Mahan - likes links golf.

By Dave Tindall

BETTING BOX
FIXED ODDS
	1.5pts e.w. Hunter Mahan at 40/1 (Ladbrokes, Stan James 1/4 1,2,3,4,5).	Some very promising form here for the past three years and likes golf by the sea.
	1.5pts e.w. Nick Watney at 50/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4,5).	Pebble is his favourite course and has plenty of form there. Fifth at Mercedes.
	1pt e.w. Jonathan Byrd at 50/1 (General 1/4 1,2,3,4,5).	Good early season form and third on last appearance here in 2006.
	1pt e.w. Ryan Moore at 80/1 (Betfred, Ladbrokes 1/4 1,2,3,4,5).	Fifth in first west coast pro-am of 2008 and excited about season now fully fit.

Only Vijay Singh has managed to stop the US dominance at the venue where most American golfers would like to play their final round before dropping dead.

So it makes plenty of sense to get with the home players in this week's annual running of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula.

Singh was in the form of his life and about to embark on a nine-win season when he triumphed in 2004 but before that there wasn't an overseas winner in sight and since then we've had three more US victors.

Phil Mickelson has won two of the last three runnings since Singh's win and his second place in Phoenix last week will make him a very warm order to spark another family album shot on Pebble's picturesque 18th green.

But Lefty has only ever followed up a second place with a win twice in 20 attempts so the feeling that 4/1 is plenty short enough has statistical back-up too.

So let's have a play on another Californian at 10 times the price.

Hunter Mahan made giant strides in 2007, with a win in the Travelers Championship helping him onto the US Presidents Cup team.

A sixth in the Open championship at Carnoustie was another superb effort and, in terms of this week, showed his ability to play links golf.

Mahan missed the cut in Phoenix last week but that shouldn't be a worry and he already has a top five to his name this season after finishing fifth at the season-opening Mercedes Championship in Hawaii - another tournament played in windy conditions by the ocean.

The best predictor of whether he can play well here, of course, is his past record in the event and there are plenty of encouraging signs.

In 2005 he opened with an excellent 65 at Pebble before finishing 39th, in 2006 he improved to 14th and a solid closing 69 on the famous links last year left him tied 16th.

A fine driver of the ball, Mahan is top of the greens in regulation stats in 2008 and just needs to get his putter working a bit better.

If he does the 40/1 could look very nice.

Another Californian gets my second vote - Nick Watney.

Watney says Pebble Beach is his favourite course and he can't play there often enough.

As well as entering this tournament, he also takes part in the Callaway Golf Pebble Beach Invitational - held in November each year - and won that event in 2005.

He shot a 65 at Pebble in the 2007 running and that seems to be something of a magic number for him in the real US Tour event.

He's opened with 65s in this tournament for the last two years and in 2006 carried his effort through to finish seventh.

This year he's already finished fifth in the Mercedes while he shot a 66 and three 71s in Phoenix to give himself a nice warm-up for his favourite week of the year.

Add in a fine record on his native west coast, some good performances in pro-ams and last year's Zurich Classic of New Orleans winner can give us a good run for our money at 50/1.

Recent pro-am wins for D.J. Trahan, Charley Hoffman and George McNeill (all Americans by the way) show that you don't have to be a gnarled veteran to deal with the slow, relaxed pace and banter of this format.

So two other Americans with youth on their side can also go well.

Jonathan Byrd turned 30 at the end of January and looks to have his best years ahead of him despite already being a three-time US Tour winner.

He's started 2008 with top 15s in the Mercedes and last week's FBR Open and makes his first Pebble Beach start since finishing third there in 2006.

Byrd's putting makes him a threat when the other parts of his game are functioning well and the put in plenty of hard work in the off-season.

It hasn't all quite come together yet but he looks on the verge of a big performance and holds good credentials for a 50/1 shot.

Ryan Moore said recently that he's in the best condition he has ever been in at the start of the season and is excited about his prospects for 2008.

Injury has hampered him for the last two seasons after he banked his US Tour card in just eight starts at the end of the 2005 campaign but anyone who watched him in his amateur days will know the boy is a bit special.

Moore has three times finished runner-up on Tour so despite the feeling that he's been a bit of a disappointment he's actually done quite well given his injury problems.

Notably, he's already made the top five in the first west coast pro-am this season - a fifth in the Bob Hope - and he was tied 19th at Pebble last year after shooting three good rounds and one poor one (69-76-70-66).

Missed cuts - due to poor first rounds - in his last two events mean Moore is 80/1 here instead of 50s but if he can get away to a decent start he can play a part in the finish and push again for that first US Tour win.