Ginn sur Mer Classic preview: A wet walk spoiled?

There’s not much danger of wildfires at Port St Lucie this week; quite the reverse. While dry winds have been fanning the flames over in California, it’s been a soggy time in Florida, to the point where officials are considering allowing players to lift, clean and place for the first two rounds. The conditions have made the fairways gluey and the rough gripping.

The players don’t seem at all happy with the course, complaining that it’s a very long and muddy walk. They should just concentrate on not spoiling it, and to do that it looks like they’ll need a pretty all-round game. There is certainly some distance to be covered, but many of the fairways have also been narrowed and more than one player has already remarked on the horrors that lie in the Bermuda rough.

Looking at the top of the betting most look pretty useful. My only concerns with Lucas Glover are that he’ll be a bit loose after a three-week layoff, and his stats don’t exactly cry winner. But he was in pretty fine form at the Presidents Cup and he needs the money to work his a way into the top 30 for automatic Major qualification.

Sean O’Hair did enough last week to suggest he might be hitting form again - a couple of really bad holes at the end of windy Sunday did for him last week, but he still ended a shot off the day’s best round. The main worry is his wayward driving.

With 13-1-6 in his last three outings, Justin Leonard has to be respected, although his stats are not that glowing. And Carl Pettersson’s numbers are even duller - he’s bottom half in everything except putting. But they might have been skewered by last Sunday’s battle with the wind which seemed to hit him hard. Perhaps we should be remembering the bogey-free 33 holes that preceded it. It’s likely to be a bit windy again this week but nothing like that Sunday - and he too could do with the cash to make the top 30.

So too could Heath Slocum, sitting with Pettersson just outside the zone. He’s not the world’s longest driver but he’s accurate and is playing well with his irons and putter.

The stats suggest we should also look out for Mathias Gronberg, only just inside the membership safety zone, Robert Allenby, who missed the cut last week but boasts the second best all-round figures, Kent Jones, who is a little under $200,000 short of the safety zone, and Ryan Armour, again just barely holding onto his PGA card.

Everyone also says this is Joe Durant’s time of year - certainly hasn’t been up to now but he’s another that is withing striking distance of safety. Daisuke Maruyama has a slightly bigger task to make it, but his sixth place last week suggests he has a good idea how to achieve it.