THE COURSE
El Camaleon Golf Course – The El Camaleon Golf Course in Playa del Carmen, Mexico is a Greg Norman design that winds through tropical jungle and mangroves and along oceanfront sand. The course this week will play as a 6,987-yard par 71 and is made of the same paspulum grass that some from this field played on just three weeks ago in Malaysia (hmm-hmm, Pat Perez!). A series of canals runs through the Mayakoba track and are potential hazards off of the tee on most holes. Given the course’s average length, many of the past champions here have not been big hitters. So, we’ll be looking to favor accuracy over distance.
This event has been played here since 2012, so there is plenty of course history to analyze.
PAST WINNERS
2017 – 21 Pat Perez (Runners Up: – 19 Gary Woodland)
2016 – 18 Graeme McDowell (Runners Up: Playoff Jason Bohn, Russell Knox)
2015 – 17 Charley Hoffman (Runner Up: – 16 Shawn Stefani)
2014 – 21 Harris English (Runner Up: – 17 Brian Stuard)
ODDS (Bovada 11/06/2017)
Rickie Fowler +900
Pat Perez +1200
Chesson Hadley +2000
Gary Woodland +2000
Patrick Reed +2000
Charley Hoffman +2500
Zach Johnson +2500
Chez Reavie +2800
Byeong-Hun An +3300
Kevin Chappell +3300
Anirban Lahiri +3500
Jason Kokrak +3500
Bryson DeChambeau +4000
Charles Howell III +4000
Emiliano Grillo +4000
Graeme McDowell +4000
Luke List +4000
Ryan Moore +4000
WHO’S HOT
Pat Perez
Chesson Hadley
Whee Kim
Luke List
Ryan Armour
JJ Spaun
HORSES FOR THE COURSE
Charley Hoffman
Graeme McDowell
Kevin Streelman
Jason Bohn
Gary Woodland
Jason Kokrak
LONGER SHOTS
Kevin Streelman +5000
Russell Knox +5500
JJ Spaun +6600
Ryan Armour +6600
Scott Brown +6600
Whee Kim +6600
Alex Cejka +8000
David Lingmerth +8000
Rory Sabbatini +20000
Jason Bohn +40000
FAITHFULS
Charles Howell III
Stewart Cink
Johnson Wagner
Harris English
WHO WE LIKE
Pat Perez. The returning champ is feeling loose and playing his best. His win in Malaysia a few weeks ago was a dominant one and the ASU grad looked like he was having fun while doing it. Coincidence that his win here at Mayakoba and recently at the CIMB both came on paspalum? Maybe. Maybe not. Even though there are a bunch of good names to take near the top odds-wise (Fowler, Hadley, and Hoffman come to mind), we think Pat Perez is going to have a great week in Mexico.
Kevin Chappell & Bryson DeChambeau. This course sets up perfectly for Chappell. One of our contributors suggested that if he play the whole week with only his irons, Kevin Chappell was his lock to win this thing. His iron proximity stats are no joke and we think he’ll have a good week. Bryson DeChambeau played well in Las Vegas last week where the mad genius was spotted practicing his putting in the dwindling daylight hours. He is super focused and we feel he’s due to break out soon and often. We want to be on him this week on a short course where avoiding the trouble leads to low scores.
David Lingmerth. The short Swede plays extremely well on courses where he can show off his super accurate irons. This time last year he was playing on the much tougher Gary Player Country Club (at the Euro Tour’s Nedbank Challenge) and he finished T13. This change of scenery, short scorer’s course, and relatively lighter field set up for Lingmerth to make a charge. He is an absolute steal at 80 to 1.
