Phoenix Open Matchup Betting: Rose vs Imada

Ryugi Imada, who has won one PGA Tour event in his career, was among the leaders after the first round of the Phoenix Open, firing a six-under par 65. he is tied for third place, three strokes behind red-hot leader Camilo Villegas, who shot a course record 62.

Imada rebounded from bogeys at the 5th and 7th holes to post six birdies the rest of the way, with a sizzling 31 on the back nine. He required only 24 putts on the day.

Second Round-- Phoenix Open
February 26, Scottsdale, AZ
JUSTIN ROSE -145
RYUJI IMADA +115

Amada is a former college star at the University of Georgia who is capable of playing lights-out; in U.S. Open qualifying he once shot a 29 over nine holes. He has performed well at the Open, with finishes in the top fifteen in both 2005 and 2006. He won at the AT&T Classic in a playoff in 2008, beating Kenny Perry, who came to Phoenix this year as the defending champion.

The 150-pounder is not an especially long or even accurate hitter, which offers questions as to whether he can go four rounds strong. Indeed he's had difficulties putting four good rounds together in one week. In his first three tournament appearances this year he has been very sharp in the first round, shooting scores of 68 (Sony Open), 67 (Bob Hope Classic) and 65 (Farmers Insurance), but he slipped 3-4 strokes in the second round of each of those events. At the Farmers he held the lead in the third round but shot a 75 on the final round.

Last year at TPC Scottsdale he failed to make the cut, as a first-round score of 75 made it impossible to recover. The year before he had a 75 and withdrew. His best finish at the Phoenix Open (then the FBR) was a tie for 14th in 2007, and consistency was the key for him, as he shot four rounds in the 60s.

Justin Rose is tied with Amada at 6-under. The Brit bogeyed par-4's at the first and last hole, but nailed eight birdies without a bogey in between, driving the ball an average of 292 yards. Rose has always been known as a young man who could rise to the occasion of playing on the biggest stages; in fact, he has finished in the top ten of all four major championships. His best finish this year was in the first tournament, the Sony Open, where he was tied for 12th place.

Even though he was one of the top drivers on the tour in the early going, Rose nonetheless says that on impulse, he changed over to a new driver, and that was a big factor in bringing him the result, as was the fact that he's gone back to the drawing board in a sense over the last couple of weeks after a disappointing finish in the Northern Trust Open. He would have played in the Accenture Match Play tournament, except that recent performances had him ranked 76th, too low to even get him into the 64-man field.

He sought to turn things around in his career and capture that elusive first win in the States, and that was a motivation behind coming and playing early in America instead of doing so overseas. A lot of that motivation also involves his eligibility to play for Europe in the next Ryder Cup, which is in jeopardy.