Just a few weeks ago, who would have guessed that South Africa's Trevor Immelman would headline the field at a PGA Tour event.
Well, winning the Masters will do that, and Immelman now is one of the big names playing this week at the Byron Nelson Championship in Texas. And don't rule out Immelman winning this week - he finished runner-up at the Nelson in 2006. He is the second betting favorite to win at +750 on WagerWeb.com.
Scott Verplank (+1700) is the defending champion of this event, and he has five top-10s at this tournament.
In 2007, Verplank edged Luke Donald, who hasn't finished worse than tied for 19th the last four years at the Nelson and has played his last 12 rounds in Dallas without a score above 69. Donald (+1000 on WagerWeb.com) is currently second behind Tiger Woods in the PGA Tour's scoring average statistic (69.40).
Dallas native Justin Leonard (+2300) could make some noise this week. He hasn't missed a cut in 11 starts this year and has four top 10s to show for his efforts. He holds a share of the course record 61 at TPC Four Seasons/Los Colinas and also won in Texas last year in San Antonio.
A sleeper could be another Texas native, Chad Campbell (+1900). He has never missed the cut in six Byron Nelsons - finishing tied for 13th and fifth the past two years - and almost won his last outing in the Lone Star State (T-2 at Houston Open).
That said, only three Texans have won this event – Ben Crenshaw (1983), Billy Ray Brown (1992) and Verplank.Rory Sabbatini (+1500) was third here last year and has a good record in Texas events: He has two top-3 finishes this season.
One thing is for certain: There won't be a back-to-back winner on Tour this week. World No. 23 Boo Weekley, coming off a victory at the Verizon Heritage last week, has withdrawn from the Byron Nelson.
The Nelson, for a third consecutive year, is without Tiger Woods, the world's top-ranked golfer. It's also without eight other top-10 golfers, leaving No. 10 Adam Scott as the top-ranked player.
Scott (the WagerWeb.com favorite at +600) was planning to take two weeks off after a disappointing tie for 25th at the Masters, but he made a last-minute commitment to play this week. It will be only his second appearance in the event after almost winning in his first visit - he tied for third in 2006. Scott was tied for the 54-hole lead with Immelman, but Brett Wetterich surged past both of them with a 68 to claim his first PGA Tour victory.
Other than Immelman, five other 2008 tournament winners are teeing it up this week. Overall, the field will offer 27 of the top 50 players in the FedExCup standings.
Lastly, the Las Colinas course has had a $10 million facelift since last year, and should be more challenging as well as being more visually stimulating. So expect scores to be a bit worse this year. It will be the first time since 1993 that the tournament has been held on only one course.
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