10. Louis Oosthuizen
The former Open Champion Golfer of the Year, and a one-time runner-up at each of the four majors, the South African had not been especially impressive in recent months on the PGA Tour, or abroad, but he was one of the best in the field at last week’s CIMB Championship – shooting four rounds in the 60s to finish T5.
Oosthuizen does not typically play this early in the wrap-around season, but changed his mind for this year, and the early results have been excellent. Against a similar field, even at a more difficult course, it would be a surprise if Louis did not make some kind of mark this weekend.
Odds: 28-1
World Rank: 37th
Field Rank: 15th
Last Six: 5, 32, 58, 31, 28, 24
9. Alex Noren
Finally making a greater presence on the PGA Tour in 2018, the 36-year-old Swede Noren got his season off to a fantastic start, taking former No. 1 Jason Day to six playoff holes at January’s Farmers Insurance Classic, and posting third-place finishes at the Honda Classic and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. He mostly struggled on the American side of the Atlantic after March. In Europe, however, he won the French Open and placed third at the BMW PGA Championship.
Most recently, he was 2-1-0 for the Europeans at the Ryder Cup, winning his Sunday Singles match over a red-hot (coming into the week anyway) Bryson DeChambeau. Noren did not play the CJ Cup last year, but the short game wizard is used to play tracks all over the world.
Odds: 33-1
World Rank: 20th
Field Rank: 6th
Last Six: 24, 43, MC, MC, 31, 17
8. Ian Poulter
Poulter’s play at the end of the season was not quite commensurate with what he did mid-year, when he won the Houston Open, and posted two other top-7 finishes within a month, but he was mostly his usual dynamic self for the winning European squad at the Ryder Cup, a week which culminated with a victory over World No. 1 Dustin Johnson in Sunday singles.
The Englishman played reasonably well at Nine Bridges last year, finishing T15, with three of his four rounds ending under par. If his approach game stays as formidable as it did in the 2018 season, he could do even better this week.
Odds: 50-1
World Rank: 35th
Field Rank: 14th
Last Six: 51, MC, 48, 31, 10, 12
7. Cameron Smith
The streaky Australian shot three rounds of 70 or better in Jeju Island last year, finishing solo-third at 8-under-par. Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell exactly where his game is at coming into this year’s version.
The 25-year-old runs very hot-and-cold, which we saw at the end of the year when he chased back-to-back third place finishes with a T65 at the BMW Championship (out of 70 golfers) and solo-20th (out of 30) at the Tour Championship.
He started the new season among the favorites to win in Malaysia, but while going 16-under-par and shooting all four rounds under 60 sounds impressive, it only got him to T22 in the low-scoring field. We expect to see a more consistent version of Smith this year, and think it could easily begin this week, a time of the year he normally plays well.
Odds: 28-1
World Rank: 32nd
Field Rank: 12th
Last Six: 22, 20, 65, 3, 3, 56
6. Sungjae Im
Im, who was the No. 1 money-earner on the Web.com Tour last year will be popular in gambling and fantasy circles this week, given that he is a native of Jeju Island, and is presumably conversant with Nine Bridges.
At 20 years of age, he might be lacking experience in PGA Tour events, but that did not seem to negatively affect him much at the recent Safeway Open, where he finished T4, just one stroke out of the playoff that was eventually won by Kevin Tway. He drove and putted tremendously at Silverado, which led to being third in the field in birdies.
Odds: 40-1
World Rank: 98th
Field Rank: 42nd
Last Six: 4, 43, 16, 51, 1, 42
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