Copperhead Layout to Challenge PGA Pro’s

by StockJockey

Friday, March 07, 2008 - 3:19 pm

Bart Bryant got off to a strong start in this week’s POD Championship but has a pack of journeyman on his tail at this weeks PGA event. The course is different than most on the tour, and is worth tuning in to check out.

As always, visit Kevin at PGA 365

This week’s PODS Championship will be played at the Innisbrook Golf Club at the Copperhead Course, and will provide players with a fairly challenging layout through which they must carefully navigate. Innisbrook is a thinker’s course, much in the way that Colonial and Harbor Town are. Narrow, tree-lined fairways and small, fast greens means the bomb-and-gouge strategy that some players employ will be rendered useless here. Shot placement is critical to allow yourself decent approach shots to the small greens of the Copperhead Course - one look at hole # 3 should make this obvious. Another interesting feature about this course is that there are huge elevation changes. The par 5 5th hole will play at 605 yards and has a sharp uphill tee shot followed by a dramatic drop down to the green from about 200 yards out.

I was happy to see Els win last week at the Honda Classic. Had it not been for Luke Donald’s quadruple-bogey in the 2nd round, Donald should have gone on to win…but to win on tour sometimes you need a bit of luck as well, and Els has had his share of bad luck lately so I feel this win was well-deserved. He’s been playing relatively well this year and I think his win last week is going to get him in the right frame of mind for another solid performance. Mark Calcavecchia is the defending champion, and he played well last week too. Calcavecchia plays almost nothing else but a fade, so he will totally be eliminating the left side of the course this week…a strategy that seemed to work well for him last year. Calc isn’t known for his putting, but hopefully he’ll bring some of last week’s putting magic to Innisbrook.

My strategy for picking players in Tiers 2 and 3 for this week will be to focus on those who haven’t missed many cuts. Although Paul Casey has only teed it up once on the PGA this year, I’m picking him to have 4 solid rounds. Casey is a good player but he’ll need to work hard if he intends on qualifying for the 2008 European Ryder Cup. Also look for John Mallinger and Jeff Quinney to do well this week. Between the two they have entered in 12 tournaments and missed only 1 cut. Look for Charlie Wi for a surprise impact.

Steve Marino is making cuts. In 7 tournaments he hasn’t missed the cut yet. While that increases his chances of missing the cut each week, I think he’s a solid choice to have in your line-up. Kenny Perry is accurate off the tee and he has only missed 2 cuts this year. He may not win the tournament but I think Perry is another solid player to have on a course that requires accuracy such as this.