General / Steven Rawlings / 11 February 2008 / Leave a Comment

Every Monday Steven Rawlings aka The Punter will record his betting on the golf here - so how did he get on this weekend?

Was I being lazy with my picks this week? I backed Els at around [5.0], together with a couple of outsiders. I ignored the obvious locals bar J M Singh, they just looked too short. A back of Randhawa at [32.0] was miles out and didn't get close to matching, the [17.0] just too short. It was Mickelson and Love for me at the AT & T.

Day One
Given the early start in India the laptop was under the bed for a middle of the night scores peek. And just after 4.30am Ernie is -1 through 8, two par 5s next, contentedly back to sleep. Wake again at 6.40 and things have changed. Playing the course the wrong way round Els takes 9 at the par 5 18th and is T43rd.

What a start! Randhawa plays like a dream, shoots 65 and is a full ten shots clear of my main pick Els. Best of my selections is massive outsider Alvaro Quiros Garcia at -3. Patience is now required, I could go looking for alternatives, Kapur looks tempting at [13.0] on -4 but I decide to leave it alone and wait until round two unfolds.

In the US, Lefty starts bogey-bogey but his price hardly moves. He went on to be +4 through 10 (including three par 5s) and traded at +[20.0] on Betfair. Then absolute carnage ensued in the market. The very slow and often inaccurate scoreboard suddenly had Lefty making birdie-eagle, then, not long later shows another two birdies. In the time it takes to make a cup of tea he's gone from missing the cut to fav again. That's Lefty for you. He finishes up -1 and settles at around [6.0], about a point bigger than his SP.

You could say a somewhat poor day really. I may need to get my best ever 'in-running' socks on.

Day Two
Round two and it all seems very flat. Randhawa shoots a woeful 77 and drifts from a low of [3.2] to around [30.0]. This seems to set the tone. It's a weak leaderboard and I decide to back Lara, at an average of [32.0] (20/1 is the best with the bookies), who's in the clubhouse on -4, four shots behind the leader - the very weak finisher, Damian McGraine.

The highlight of the coverage is listening to the kids by the 18th green calling for the balls as the players come off. They sound like the gulls on Finding Nemo. Mine! Mine! Mine!

My best pre-event pick is now SSP Chowrasia (280.0) on -3. Ernie's still miles back after shooting 70 in a tie for 44th!

At the AT & T I throw a few pounds at Frank Lickliter, whose wife has just had twins, so I'm waiting for the double bubble nappy factor. But he then tails off woefully. Tired I guess.

Talking of woeful, the coverage is just that, Chris Berman hitching up his strides every two minutes being the highlight. I did enjoy Faldo's reply when asked for a tip to help said 'sportscaster'. "The best tip would be to cut four inches of his clubs. It won't help his swing but they'll fit in the trash can after the round." But on the whole you forget how painful these pro-ams are to watch.

Lefty blasts out the traps with two birdies, subsequently gets to -3 (-4 for the tournament) and trades under [3.0], but then stalls and finishes poorly following up the birdies with three bogies. It looks a weak leaderboard so at this stage he's still in it.

Day Three
Two pro-ams this week, one where the pros play with ams, and one where the pros look like ams. To be fair to them in India conditions are tough, but the play is pretty poor. Els' 69 is the best of the day and he's right back in it. Jacquelin leads despite visiting the trees a few times at the end of his round. Lara will partner him on Sunday one shot back, so I'm fairly happy.

As for Lefty, more mercurial behaviour. He hits it straight for a change, but misses countless putts, then completely bombs out with an 11! I spend the evening building up a nice little bet on Yang at over [100.0]. He then misses a putt from eight feet on 16 and three feet on 17 for birdies but finishes three shots off the overnight leaders, Hart and Vijay Singh. And it's the Fijian who could well save my bacon in the US. The opportunity I was seeking came when he eagled the 11th, I backed him at an average of [3.8] to get back all my stakes and secure a decent profit.

Day Four
Wow, all aboard the SSP Chowrasia, who lets face it sounds more like a naval frigate than a golfer! Starting the day trading at around [30.0] he got off to a flier, birdied the first three holes to take the lead and was never headed. I lay a load off for a really nice profit on the 8th at [1.71] and enjoy what is a quite remarkable performance. A few nervy moments for the former course caddy, but a cosy and impressive win really.

In the States, Yang starts fairly well and gets as low as [10.0] then trails off completely. Singh, despite some loose shots, looks home but I lay at [1.17] after his 12th hole to ease the stress. And then the proverbial hits the blowy thing. Bogies at 14, 15 and 16 for Singh and a birdie on 17 for Steve Lowery and he's one back! He just makes par on 17, though the ball very nearly lipped out. Going up the par 5 18th Singh needed a birdie to get in to a playoff. His drive bounces off a tree in the fairway and his lay up leaves a chip of some 40 yards, which he puts within 2 feet. Those that took the [5.0] moments earlier were on good terms with themselves.

Playoff. Great drive by Lowery. Singh in a bunker. Trading at [1.9] Singh, [2.1] Lowery. Singh then amazingly tops it out of the bunker and leaves a very long third shot, which he subsequently dumps in the greenside bunker. Lowery lays up perfectly in two and then chips to about four feet. Singh saves par but Lowery, playing on a medical exemption, pops in the birdie and secures the win.

In summary, I held on to a bit too much of Singh, but I couldn't see him losing until it was too late. Maybe I did make a couple of lazy picks at the start of the week but as always with golf punting, you can look in a bad way and recover and vice versa. Patience is the key and you need to expect the unexpected and imagine the unimaginable.

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