Quicken Loans National
Tournament: Quicken Loans National
Date: July 30 - August 2
Venue: Robert Trent Jones Golf Club
Location: Gainesville, VA
The golfers now head to Gainesville, VA for one of the fresher tournaments on TOUR, the Quicken Loans National, formally the AT&T National, which has been held annually since the 2007 season. The event is one of five during the year with “invitational status” and will feature 120 participants as Tigers Woods and his Tiger Woods Foundation host at the par-71, 7,385-yard course which has been the site of four President’s Cup tourneys between 1994 and 2005.
The field this year is very top-heavy with three top-15 players in No. 7 Justin Rose, No. 8 Rickie Fowler and No. 14 Jimmy Walker making the trek and they are joined by No. 30 Bill Haas from the top-30 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Also making his way to the course will be Ollie Schniederjans who is making his pro debut after being the No. 1 amateur in the world and ranking 12th with a score of nine-under-par at the Open just a few weeks ago.
As with most of the non-major PGA events, plenty of Americans have won here in the past with Tiger Woods winning his own tournament on two separate occasions (2009, 2012). Most of the other installments of this tourney have finished with a fairly low score, the best outing being a score of 13-under twice; once by Tiger Woods (2009) and once by Nick Watney (2011).
The outlier here is Englishman Justin Rose, who took the trophy twice, including last year when he won with the lowest score (-4) since the inception of the tournament. He won in a playoff over Scott Piercy as the event was obviously tough with a mere 10 golfers posting red numbers at week’s end.
As the FedEx Cup season begins to near its end, it is more important than ever to perform and be in the top-125 at the conclusion of the regular season in four weeks, so let’s take a look through the visitors of Robert Trent Jones Golf Club and see who has a chance at cashing a big check.
Golfers to Bet
Rickie Fowler (17/2): There really isn’t too many top tier golfers going in this one with the fourth and fifth players in terms of odds being rookies and that bodes well for Fowler, who has upped his game to an elite level. He has won at both the PLAYERS Championship and the Scottish Open in 2015 and has proven to be one of the best players in the world with his performances at the Majors. The 26-year-old will not blow you away in any one area of his game, but he ranks in the top-50 in driving distance (295.3 yards per, 45th on TOUR), total driving (104, 10th on TOUR), sand save percentage (56.8%, 35th on TOUR) and overall putting average (1.576, 22nd on TOUR). What has really changed about the flamboyant and uber-talented golfer is his ability to close out tournaments and if he has some strokes on the field come Sunday, look for him to take down the trophy.
Tony Finau (35/1): It seems like it is just a matter of time before Finau is a winner on TOUR and Vegas has noticed. He crushes the ball an average of 308.9 yards per drive (6th on TOUR) behind an amazing swing speed of 124.05 MPH (2nd on TOUR). Putting the ball further than most has aided in ranking 32nd in strokes gained from tee-to-green (0.675) and that is allowing him to move up the ranking as he sits in 40th in the FedEx Cup standings while setting himself up to jump into the top-100 of the OWGR with a nice outing. Finau has been tearing up the courses of late with a top-25 finish in eight of his last nine events and he is coming off a Sunday 66 which vaulted him to 22nd at the RBC Canadian Open this past week. His putting, which overall ranks as one of the weaker parts of his game, has been better than the field in three of the past four tournaments, and if he can keep that up, his strong play should continue.
John Senden (70/1): It isn’t so much the entire body of work that Senden has put together this year that gets him a spot here, but rather his consistent play of late which has earned him a visit to the weekend in six of the last seven events; ranking in the top-15 three times during that stretch. His experience will also aid him against a pretty weak field this week as the two-time TOUR winner most recently won in 2014 and has proven he can still be amongst the best in the game with a 14th at the U.S. Open, an eighth at the PLAYERS and a tie for fifth at the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championships. Senden does not have the length off the tee (288.3 yards per, 107th on TOUR) that others do, but his accuracy (67.5%, 33rd on TOUR) and ability to hit greens (68.1% GIR, 55th on TOUR) should allow him to do well at this Robert Trend Jones course.
Cameron Tringale (80/1): At the age of 27, Tringale has yet to earn a win on the PGA TOUR, but he has had a successful career and has finished in the top-100 of the FedEx Cup standings during each of the past five seasons. Last year was his best, finishing 20th in the standings, and he has continued the solid performances in 2015 with one runner-up and three other top-25s while making 16-of-23 cuts (70%). The Georgia Tech alum consistently puts balls in the fairway (67.7%, 29th on TOUR) and is better than most with a sand save percentage of 53.4% (65th on TOUR). Tringale will have his time in the limelight someday, and this type of event is perfect with the field less than stellar, so look for him to do well after making it to the weekend.
