Accurate iron play is the order of the day in Valderrama

Golf Events / Tareq Quiroz / 31 October 2007 / Leave a Comment

Betfair's golf trader TQ makes his selections on the European Tour and in Singapore

Valderrama is the fitting setting for the climax of the 2007 European Tour. This difficult Robert Trent Jones designed course never fails to throw up an entertaining week of golf. The limited field of 55 will fight it out for the coveted trophy, some of them also attempting to secure the Order of Merit crown.

Although Valderrama is tough, it certainly isn¹t a long course, and with the premium on accuracy, you should always be keeping on the right side of the crisp iron players no matter what bets you place on the event. Recent winners of this tournament all have very similar profiles and this enables us to take an aggressive betting strategy. Select your player and get on pre-tournament.

One man I cannot get away from this week is Ian Poulter, a magnificent iron player who has had a very good season. He has had nine Top-10 finishes as well as four solid major performances, and the only thing missing from his 2007 resume is a win. Victorious at this event in 2004 and with two further Top-10 finishes, he really has to be the main fancy of the week, and at (18.5) is a very fair price.

One of the most improved players on tour is Argentine Andres Romero, and his third place at the Open and subsequent victory in Germany has thrust him into the golfing limelight. It is because of this that he is quoted in a tournament matchbet with Colin Montgomerie at (1.9). Romero has only played Valderrama once, and would not want to be reminded of his performance as he finished the week stone last and with a total of 25 over par! Monty won this tournament in 2002 and must be heavily fancied to come out on top in this particular matchbet.

Matchbets is also where we see our next piece of value at the Volvo Masters, and once again it is opposing a player who has had a great season. I am in no doubt that Martin Kaymer will be a multiple-winner on tour and a Ryder Cup player of the future, but when taking on a great campaigner like Anders Hansen on a tough course, he has to be opposed. If you can get anything close to 1.9 about Anders then it is a must bet.

If the Volvo Masters field has strength in depth, then the Singapore Open can certainly claim to have the best selection of top-name players in their field. Any tournament that can boast players of the quality of Els, Mickleson and Singh must certainly have its attractions.

One top player who really likes this tournament is Adam Scott, who has won the two previous runnings of this event and is back this year in search of a hat-trick. A player of his quality demands respect, but I think he will fall short in his quest and I would advise pre-tournament bets only. Westwood and Cabrera both represent good value and I expect them to be challenging coming up the stretch.

Long-term commitments for both Els and Westwood mean that the European Tour¹s showcase finale is missing two of its top players. With so much golf now being played across the world it is getting increasingly difficult for players to commit to certain events and even tours. Are there too many events now? Dare I say it, is it time for a complete overhaul and the design of a world tour? I say yes, the money is there and the top-quality players always draw out the crowds while the­ sponsors would be queuing up.