Plenty of value on offer at Dean & Deluca Invitational hosted by the Colonial Country Club.
After last weekend’s blowout at the Byron Nelson, we close out this string of Texas-based tournaments with the recently renamed Dean & Deluca Invitational. First staged at the Colonial Country Club 70 years ago, the tournament is the longest running non-major event to be played at the same course.
The 7,204 yard course is rather different from last weekend’s bland Four Season’s offering. It is a much more intricate layout, with 12 dog-legged holes, while holes three, four and five are affectionately known as the ‘horrible horseshoe’.
As for the field – well it’s a pretty decent spread. The choice to trim from 156 players to 122 seems to be a good one, helping to keep some of the riff-raff out. Jordan Speith continues his quest to win in his home state, while Adam Scott and a bang in-form Matt Kuchar are also up there in the betting.
However, after last week’s tournament where every big name tried their best to toss it into the water (and almost succeeded), I’m steering clear of backing the big guns. Take Speith on at your peril, he looks a damaged man at present.
Dean & Deluca Invitational | Thursday 26 May – Sunday 29 May | Colonial Country Club
Last Five Winners
2015 Chris Kirk -12 | 2014 Adam Scott -9 (Playoff) | 2013 Boo Weekley -14 | 2012 Zach Johnson -12 | 2011 David Toms -15
To Win Outright
Jordan Spieth 6/1 | Adam Scott 12/1 | Matt Kuchar 12/1 | Charley Hoffman 22/1 | Zach Johnson 22/1 | Chris Kirk 28/1
Value Bets
Kevin Chappell (28/1 & 6/1 Place)
Chappell has been on my radar for some time, but his form is now too good to ignore. In his last six starts, Chappell has notched up four top 10 finishes, including a pair of solo seconds. If that isn’t enough to get you excited, his record at Colonial Country Club might. He’s gone four-for-five with top 20s in each of the past two years. My only concern is his ability to get over the line, but given his current form, he’s worth backing each-way at 28s.
Colt Knost (45/1 Win & 10/1 Place)
Knost is bang in-form after following up his T3 at The Players, with a T4 last week. His record at the Colonial isn’t perfect, but a tie for 10th last year gives us something to work with. Since then, he’s more or less maintained that level of consistency, so it stands to reason that he’ll turn in another solid performance this time around. I was a bit surprised to see him so far down the betting and at 10/1 a place, he provides good e/w value.
Boo Weekley (80/1 Win & 17/1 Place)
This one is a bit of a flyer. Possibly the most ridiculously named golfer in the history of the game, Boo had quite the tournament at the Byron Nelson. After a terrible opening round of 76, he set the course alight on Friday with a staggering 62. A closing round 65 was enough for T41, but the signs are there. He hasn’t won on tour since 2013, but in a turn of events, that victory came at this very course. Definitely worth a sneaky punt.
Best Bet
Charley Hoffman (22/1 Win & 48/10 Place)
Always back Charley in Texas. It’s a simple philosophy, but one that keeps churning out results. Hoffman didn’t finish worse than T11 in any of his four Lone Star starts in 2015, and hasn’t dropped lower than T12 in 2016. He claimed the Valero Texas Open a month back and followed that up with a T11 at the Zurich Classic and T12 at last week’s Byron Nelson, where he closed with a sparkling 64. If he can carry that over to this week, he’ll be in the money once again, and so will we.
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