Golf Events / Tareq Quiroz / 27 August 2008 /

Players could have more than their nerves to contend with as they battle it out under the watchful eyes of Nick Faldo.

There's a lot of money up for grabs at the FedEx play-offs in Boston but the real story this week will develop at Gleneagles, where the European Ryder Cup team will finally be confirmed. There are still three automatic spots up for grabs as well as the two captain's picks. Some big names will miss out but only time will tell who those players will be. Expect an exciting week in Scotland.

The Course

Gleneagles, which will host the Ryder Cup in 2014, is a fine setting for a tournament that will no doubt be a tough ask to win. Unusually, it is a Par 73 containing five par 5s. Big hitters have an advantage as they are all very reachable and given the right weather conditions the course can yield pretty low scores. However, forecasts suggest that the weather might not be quite as nice as players would like and if that is correct then the Gleneagles course will show its teeth and you will need someone who plays difficult conditions well.

The Favourite

We have a clear market leader this week in the superb Lee Westwood. Despite a pretty strong line-up Westwood is a sure fire favourite at current odds of [11.5]. He is definitely a class apart on form but we cannot get away from the fact that Lee is yet to enter the Winners circle this year. He has been excellent in many big events and I am sure he is not too concerned about his failure to win one. But for some it does cast a doubt over whether a player should be that short without a recent victory. However, I believe he is deserving of his place as market leader and will certainly be the man to beat this week.

The Next Best Bets in the Field

Last week both Darren Clarke and Paul Casey gave Nick Faldo a selection headache with excellent performances in their respective events. You get the feeling that this is by no means over and I expect Colin Montgomerie to stake his claim for a Ryder Cup spot this week. He knows he needs a big effort to impress Faldo and he has recorded top ten finishes in his previous two visits to Gleneagles. At current odds of [46.0] he is definitely worth a small punt.

Continuing with the theme my other selection this week comes in the form of Belfry hero Paul McGinley. I am not his biggest fan but he was hitting the ball as sweet as possible last week and if he can carry that over to this week then he will contend and is worth a saver at [28.0].

The Massive Outsider

The European Tour always seems to throw up plenty of decent outside bets and in recent years there have been plenty of big shocks. This week is no different and the first name to jump out at me is David Howell. The likeable guy from Swindon has shown promising signs in recent weeks and a good final round last week should put him in a positive frame of mind for this tournament. He showed that he is still a class act with his seventh place finish in The Open. He is a must bet this week and at current odds of [100.0] he represents great value.

Interesting Info

Paul Casey is the only repeat winner of this event, but you could say that is hardly surprising as we have only had nine runnings of this tournament. Colin Montgomerie is the Chairman of the event and although he has a lot on his plate with his playing pressures he will also be expected to perform many other duties as Chairman this week. Whatever happens on the course you can be sure that all attention will turn to Nick Faldo and that much awaited announcement of his wild card picks.

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