Stephen Gallacher (170/1): Although Gallacher has fallen off of late with missed cuts at both the U.S. Open and the Open Championship, he knows how to win with three European Tour victories in his career as he has jumped up to 67th in the OWGR. He is hitting the ball further (299.9 yards per) than he has in any year since 2011, and although his accuracy (55.2%) has taken a hit, he makes up for it with 1.68 putts per hole. At the age of 40, Gallacher is certainly a long shot to grab his first PGA TOUR win, but his odds do not reflect his talent and this Scottish player should have no issues outplaying plenty of the youngsters heading to Gainseville this week.
Odds to win Quicken Loans National -
Justin Rose 15/2
Rickie Fowler 17/2
Jimmy Walker 29/2
Justin Thomas 24/1
Bill Haas 35/1
Danny Lee 35/1
Tony Finau 35/1
Brendan Steele 45/1
Gary Woodland 45/1
Tiger Woods 45/1
Daniel Summerhays 50/1
Harris English 50/1
Jason Bohn 50/1
Johnson Wagner 50/1
Russell Knox 50/1
Shawn Stefani 50/1
Steven Bowditch 50/1
Will Wilcox 50/1
Andy Sullivan 60/1
David Lingmerth 60/1
Pat Perez 60/1
John Senden 70/1
Kevin Chappell 70/1
Patrick Rodgers 70/1
George McNeill 75/1
James Hahn 75/1
Nick Watney 75/1
Adam Hadwin 80/1
Cameron Tringale 80/1
Daniel Berger 80/1
Ollie Schniederjans 80/1
Scott Langley 80/1
Scott Pinckney 80/1
Stewart Cink 80/1
Brendon de Jonge 90/1
Carl Pettersson 90/1
Chad Campbell 90/1
Chris Stroud 90/1
Andres Romero 100/1
Retief Goosen 100/1
Seung-Yul Noh 100/1
Camilo Villegas 110/1
Charles Howell III 110/1
Martin Laird 110/1
William McGirt 110/1
Sean O 'Hair 120/1
Bryce Molder 130/1
Ricky Barnes 130/1
Brian Stuard 140/1
Jonas Blixt 140/1
Tim Clark 140/1
Bo Van Pelt 150/1
Chesson Hadley 150/1
Erik Compton 150/1
Mark Wilson 150/1
Vaughn Taylor 150/1
Greg Owen 160/1
Hudson Swafford 160/1
Jason Kokrak 160/1
Michael Putnam 160/1
Scott Brown 160/1
Chad Collins 170/1
Ernie Els 170/1
Jhonattan Vegas 170/1
Luke Guthrie 170/1
Sangmoon Bae 170/1
Stephen Gallacher 170/1
Colt Knost 180/1
K.J. Choi 180/1
Vijay Singh 200/1
Cameron Percy 210/1
Jim Herman 210/1
Jonathan Byrd 210/1
Ryo Ishikawa 210/1
Aaron Baddeley 220/1
Alex Prugh 220/1
Angel Cabrera 220/1
J.J. Henry 220/1
Jeff Overton 220/1
John Peterson 220/1
Michael Thompson 220/1
Robert Garrigus 220/1
Sam Saunders 220/1
Zac Blair 220/1
Andres Gonzales 230/1
Ben Crane 250/1
Billy Hurley III 250/1
Blayne Barber 250/1
Carlos Ortiz 250/1
Charlie Beljan 250/1
Fabian Gomez 250/1
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano 250/1
Jason Gore 250/1
John Huh 250/1
John Merrick 250/1
Jon Curran 250/1
Martin Flores 250/1
Spencer Levin 250/1
Steve Wheatcroft 250/1
Tom Gillis 250/1
Brian Davis 300/1
Ken Duke 300/1
Justin Leonard 350/1
Troy Merritt 350/1
Nicholas Thompson 400/1
Whee Kim 400/1
Jonathan Randolph 450/1
Mark Hubbard 450/1
Tim Wilkinson 450/1
Andrew Svoboda 500/1
Arjun Atwal 500/1
Brice Garnett 500/1
Daniel Chopra 500/1
Gunn Yang 500/1
Kyle Reifers 500/1
Max Homa 500/1
Nick Taylor 500/1
Richard Sterne 500/1
Robert Allenby 500/1
S.J. Park 500/1
