Golf Bets / Mike Norman / 25 August 2010 / Leave a Comment

Much attention will be on who makes Monty's Ryder Cup team this week, but Mike Norman is ignoring all that kerfuffle in favour of backing some proven course-form players.

A regular fixture in the European Tour schedule, the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles takes on extra significance this week as the final qualifying event for the European Ryder Cup team.

Whilst I won't pretend not to be interested in who makes Colin Montgomerie's team, and who he selects as his three wildcards, my colleague Steve Rawlings, aka The Punter, has already detailed the ins and outs of what might happen come Sunday afternoon. Some of the players Steve mentions will thrive under the pressure bestowed upon them this week, some will doubtless buckle, but when considering my selections for this event I've - rightly or wrongly - decided to put the matter of Ryder Cup qualification to the back of my mind.

Purely based on previous course form and performances this season my main selection has to be the largely consistent Italian Francesco Molinari - available to back at [19.0] in the Winner market.

Molinari has recorded an impressive six top-10 finishes this season - including four times finishing in the top four - and his record around Gleneagles reads four visits, one top-20 and two top-10s. With three par 3s measuring in excess of 200 yards and four reachable par 5s, the PGA Centenary Course is an ideal test for an excellent ball striker such as Francesco. True, his putting has been far from impressive at times which goes a long way to explain why he hasn't won this season, but if he can manage just one 'decent' week with the short stick then surely he will be hard to keep out of the frame.

One of the biggest disappointments for me this season has been the play of leading Danish golfer Soren Hansen, especially after he started his campaign with three top-10 finishes on the bounce. But since then he's recorded just one top-10 finish all year and has looked distinctly out of sorts with his game... until last week.

Finishing in a tie for 35th at the Czech Open might not appear to be a return to form for Hansen, but his approach play last week was excellent by all accounts. In fact, he was the fourth best player over the four days in terms of Greens in Regulation, and but for a few more putts dropping he would have finished much further up the leaderboard. What's more he's returning to a venue he clearly likes having finished in the top 10 here on his last four visits, including a second and a third.

Hansen is available to back at [44.0] this week which on the balance of his current form might be a tad short, but my confidence in him performing well is further enhanced by the fact that he has a stroke average of 70.31 around Gleneagles, which is almost a full shot better than anyone else in this week's field.

My final two selections also have some course form to their name, with one doing quite well in recent months, the other not so well; namely Bradley Dredge ([55.0]) and Steven O'Hara ([260.0]).

Dredge finished third at the BMW International Open at the end of June and has since had two top-20 finishes on the Tour. He was runner up in this event in 2005 and is worth a wager in the Top 5 Finish market at [12.0]. O'Hara meanwhile has three top-10 finishes to his name in this event during the course of the last five years, and whilst he hasn't shown any form this year it's quite possible that a return to his favourite venue will spur him on to another Top 10 Finish, for which he can be backed at [26.0].

Garrido Watch: - Ignacio disappointingly missed the cut by a single shot last week and it could be that his best form is behind him for this season. He is available to back at [130.0] to triumph at Gleneagles but he has no worthwhile course form to his name so is easily passed over.

Recommended Bets

Back Francesco Molinari @ [19.0] in Winner market
Back Soren Hansen @ [44.0] in Winner market
Back Bradley Dredge @ [12.0] in Top 5 Finish market
Back Steven O'Hara @ [26.0] in Top 10 Finish market

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