Battle of the bridges takes?

[wadea]

Anyone here have a good take on the Battle of the Bridges tonight? Best-ball Woods/Daly vs. Mich/Goose. Besides the obvious edge of having Tiger on the team, I think I like Woods/Daly for a couple of reasons:
1. When it comes to making birdies and eagles, which is important in best-ball, I think Woods/Daly will make more. Daly will probably also contribute a few triple-bogeys, but it won't matter.
2. Based on my memory of past similar events, I don't feel like Phil "gets up" for these events. He seems VERY casual and almost like he's not trying.

If anyone else has a take on this event, I'd be interested to hear it.

-w.a.

[WackityWhiz]

Well, as much as I'd like to bet on tiger, and the price is great (-101 @ pinnacle)... this line leads me to think that pinnacle wants the action on tiger.

Pinnacle scares me with their lines, and I usually bite on the bad ones [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I'd like to hear other responses cuz I'd like to bet on Tiger, but from the look of it, the smart money is on Phil

[THWAP!]

i've been thinking about it. i'm leaning towards mickelson/goosen. one thing that is somewhat a factor is that daly played in europe yesterday, so it's highly unlikely that daly will show up with his A game. though best ball somewhat covers that up, i don't think that m/g are exactly slouches at making birdies.

last night, the lines looked around even. i haven't checked today

[wadea]

I read the blurb on the event at pgatour.com. Goosen also played the event in Germany. Although he missed the cut, I'll bet his travel plans were already made, meaning he'll have the same travel disadvantage as Daly. Also, it turns out the course is only a few miles from Michelson's home. I don't know how frequently he plays it, but it would be reasonable to assume he has at least some "course knowledge" advantage over the other players. When you're talking about PGA pros, though, the only time that probably makes a meaningful difference in on the greens (and perhaps approach shot placement). I also wonder if having the event near Lefty's home might inspire him to play well in front of the hometown crowd.

Your thoughts...anyone?

-w.a.

[THWAP!]

i didn't know that about goosen, thanks for the heads up. re: what i said earlier, it only mitigates, but doesn't entirely wipe out the daly-travel disadvantage (think: goosen at least got to chill for two days, and may have made alternate travel arrangements).

i factored in the home course thing. of course, the harder i think about it, the more i think it's actually a pretty big advantage. the reason is that knowledge of approaches, greens, and other course knicknacks wouldn't help only mick; he'll likely share that knowledge with goose. (i'm under the impression that mickelson is actually pretty familiar with this course) all in all, i'm going to see in the next few hours what action there is, but i'm likely going to go with m/g still.

[scott8]

I have gone to this event a few times and can offer a few things which have not been mentioned:

1. Fat Phil is a member of the Bridges and is seen golfing often during the off-season at the club.

2. The event has always had a corporate feel - as far as I know no tickets are made available to the public.

3. The crowd is always pro-Phil, but still polite and corportate.

4. Last year Woods smoked Phil.

5. I see this event as the equivalent of wagering on an exhibition game - tough to tell what kind of game you are going to get.

Good Luck and hope some of this helps.

[ctv1116]

I think the fact that Mickleson is a member at this club makes him the favorite.

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
I think the fact that Mickleson is a member at this club makes him the favorite.

[/ QUOTE ]

i think the fact that Tiger Woods is Tiger woods has to make him the favorite.

[ctv1116]

Tiger is Tiger, but Mickleson has always been a shotmaker (even better than Tiger) whose only criticism was that he took too many risks. Four ball eliminates the risks. Alas, I didn't put any money on it, so I'm not putting my money where my mouth is.