Three Against The Field / Dan Geraghty / 08 July 2009 / Leave a comment

Three young players form Dan Geraghty's trio to take on a fantastic field in Scotland this week.

Last weeks selections in Europe were a mixed bag, Graeme McDowell was massively disappointing and missed the cut, Thomas Levet started fast before fading and those on the ball were able to lay back the frenchman at single figure prices.

Danny Willett's progress continues at pace and not only did he trouble the top 20 (as hoped in last weeks column), he made sure of a place in the field at this weeks Scottish Open with a second consequtive top ten finish (despite a momentum halting triple bogey during his second round).

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This week's field is a stellar cast but many minds will be on next week's major prize. Rory McIlroy has made no secret of the fact that the Open at Turnberry is among his main priorities for the year and winning first at Loch Lomond would be a fitting warm up. McIlroy played well here last year, carding an amazing 18 birdies and two eagles on his way to a top-20 finish. Rory's game looked in great shape in Germany two weeks ago and he's had a week of rest since. Padraig Harrington won the week before both of his Open wins, Tiger won last week in his last tune up for Turnberry, can the young pretender to the throne do the same? I say yes.

On first glance Alvaro Quiros looks overpriced to me. He's one of the brightest talents on the European Tour and seems to give himself a good look at birdie on every hole. A good scoring course like Loch Lomond should suit and Quiros finished in the top 10 here last year, shooting a 64 on Sunday to boot. The Spaniard already has three European Tour wins to his name and a third round 65 at last weeks French Open was one of his lowest of the season and bodes well for this week.

Gareth Maybin has fallen off the radar slightly over the last few months but a top-10 finish last week in France may signal he's about to turn the corner. After a stunning season on last year's Challenge tour (a season that included nine top-10 finishes) Maybin started this year well with twomore on the main tour in his first six starts. He's not been in the same form during the last few months but is in the very first group on the first tee on Thursday morning, there's a good chance [350.0] is a very tradeable price.

Selections: Rory McIlroy ([19.0]), Alvaro Quiros ([65.0]), Gareth Maybin ([350.0])