Colonial Country Club, Fort Worth, Texas
7,204 Yards Par 70
The Course
Colonial Country Club is a tight tree-lined course measuring a short 7,204 yards. It was designed by Perry Maxwell and John Bredemus and has very tight fairways and doglegs throughout the course. The PGA Tour has visited this course every year since 1946 making Colonial the longest annual stop on tour.
This course suits players that can keep the ball straight and don’t have to hit it a mile, but demands good positioning off the tee. This course has just two par 5’s and four par 3’s and requires players to shape the ball. It has always been a shot maker’s course with previous winners such as Zach Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Boo Weekely over the last few years. Some of the greens are quite small so GIR, good putting and proximity stats will be worth looking at. This course has over 80 bunkers and has 12 par 4’s, so good par 4 scoring and scrambling stats will have to be considered.
Matt Kuchar 12/1
What a season Kooch is having so far with a massive 12 top 10’s in his last 16 starts on the PGA Tour. Consistent to say the least! He has not finished worse than 17th in his last six events, which includes a T7th at The Byron Nelson last week. Kuchar won at The RBC Heritage in Harbour Town, which is a very similar setup to Colonial with its tight, tree lined fairways and small greens. He also has four top five’s in his last six events with a T4th at The Texas Open, second place in Houston, T5th at The Masters and a win at Harbour Town.
Kuchar ranks 25th in driving accuracy, 42nd in GIR, third in scrambling, 14th in strokes gained putting, first in par 4 scoring and 46th in proximity to the hole. He also has a good record here at Colonial with two top 10’s in his last six starts finishing second last year and ninth in 2009. With great current form and good previous performances here it’s hard to rule out Matt Kuchar this week.
Jim Furyk 14/1
Like Kuchar, Furyk is another player showing some superb form over the last few weeks with four top 10’s in his last five starts. He had a great performance at The Texas Open which included a disappointing second round 74 but then bounced back shooting 68,71 to finish T6th. He also played well at The RBC Heritage finishing T7th on the similar Harbour Town. In his last two starts he has finished solo second in both the Wells Fargo and The Players Championship in Sawgrass so it’s fair to say his game is in superb shape.
Statswise Furyk ranks first in scrambling, 10th in driving accuracy, 12th in scoring average, 22nd in par 4 scoring and seventh in proximity to the hole. He also has played very well in Colonial over the last 10 years recording four top 10’s since 2003. His most recent top 10 came in 2012 when he finished 4th. He’s playing super golf at the moment and could pick up a win any day now and it could very well be here this week.
Paul Casey 50/1
It’s great to see Paul Casey come back into some form these days after a long spell of injuries. He has been showing some good form lately on the PGA Tour with three top 20’s in his last three starts. He has a good performance at The RBC Heritage finishing in T18th and three under for the week. He then followed that with a T11th in New Orleans which included a superb 64 in round three. Last week at The Byron Nelson he finished in T16th which also included a 63 in round two so there are snippets of superb play from the Englishman.
Casey ranks 43rd in strokes gained putting, 24th in scoring average, 15th in par 4 scoring and second in proximity to the hole. Paul has also played well in Colonial in the past finishing in 13th in 2010 and 5th in 2009.
John Senden 40/1
Senden is another player showing some great form on the PGA Tour so far this season with a great win at The Valspar Championship back in March. He has managed to stay consistent since, finishing no worse than 29th in his last four events, which include two top 11’s. John played very well at The Masters a couple of weeks ago recording his best ever finish in Augusta with a T8th. Most recently, he played very well last week at The Byron Nelson finishing in T11th which included a superb final round 66.
Senden is another player that has a good history at Colonial with four top 25’s in his last 11 appearances on this course including two top 10’s with a ninth in 2004 and eighth in 2011. He ranks 41st in driving accuracy, 15th in GIR, seventh in sand saves and 31st in strokes gained putting.
Russell Knox 80/1
Knox is another player that has played well so far this season. He had a good finish at The Farmers in Torrey Pines finishing in T10th at the end of January. He also played well at The Honda Classic finishing in second on a total of eight under for the week, which included a second round 63. Most recently, Knox put in a decent performance at The RBC Heritage finishing in T9th on five under par for the tournament.
Statswise Knox ranks 16th in driving accuracy, 25th in GIR, 40th in par 4 scoring, 20th in scrambling and first in proximity to the hole. With a good finish at Harbour Town, he will be coming into this week feeling confident on a course that could suit his game.
John Huh 50/1
John Huh is having a mixed season on the PGA Tour so far. He has played well over the last three weeks with a great week at The RBC Heritage a couple of weeks ago shooting three 68’s and an opening round 71 to finish in T3rd on nine under par. This is encouraging because, as I said above, this course is similar to Harbour Town. Huh also played well last week at the Byron Nelson shooting 67,71,66,71 on his way to a respectable T16th.
He also has a good history at Colonial with a fifth place finish in 2012 and an 11th place finish in 2013. With a good performance at Harbour Town along with good previous performances here the last two years, Huh looks like good value here at 50/1.
Final Selections
Matt Kuchar 2 pts EW/ 4 pts total
Jim Furyk 2 pts EW/ 4 pts total
Paul Casey 1 pt EW/ 2 pts total
John Senden 1 pt EW/ 2 pts total
Russell Knox 1 pt EW/ 2pts total
John Huh 1 pt EW/ 2 pts total
Total Staked = 16 pts
I am taking two weeks off from next week and will miss the Memorial and the FedEx St. Jude Classic but I will be back for the US Open on June 10th.
Best of luck and enjoy the golf,
DB
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