Best & Worst of 2011 / Editor / 12 December 2011 /

From non-league football to the NFL and London 2012, Betting.Betfair contributors make their picks in part three of the Best and Worst 2011...

Gary Boswell

Moment of 2011: Petra Kvitova's win at Wimbledon. Always enjoy seeing a who I've followed from early days scale the absolute heights. I liked the way she showed no fear of Sharapova and acted afterwards with that cool acceptance of inevitable destiny.

Performance of 2011: Well, I don't follow much golf apart from the Majors but the two stand-outs for me this year were both of that ilk. My Mom was dying through mid-July so I was a bit distracted but I saw enough of the Open to give Darren Clarke the gong. For me, he was a bottler never likely to win a big one which just goes to show how much I know about golf!

Hero of 2011: Goes to Rory McIlroy. I laid him at [1.1] final round at Augusta and predicted that he would take years to recover from the cataclysmic wilt. See above for what I know about golf but I'd rate the way he came back to win the US Open as though Augusta never happened as one of the great sporting efforts of all time. One cool young dude.

Villain of 2011: Loads of candidates for this. Imraan Ladak for consistently making a mockery of the good name of non-league football wins it by a nose. Sir Alan Sugar gets the lifelong achievement award in this category! Peter Risdale a candidate too having just heard that he's now been allowed to come and mess up PNE!

Bet for 2012: Saw a horse called Secret Edge win at Fontwell today. He has some Cheltenham form already and is very progressive. My quiet fancy for the honours at the Festival in March.

Jaymes Monte

Moment of 2011: Darren Clarke winning The Open. One of the good guys wins one of the biggest prizes in sport.

Performance of 2011 (Team or individual): Phil Taylor - Not for any one particular performance, but for once again proving his doubters wrong and reinstating himself as the sport's number one by a considerable distance.

Hero of 2011: Mario Balotelli. In a world where sportsmen are becoming increasingly sterile the Italian is a breath of fresh air.

Villain of 2011: Kia Joorabchian. I was going to pick Carlos Tevez here, but instead I'm opting for the money-grabbing puppeteer behind the Argentine's problems.

Bet for 2012: Tiger to win The Masters @ [6.6]

Tony Calvin

Moment of 2011: Kauto Star winning the Betfair Chase. Needs no explanation for those in and around the winners enclosure that day.

Performance of 2011 (Team or individual): David Pocock for Australia in their 11-9 World Cup quarter final win over South Africa. The performance of the tournament.

Hero of 2011: Richie McCaw for playing the World Cup final on one leg, and with one eye for a while after being gouged by Aurelien Rougerie, without complaining. Any footballer would still be on the floor crying all these months later; McCaw just got up and on with the game.

Villain of 2011: The England rugby player (whoever he was) who came off the pitch and apparently said, "That has cost me £35,000". What a tool.

Bet for 2012: Oscar Whisky at 20-1+ for the Champion Hurdle

Max Liu

Moment of 2011: Dallas Mavericks beating Miami Heat in the NBA play-off finals. A victory for collectivism against spoilt, misfiring bloaters.

Performance: There are few finer sights in world sport than Brian O'Driscoll in full flight. I was knocked out by his performance in the Six Nations match against England - so were England - in Dublin and later by Ireland when they beat Australia at the World Cup.

Hero of 2011: Tempting to choose the Labour MPs whose tireless campaigning exposed phone-hacking and brought down the News of the World (Betfair has politics markets). But as long as he's in the job, I'll be giving this one to another man of the left - Sir Alex Ferguson. Brilliant to see the North Stand at Old Trafford renamed in his honour but the club should go further. The campaign for SAF Stadium starts here!

Villain of 2011: Steve Kean is shamefully (and shamelessly) out of his depth. Blackburn Rovers, former-paragons of Lancastrian sporting integrity, are being run into the ground by clueless owners and Kean would be more suited to standing on the door at Phoenix Nights than the Ewood touchline.

Bet for 2012: Following David Cameron's decision to move Britain to the margins of Europe, some observers believe that an election before 2015 is a certainty. We'll see how long the coalition can hold but I'm going to wishfully bet on a general election in 2012.

Jack Houghton

Moment of 2011: Mo Farah setting out on a last-lap charge in search of 10,000m World Championship glory, only to be worn-down by Jeilan in the last few metres. Heartbreak for Farah, but a great sporting moment.

Performance of 2011 (Team or individual): Cadel Evans and his BMC team. Becoming the oldest winner of the Tour de France. No tub-thumping, no brouhaha, just a quiet and thoroughly professional approach to the toughest competition on earth.

Hero of 2011: Mark Cavendish for his sublime cycling season and Johnny Hoogerland for displaying incomparable forgiveness after a media car had run him off the road and into a barbed-wire fence.

Villain of 2011: Sepp Blatter. Not content with his sexist and homophobic gaffes of the past, his comments on racism in football, given to CNN, reminded us that being a morally repugnant moron does not rule you out of the top job in football.

Bet for 2012: Lay Jessica Ennis at the 2012 Olympics. A poster girl she may be, but, in historical terms, she is no more than an average heptathlete, and she'll be vulnerable again this year.

Mike Norman

Moment of 2011: Frankel's scintillating front-running performance in winning the Qipco 2,000 Guineas was one that I doubt we'll ever see on a British racecourse again. The wonder colt had his rivals strung out like washing at the halfway stage, and the reception he received as he went past the two furlong marker, fully 15 lengths clear of his field, made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

Performance of 2011: Luke Donald ending the year as the number one golfer in the world, and as the winner of both the European and PGA Tour money lists, is something that has never been achieved before and probably never will again. His incredible consistency has singled him out across all sports to be the most outstanding performer of the year, and he fully deserves all the plaudits coming his way.

Hero of 2011: Not just a sportsman of the highest quality, Darren Clarke is a true gentleman in every sense and a wonderful, doting father. Since the tragic loss of his wife Heather in 2006 he has been an idol as both a parent and a sportsman, and he was rewarded in the summer by winning the Open Championship with a display of grit, determination, and emotion. He celebrated in the only way he knew; by flying home to be with his boys, and downing a few pints of his much-loved Guinness.

Villain of 2011: Carlos Tevez. His antics throughout the year have been nothing short of disgraceful. His refusal to play/warm-up for his club in a Champions League encounter was not only disrespectful to his employers, but it was unfortunately an example of player power having a desired affect. The sooner he is out of this country the better.

Bet for 2012: To be able to back Barcelona at [2.64] to retain their Champions League crown seems like a gift. We are talking about arguably one of the best club sides of all time defending their title in a competition that no longer includes the top two clubs in English football. And their closest challengers - Real Madrid - have just been brushed aside by Barca in La Liga on their own turf.

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Rory McIlroy's US Open win was one of the moments of 2011...

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