One key piece of information is that the course was designed by Pete Dye and here's a useful description of it:

"Situated on 250 acres across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, TPC Louisiana was designed by a man who knows how to turn a site with limited topography into a beautiful and compelling test of golf. Pete Dye, who created the flagship layout for the PGA Tour, TPC Sawgrass, was called on again for another challenge.

"Dye worked in conjunction with Steve Elkington and Louisiana native Kelly Gibson to create a 7,300-yard, par-72 golf course that sits low on the property and utilizes natural vegetation, including numerous cypress trees."

As well as the comparisons to Sawgrass, TPC Louisana has the attributes of many Dye courses - smallish greens, undulating fairways and pot bunkers.

So with course form sparse on this specific layout, it may be a decent strategy to look at which players have popped up on the other Dye tracks used on the US Tour.

The others currently in use are Sawgrass (Players Championship), Hilton Head (Verizon Heritage) and River Highlands (Travelers Championship) while Mystic Rock (84 Lumber Classic) was used between 2003 and 2006 so also has some recent form to peruse.

Obviously those who don't buy into the theory that players do well on courses with similar traits might want to discard form from these other venues but I think it can provide some very useful info.

Stewart Cink's current form - 20-2-2-MC-3 - is enough to get him on the radar anyway but his record on Pete Dye courses suggests the 25/1 is good business.

Cink is a winner at Hilton Head, a winner at River Highlands (also a runner-up) and was third at Sawgrass last year.

Clearly, he's playing some of the best golf of his career so put him on a venue that suits his game and we should see more excellent results.

Cink hasn't actually played in the two runnings of this event at TPC Louisiana which is a slight negative but, to be honest, it's pretty unfamiliar to most in this field.

And those who are wary as to whether he can keep his hotstreak going should perhaps rewind to 2004 when he went 5-6-17-1-4-2 over an eight-week period.

The only difference between that run and this is a win but he's determined to put that right as soon as possible after throwing away victory in the PODS Championship and this should be a good chance for him to do so.

Zach Johnson said prior to Bay Hill that "everything is coming together nicely" so was disappointed to only finish in 54th in Arnold Palmer's event.

But it did click for him at Doral last week when he closed 67-68 to finish ninth. Johnson drove the ball well and scrambled superbly and that should stand him in good stead here.

And, as we can see, the Masters champ has a strong recent record on Pete Dye layouts. He's managed sixth (2005) and 12th (2007) in three appearances at Sawgrass and finished sixth on his debut at Hilton Head when out on his feet following his Augusta heroics.

Johnson can also boast third places at Mystic Rock and River Highlands in recent times and, of course, the win at Augusta National proved how strong he can be on second-shot courses which call for precision.

He'll want to build on that ninth place ahead of his defence of the green jacket and what better way of doing so than putting a win on the board.

Back Johnson, a proven winner, at 35/1.

We'll jump down the betting for pick number three.

Vaughn Taylor has definite ability having played in the last Ryder Cup and won twice on Tour.

He's ambitious too and expressed his hopes for 2008 last month by saying: "I'd like to win a couple times. You know, last year, I played well at the beginning of the year and then kind of struggled the second half.

"But I feel like my game's there, and I'd like to get back in the winner's circle."

His current form isn't special but he's had three early-season top 25s, which included a tied eighth at the Bob Hope, and was tied 12th at the halfway mark at Bay Hill on his last start before finishing tied 31st.

His 28th in putting and 21st in scoring average offers encouragement as do his performances on Dye designs.

Two appearances at Hilton Head have yielded a third and a fourth, he was eighth at Sawgrass in 2006 and opened with a 65 before finishing 12th at River Highlands in 2005.

He did play here in 2005 and finished a creditable 31st so all in all there's enough on his CV to get us involved at 100/1.

If you want direct proof that a player can flourish on this course then turn to Ken Duke.

Duke finished runner-up last year and, on his previous visit to New Orleans, finished 12th when this event was held at English Turn after opening 64-68 to lie third at halfway.

Indeed his liking for Louisiana goes beyond that as he revealed last year. "I played well here in '04 at English Turn, and I've always played well in Louisiana - at Lafayette, at Le Triomphe, so I feel like I have a lot of good karma in Louisiana."

Duke, also 10th at Hilton Head last season, was having a poor year until recently but, after making the cut at the PODS Championship, he finished sixth at Bay Hill on his most recent start.

With confidence restored, he's a decent bet at 66/1 to challenge here again.

Woody Austin has certainly taken to this course after finishing fifth here in 2005 and 18th in 2007 (he was also seventh at English Turn in 2003).

That shouldn't come as a surprise because he too is proven on Pete Dye layouts.

A winner at River Highlands in 2004 (also fifth in 2006) and a runner-up at Hilton Head, Woody likes these sorts of tests and was third for greens in regulation at Doral last week.

Although he only finished 44th, Austin had earlier come 17th at Bay Hill and also made the last eight of the World Match Play.

The rust that hampered his game early in the season following an "ugly winter in Kansas" and a subsequent lack of practice has been shaken off and now he's had some Florida sunshine on his back he'll hopefully be ready to reproduce the sort of form he showed in the latter half of 2007.

To jog our memories, Austin won at St Jude, finished second at the Buick Open and then finished runner-up to Tiger at the US PGA.

If he can find that form again, the 66/1 could look a very big price indeed.

Preview posted at 1330GMT on 25/03/2008.