Barclays Singapore Open: Great Scott to make it four

Adam Scott, can he make it four?

Adam Scott bids to win his fourth Barclays Singapore Open and our man thinks he can. Read his preview for this week's European Tour event here...

Tournament History
First staged in 1961, the Barclays Singapore Open has been an Asian Tour event since the tours inception in 1995. Due to a lack of sponsorship, there was no event between 2002 and 2004 but it returned to the Asian Tour in 2005 as its biggest non co-sanctioned event with a prize fund of $2 million dollars. Since 2009 it's been co-sanctioned with the European Tour and this year it has a prize fund of $6 million, with the winner picking up $1 million.

In 2010 and 2011, the event was staged over two courses, the Serapong and the much easier Tanjong but the Tanjong has been dropped again this year and the Serapong will stage the event in its entirety.

Venue
The Serapong Golf Course, Sentosa Golf Resort, Sentosa Island, Singapore

Course Details
Par 71, 7372 yards
Stroke index in 2011 - 70.97
Designed by Ronald Fream, the Serapong was opened in 1982. In 2007, the course was redesigned by Gene Bates, with a new SubAir system installed on the Tiffeagle Bermuda greens, which this week will be running at 12'8" on the stimpmeter. The fairways are Zoysia grass and described as heavily bunkered and tight. There are two huge lakes on the course and the Singapore harbour makes for an impressive backdrop.

Useful Sites
Event Site
Course Details
Tee Times
Weather Forecast

TV Coverage
Live on Sky all four days, 5.00am on Thursday and Friday and 3.00am on Saturday and Sunday

Last Five Winners
2011 - Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano -14 (playoff - 54 hole tournament)
2010 - Adam Scott -17
2009 - Ian Poulter -10
2008 - Jeev Milkha Singh -7
2007 - Angel Cabrera -8

What will it take to win the Barclays Singapore Open?
It doesn't seem to particularly matter how you drive here. Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano was ranked outside the top-50 for Driving Accuracy last year and outside the top-25 for Driving Distance, as was Poulter in 2009. Hitting plenty of greens and scrambling well when you don't is more important but what you really need is a hot putter. The last three winners all ranked inside the top-five for Putting Average. Course experience is a big advantage, as is in all likelihood is an early draw on Thursday. And plenty of patience won't go amiss either.

Thunderstorms are commonplace in Singapore and they're again forecast on all four days this year. Getting in and beating the weather on Thursday on a pristine, perfectly prepared course could prove to be a huge advantage. The day one afternoon starters may well spend Thursday and Friday hanging about a lot. 

Market Leaders
Four men dominate the market this week and I can see why. For starters, it's impossible to dismiss the chances of favourite Rory McIlroy. The world number one is finishing the year off very nicely and on his only appearance here, back in 2008, he tied for 4th. 

Second favourite, Adam Scott, simply loves Sentosa and he's looking for his fourth win in the event on just his seventh start. He's also finished third twice. On his only other start he somehow missed the cut. He didn't defend last year because the event clashed with the Australian Open and he understandably chose to play in his homeland, but he described the decision to do so as "a tough call for me because I love this tournament and this golf course so much." He added, "It has always been a course that I have felt very comfortable on" 

The Barclays sponsored Phil Mickelson, who played well in the WGC HSBC Champions last week, when a pre-event pick at 27.026/1, will have his followers here but I'm not one of them.  Year after year he looks completely foxed by the tricky greens and I doubt very much he'd be here if it weren't for his sponsorship deal with tournament sponsors Barclays.

After leading by five at halfway last week, Louis Oosthuizen came up short when his putter went cold over the weekend and it was a similar story in this event when he made his debut 12 months ago. Ranked in the top-8 for both length and accuracy off the tee, as well as greens hit, had he putted better he would have finished higher than tied third. If he holds his form and putts well for the duration of the event, he's sure to contend but will he be able to lift himself so soon after last week's disappointment?

Selections
The cream usually rises to the top in this event and now that the Tanjong has been dispensed with and the field face four rounds around the much tougher Serapong, I can see that being the case again this time around. 

I wouldn't put anyone off backing Rory this week but at almost twice the price, I much prefer course specialist Adam Scott. I'm a little concerned that he hasn't putted brilliantly since his Open Championship defeat but given he's won the event three times from just six appearances and that he played well last week, I thought he was worth getting onside at 10.09/1. And thankfully he's since been assigned an early start on Thursday, whereas Rory has an afternoon tee-time on day one.

Michael Hoey appears a generous price again considering he's shown an aptitude to the venue. He opened up with a very respectable 67 around Serapong last year before climbing to fifth place with a round to go after shooting 66 in round two at Tanjong. He shot a very disappointing 74 in the third and final round to drop down to a tie for 23rd and it had been a similar story in 2010. After rounds of 69 (Serapong) and 67 he started the weekend in the top-15 but a poor weekend performance saw him slip outside the top-50. 

The last time we saw him was at the BMW Masters where he must have played very well to finish 11th. He ranked as high as 35th for putting but every time I saw him on the greens he was having no luck at all (or should I say he missed lots of short putts!).  Hoey's a multiple tour winner who could just be returning to form and 150.0149/1 was too big.

Now that I've seen the draw, I've added three more players that I've backed a few times of late - Bernd Wiesberger, James Morrison and Garth Mulroy but I must stress, they're very much modest just in-case bets.

Selections:
Adam Scott @ 10.09/1
Michael Hoey @ 150.0149/1
Bernd Wiesberger @ 75.074/1
James Morrison @ 180.0179/1
Garth Mulroy @ 230.0229/1

I'll be back later with a preview for the week's other event, the snappily named Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic.