runner Up: -11 Tim Clark)
2013 -24 Dustin Johnson (Runner Up: -21 Ian Poulter)
ODDS ( Bovada 10/23/2017 )
Dustin Johnson +800
Hideki Matsuyama +1000
Jason Day +1600
Jon Rahm +1600
Marc Leishman +1600
Brooks Koepka +1800
Justin Rose +2000
Paul Casey +2200
Tyrell Hatton +2500
Ross Fisher +2500
Henrik Stenson +2800
Patrick Reed +3000
Xander Schauffele +3000
Francesco Molinari +3300
Matthew Fitzpatrick +3300
Tommy Fleetwood +3300
Pat Perez +3500
WHO’S HOT (PGA & EURO)
Tyrrell Hatton +2500
Pat Perez +3500
Marc Leishman +1600
Xander Schauffele +3000
Paul Casey +2200
Tony Finau +3500
HORSES FOR THE COURSE
Hideki Matsuyama +1000
Daniel Berger +4000
Marc Leishman +1600
Francesco Molinari +3300
Dustin Johnson +800
Matthew Fitzpatrick +3300
Ross Fisher +2500
Thomas Pieters +6600
LONGER SHOTS
Patrick Reed +3000
Alex Noren +5000
Kiradech Aphibarnrat +6600
Paul Dunne +8000
Peter Uihlein +8000
Scott Hend +175000
FAITHFULS
Adam Scott +4500
Branden Grace +5000
WHO WE LIKE
Marc Leishman – Admittedly, Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama are the favorites to win this week, but their odds are just too small and this writer cannot bring himself to use one of those names so early on in the year for a One-N-Done pick (even though Matsuyama has already been named the Power Pick this week in our league).
So, we are going with Leishman. He almost the beat the current best-golfer-on-the-planet Justin Thomas last week at Nine Bridges and has been playing SUPER SOLID golf ever since his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last March. We’ll be looking at Leishman to be near the top of the leaderboard at the end of Sunday.
Pat Perez & Bill Haas – We are going to ride the recent form of Perez this week. In his past 5 starts he hasn’t finished worse than T12 and his win at the CIMB Classic was super impressive (you’ve got to love his press conferences, too). Haas is definitely an outside-the-box pick that we might get mocked for, but he finished T4 here last year and loves to show up for WGC events. He is way down the board odds-wise (66/1) and while there are a number of other excellent picks in this talent-heavy field, we expect Haas to fly under the preview radar and have a high finish. (Adam Scott, Tommy Fleetwood, and Chez Reavie were also contenders for these spots).
Paul Dunne – The young Irishman has been considered one of the hottest players on the European Tour over the past several weeks, which includes his win at the British Masters earlier this month. Watch out for this man. (Other names that also made this spot: Peter Uihlein, Thomas Pieters, Adam Hadwin, Richie Ramsay).
Gavin’s Picks
Top Tier – Ross Fisher
Mid-Tier – Patrick Reed & Tyrell Hatton
High-Odds – Hao Tong Li
John’s Picks
Top Tier – Ross Fisher
Mid-Tier – Francesco Molinari & Thorbjorn Olesen
High-Odds – Hao Tong Li
