General / Paul Krishnamurty / 25 September 2009 / Leave a comment

Paul Krishnamurty takes a close look at the players who just can't get over the line...

"It's one of golf's great mysteries that Westwood hasn't won an event for two years, at a time when his career appears to be approaching its peak."

Oliver Wilson

In 45th place, Wilson is the highest ranked player in the world without a title on one of the main tours. Eleventh place in last year's Order of Merit, followed by 9th on the current Race to Dubai is testimony to his consistency, and suggests a change of luck is long overdue.

Its not that he hasn't had chances, having finished runner-up on no fewer than eight occasions. That might suggest that Wilson lacks the temperament to close the deal, but while he has made mistakes when confronted with victory, it would be unfair to award the dreaded 'bottler' tag just yet. The good news for punters is that Wilson can still generally be backed at attractive odds.

Ross Fisher

Very few players can equal the strides made by Fisher at the game's highest level this year, with some outstanding performances in the biggest events, including strong challenges for the US Open, British Open and World Matchplay. He looks certain to be one of Europe's leading lights over the next decade.

However despite this progress, Ross hasn't won a title since a magnificent front-running annihalation of a class field in the European Open fourteen months ago. That win sparked a fine run last autumn, and Fisher is fancied to once again finish the season strongly, rating one of the leading fancies to win the Race to Dubai.

Lee Westwood

It is one of golf's great mysteries that Westwood hasn't won an event for two years, at a time when his career appears to be approaching its peak. After twenty-nine worldwide titles and an awesome Ryder Cup record, Lee has at last started doing it in the majors, challenging strongly in the latest two and starting second favourite at the Open.

During this barren spell, Westwood has registered an extremely impressive thirteen top-3 finishes, but these repeated failures to close the deal have led many to question whether he has lost his bottle. That seems harsh given his prolific record beforehand, and it may just turn out that once Westwood enjoys a change of luck, multiple titles will swiftly follow.

Hunter Mahan

An impressive summer has seen Mahan emerge as one of the very best American players and resulted in a captain's pick for the Presidents Cup, yet the 27 year-old still only has one title to his name. That came over two years ago, but considering the fact that he has markedly improved in the meantime, he surely won't have to wait too long for a second.

At least we know from last year's Ryder Cup debut, in which Mahan finished as top overall points scorer, that he can deal with high pressure situations. Furthermore, he still tends to be available at decent prices.

Jim Furyk

Furyk is the only member of world's top-10 without a win in the past two seasons, despite registering eleven top-5s in that time. Some might say that run is typical of his career, because while Furyk has relentlessly accumulated high finishes and prize money, thirteen wins in fifteen years is a fairly scant return for such a consistent player.

Nevertheless, we are talking about a former US Open champion here, and he has looked in excellent form during the Fedex Cup series. Furyk remains a serious contender for the rest of the season, and likely to pop up again in the winners enclosure before long.

Tags: Golf betting, Hunter Mahan, Jim Furyk, Lee Westwood, Oliver Wilson, Paul Krishnamurty, Ross Fisher, Tour Championship