REMEMBER the World Golf Championship? Once a pointed response to Greg Norman’s first attempt to start a world tour, then a project designed to take elite golf around the world, it has always been a fishy project, one that the PGA Tour was always a bit quarter-never-mind-half-hearted about and it has limped into 2022.

The WGC Dell Match Play? Well, yes, that event still trundles on, albeit with a format that satisfies no-one. The WGC HSBC Champions? Not been seen for a while due to COVID. The WGC Stroke Play thingymajig that took place either in Florida or Mexico? Quietly smothered.

And so to the WGC Invitational, once played at Firestone and then TPC Southwind. It sort of still exists, in that they are still playing at the latter. But the WGC element has been ditched and it is reborn as part one of the FedExCup Playoffs. 125 golfers start the week, one will lift the trophy and 70 will progress to next week. From there only 30 will make it to the Tour Championship at the end of the month.

And the ultimate prize? Money, money, money. Lots of it. Oodles of it. Enough money to fund the overthrowing of a small nation’s government and the rebuilding of the infrastructure afterwards. But less cash than most of those playing LIV Golf have slipped inside their back pockets in recent weeks. Just remember, there is always someone better off than yourself – and they’re swinging a golf club while giving off vibes that they’re struggling to pay the heating bills.

Each Way – Sam Burns at 33/1

In recent years Southwind has been dominated by high quality performers. Daniel Berger won back-to-back in 2016/17, Dustin Johnson won there for a second time in 2018, Brooks Koepka succeeded him, Justin Thomas prevailed in 2020 and Abraham Ancer triumphed last year. Before then, it was a course that suited specialists – golfers who tended to shine at other blustery tracks with Bermuda grass greens. Guys like Ben Crane, Harris English, Brian Gay and Justin Leonard.

That latter factor leads me to Sam Burns who has played much of his best golf in those kind of conditions. He’s a double winner at Innisbrook, has emerged triumphant at Jackson and he has top 10s at Harbour Town, Memorial Park and Bay Hill. He was also involved in the play-off at this event last year and he’s already proved in his brief career on the PGA Tour that when he returns to courses he has enjoyed in the past he can repeat the good form. At first glance his form looks to have tailed off recently but he did sign off the Open with a round of 64.

He noted last year that the greens at Southwind are small which also bodes well after his victory earlier this summer at Colonial. That course does not have Bermuda on the greens, but the putting surfaces are undoubtedly small. This looks like a good chance for the American to breakthrough at elite level.

Each Way – Matt Fitzpatrick at 18/1

I want to get one of the favourites on-board and most like the look of Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick who will have had time to get over his visit home and the hoo-ha that will have accompanied his US Open triumph in June.

Back in 2019 he led the field by two shots at halfway here and said: “I think the golf course probably suits me a little bit more than most. If you miss a fairway, you don’t know how it’s going to come out of the rough, so that makes it tougher. So if I keep hitting fairways and greens, like I tend to, then you give yourself a lot of chances. And like I say, the greens are so pure here. It’s hard not to putt well on them, they’re unbelievable. I would say they’re probably the best we play on all year bar Augusta.”

He eventually finished fifth that week and added sixth a year later. And of course he’s been on fire throughout 2022, missing just three cuts in 15 starts, finishing 21^st or better in those 12 other events, including nine top 10s.

Each Way – Anirban Lahiri at 200/1

A key feature of Southwind is the Zoysia grass on the fairways. It is a curious grass that the balls sits high on, a little like fake grass. It favours sweepers of the ball over those who strike a sharp descending blow. Koepka is on record as saying that even Dustin Johnson fits that bill, but it tends to be rather more apt for the likes of Leonard and Gay.

Asian golfers are used to dealing with balls that need to be swept off the turf and India’s Anirban Lahiri has an excellent record in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia in particular. He started off 2022 in fine fettle with a series of strong results, the most notable of which was second in THE PLAYERS Championship and sixth in the Wells Fargo Championship. He hit a rocky patch, but eighth last week was a good sign and, although this week is his course debut, he makes appeal at a big price.