The Greenbrier Classic 2017: A quartet of first round darts

It's a particularly tough weather forecast for us to decipher this week in America. There's a bit more wind forecast for tomorrow afternoon but there's also a good possibility of thunderstorms at various stages so exactly when rounds will be completed is anyone's guess. There's also those fabled calms before storms and after storms to take into account so I think it's probably best to disregard the weather entirely and throw this week's first round darts anywhere on the leaderboard...

And the first dart is aimed at the world's no.1 rated amateur Joaquin Niemann, who appears to have again slipped into the field under the radar, without too much interest. The supremely talented Chilean missed the cut at the recent US Open, but is very, very good. Seriously good, the real deal.

Andrew Loupe staggered us all by managing to get around 72 holes at TPC Pontomac last week relatively unscathed. The wild-off-the-tee, huge-hitting birdie machine has a fantastic first round record over the last couple of years and I'm choosing to take last week as a sign he's ready to post some juicy first round numbers once more. Loupe was 26th here on the only other occasion he's tee'd it up (2014).

Grayson Murray's golf game has really impressed me in recent weeks. Following a terrible spell of missed cuts, he's now made five in a row and his birdie streaks - assisted by his power hitting - have made him a bit of a Draft Kings staple. His game looks perfect for a few FRL bets over the next season or two.

Finally, It's a welcome return for Patrick Rodgers to the column; he's going to qualify for The Open this week and I'm going to follow him round Royal Birkdale for a bit; so he might as well get off to a good start in round one.

Recommended Bets
Back Joaquin Niemann @ 250/1
Back Andrew Loupe @ 150/1
Back Grayson Murray @ 90/1
Back Patrick Rodgers @ 66/1