St Jude Classic golf form guide: other candidates

OTHER CANDIDATES

CAMILO VILLEGAS Villegas has a couple of top 20s here, and remains a player I'm very keen on. He didn't do much last week though, and there are other courses where I'd prefer to back the Colombian this summer.

BO VAN PELT Bo presents the classic conundrum of whether to focus on recent, or course form. He can't be faulted at the moment, after five top tens, including four top fives, from his last six starts. On the other hand, he's missed all three cuts at Southwind to date.

IAN POULTER After a golden spell, Poulter appears to have gone off the boil with three very disappointing results on the spin. That makes him hard to fancy on this course debut.

KEVIN NA Na missed the cut on his sole visit to Southwind, but remains an imminent first-time winner. Moreover, these small greens should bring out the best in him.

JUSTIN LEONARD While he certainly is a course specialist, twice winning this title amongst five top-ten finishes, Leonard is hard to fancy on the basis of a poor season to date.

FREDRIK JACOBSEN Despite a couple of disappointments since finishing second in the Texas Open, Jacobsen remains one to keep an eye on. He made the shortlist having finished inside the top six here three times earlier this century.

RETIEF GOOSEN A best of 29th from three tries suggests that this isn't Goosen's ideal set-up, and he generally seems to have become very hard to catch right. Nevertheless, he could plausibly feature at Pebble Beach next week.

RICKY BARNES Ricky is still looking for his first win, but must warrant consideration as he is bang in form. His last seven starts have yielded five top 25s, including four top tens.

SPENCER LEVIN Another player still looking for a first win, Levin has been playing well below the radar recently. In addition to a top ten in Texas, he was in contention at the Memorial until a poor final round. If he can eliminate that one fatal poor round, Levin could well pop up at a big price soon.

TOM PERNICE 50 year-old Pernice is my idea of the best value outsider. He's been in consistent form since starting out on the Champions Tour, and has plenty of good form at Southwind, a course where age is no barrier. Pernice was runner-up here in 2006, and has made the top 20 on four of his last six visits. A top ten at Colonial shows he is still competitive against the younger men.   2010 STATS: -44pts   LONG-TERM ALREADY ADVISED   5pts MARTIN KAYMER TO WIN THE RACE TO DUBAI @ 9/1   20pts TIGER WOODS TO WIN EXACTLY TWO MAJORS @ 5/1 8pts TIGER WOODS TO WIN EXACTLY THREE MAJORS @ 14/1
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