Zurich Classic of New Orleans Preview – Watson aiming to retain crown

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Bubba Watson (credit: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Newly-crowned US Masters champion Bubba Watson will look to defend his Zurich Classic of New Orleans title this week.

Watson (14/1 Tournament Outright @ Betfred) was a popular winner at Augusta after finally proving that there is more than one way to play the game. His unorthodox methods will not be found in any coaching manual as he rarely hits the ball straight and can seemingly bend it round walls. But the Arizona resident held his nerve to win the year’s first major and will be looking to make it back-to-back wins after claiming the title at TPC of Louisiana 12 months ago.

The 33-year-old has never really challenged at the majors and his Masters victory was just his third top 10 in any of the big-four events. But away from the big four the talented left-hander has won four events in the past two years and is a regular fixture in top 10s on tour. He has four top 10 finishes already this season and never finished outside the top 20 and, while winning consecutive tournaments is notoriously difficult to do, a decent finish seems almost inevitable (Watson 5/4 Top 10 Finish).

Luke Donald enjoyed his best-ever season last year and it was always going to be hard to replicate his incredible consistency, but the Englishman would not have expected to experience the dip in form that he has suffered. The 34-year-old has won this year with a superb victory in the Transitions Championship but he has managed only one top 10 elsewhere and a share of 32nd place at the Masters is his next best effort.

But Donald can never be written off as a potential winner as his talent is obvious once everything clicks into place and it would be no surprise to see the Hemel Hempstead-born star win this week and return to the top of the rankings (Donald 2/1 Top European).

This week’s field is considerably stronger than last week and has England’s Justin Rose back in the line-up. He has not played since finishing in a tie for eighth at the Masters and will be looking to add to the WGC – Cadillac Championship title he claimed just a few weeks back. The 31-year-old is now firmly established as one of the stars of the PGA Tour and is in decent form with three top 10s this year. He now seems to have the confidence and experience to go with bundles of talent and a world ranking of 10 is no coincidence.

Steve Stricker (25/1 Outright) finished way down the field at Augusta but is rarely away from the business end of the leaderboard and looks set for another big week in the Big Easy. The one drawback for the veteran is his fitness as he continues to struggle with a neck injury, but, at the top of his game, there is no reason why the 45-year-old will not challenge for his ninth title in three years this week.

There are some big names at decent prices set to participate in the Deep South with the likes of Graeme McDowell (33/1), Nick Watney (33/1) and Ernie Els (40/1) set for an outing. The South African tried desperately to get into the Masters but just came up short although he has shown a great deal of fighting spirit this year that could lead to another win at some stage of the campaign – and it would be fitting for the man nicknamed ‘The Big Easy’ to do it in New Orleans. He has three top 10 finishes under his belt already and looks hungry for more, having not landed the spoils stateside in more than two years.

Matt Every is a player running into form and represents decent value at 60/1 after back-to-back top 10s. He finished in a tie for second at last week’s Texas Open and, despite never having won on the PGA Tour, could be dark horse to claim an event sooner rather than later.

This looks a strong field as the top players return after their post-Masters break and it should be a cracking contest with Donald looking to bounce back to form and prove that class is permanent.

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