The World Challenge: Tiger to make it six, says The Punter

Tiger Woods, moments after winning here last year

Tiger Woods has a sparkling record in his own event - he's bidding to win it for the sixth time this week and our man thinks he's a great bet to do so...

Tournament History
The World Challenge has only been in existence since the year 2000, so this will be just the 13th staging of the event. It was initiated by Tiger Woods and it's a benefit gig for the Tiger Woods Foundation with an elite field of just 18.

Venue
Sherwood Country Club, Thousand Oaks, California

Course Details
Par 72, 7,027 yards
The Jack Nicklaus designed Sherwood Country Club has hosted the event since 2001. The inaugural tournament was staged at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale.

Sherwood is, by modern standards, a very short par 72 with Bentgrass fairways and Poa Annua greens. Set amongst the Santa Monica Mountains, it's a visually stunning venue.

Useful Sites
Course Site
Course Details
Course Tour
Weather Forecast

TV Coverage
Live on Sky all four days, 8.00pm on Thursday and Friday and 6.00pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Last Five Winners
2011 - Tiger Woods -10
2010 - Graeme McDowell - 16 (playoff)
2009 - Jim Furyk -13
2008 - Vijay Singh - 11
2007 - Tiger Woods - 22

What will it take to win the World Challenge?
With small, select fields and no tournament stats to analyse it isn't easy to highlight a player type to prosper but a look at the recent winners provides a few clues. Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk are both accurate types who can handle windy conditions and Zach Johnson has a decent record here too and he can certainly handle a bit of breeze. As of course, can multiple winner Tiger Woods.

Accurate iron-play tends to get rewarded. As the course speeds up through the week the greens get faster and playing to the right part of the greens is key. This is what runner-up, Zach Johnson had to say after the event last year, "You had to know where to land the ball and play appropriate spin, because the greens were a lot -- I mean, 9 was a perfect example for me. I hit it three feet from the hole and went over the green."

A bit of course experience goes a long way, Paul Casey had this to say twelve months ago, "I know where to hit it and where not it hit it around here, there's a lot of areas around this golf course, you get it on the wrong side and it's an impossible up-and-down or an impossible putt."

All things considered, although it's not a long track, it's clearly not a pushover and it's possibly not just a coincidence that the last three winners have all won the most demanding major - the US Open.

A lot depends on conditions though and with rain forecast in the lead up to Thursday and very little wind expected, Sherwood could be vulnerable to some very low scoring (Tiger Woods holds the course record of 62) and it may turn into a birdie-fest this year.

Market Leaders
Tiger Woods understandably heads the market at 4.03/1 and if anything, that looks generous. He's missed a couple of recent renewals (2008/09) because of injury so he's only actually played the event here on nine occasions and he's won five times!

Heaven knows what happened in 2005 when he trailed in 14th because on his three other starts he finished runner-up. And he was also second in the inaugural event at Grayhawk.

Last year's victory, when he swooped late to deny Zach Johnson, was a huge win for Woods as he hadn't won in over two years anywhere and it emphasized how well suited he is to Sherwood.

There's quite a scrap for second-favouritism, with the likes of Jason Dufner, Ian Poulter, and Jim Furyk all trading at around 15.5n/a. 

Poults has two top-6 finishes from two starts here but has been globe-trotting of late and must surely be jaded, and Dufner looks a risky play too, given that this is his first look at Sherwood. In addition to his victory here, Furyk has five other top-six finishes at Sherwood and has to be respected but he's had a torrid year in-contention and can't be trusted anymore. 

Selection
I was tempted by Zach and G-Mac, who both have some very good form here. Johnsons figures read 2-5-9-2 and McDowell has only been here twice, finishing second in 2009 before overturning Woods in a playoff twelve months later but like I have in South Africa, I'm playing just one form the off and that's Tiger Woods.

Tiger owns this event and had he not had his extra-marital misdemeanours, no doubt his name would still be emblazoned everywhere (it was formally known as the Tiger Challenge).  With an event strike rate of 50% and a course record of five wins and four seconds from ten starts, he clearly takes the tournament very seriously indeed and for me he's a very straightforward and confident pick.

I really can't see any negatives at all and I was more than happy with 4.03/1.

Selection:
Tiger Woods @ 4.03/1

I'll be back on Friday afternoon with the In-Play Blog, as the Nedbank Challenge reaches halfway.