Southern Farm Bureau Classic preview: More potential winners than you can shake a 9-iron at

Interest in this event is pretty rock bottom. The money in the winner market is barely in the tens of thousands and it’s not exactly captured the imagination of the world’s press either.

Look at what happened at San Antonio last week and think it could happen here too as the dash for qualifying cash gathers pace. To add to the confusion, it’s not quite the same course as last year because the greens have been changed to Bermuda grass. making them flatter, firmer and faster.

I’m going to leave this one well alone at this stage. The fact that the favourite opened in the 30s and is still priced in the mid-20s suggests how wide open it is. Even finding a low-priced lay is hard: Bo van Pelt. who hasn’t been doing much of anything recently, would be my top candidate.

The doubt about favourite Shaun Micheel is that, although he has the form on paper, his T50 last week doesn’t look too hot coming off his matchplay defeat the week before. Still, he did come fifth here last year.

The defending champion Heath Slocum has missed the cut in his last two events so I’ll certainly give him a miss, but I will keep an eye on Charley Hoffman, who seems to be winding up to some kind of crescendo with a 19 and a T8 in his last two outings.

But the biggest interest for me is how the latest find, Anthony Kim, performs after last week’s stunning second place in his PGA Tour debut. He’s clearly got the market on the run as he’s priced at less than 100. That’s hardly stunning value for what is still a highly speculative punt, even as a trade.