Golf Events / Tareq Quiroz / 19 November 2008 /

After his winning finish in Singapore, Jeev Mikha Singh will be among those teeing it up as the European Tour returns this week with big points on offer in the Hong Kong Open. But Tareq Quiroz believes Colin Montgomerie is about to prove the doubters wrong so could this be the week the Scot recovers his form?

The Course

The Hong Kong Open has been a feature event on the European Tour and the Hong Kong GC has always been the host for this tournament. It is a cracking venue, attracting top players at a time of the year when many are thinking of staying home.

The players will not play on many shorter tracks than this all year. At just over 6,700 yards even for a par 70 it is a very short test.

Punters are looking for a player with birdies on their mind as you can be sure that the winning score will be something around the 16 or 17 under par mark. The common feature amongst players who do well here is that all of them are pin-point iron players. Forget the big hitters, this course is for the guys who hit it in close to small targets.

The Favourite

We have a tight call for favouritism this week as two of Europe's Ryder Cup team battle it out for the top spot. My feeling is that when shove comes to push defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez will just edge it. The Spaniard is a two time champion around here and certainly deserves to be favourite. For a man who has won at this course twice in the last four years I think he must represent some value at current odds of [18.5]. He will be full of and a danger to all. However, all that said he hasn't been in sparkling form of late and he would be my pick for the week. He will be pushed all the way for the market leader spot by Graeme McDowell but although he also has the credentials, I am happy to look past him this time.

The Next Best Bets

So, with the jollies overlooked it is a little further down the list that we find the real bets this week. There are several possibilities but the one I really like is Rory McIlroy.
The youngster has had an impressive season and I am sure he will be well suited to this course. He likes to go pin shooting and this is a great opportunity to do just that. A good performance in difficult conditions last week will have sharpened him up for this and he has to be the pick of the week at current odds of [21.0]. Get on pre-tournament as he is a quick starter and I don't expect him to get any bigger in-running.

The Massive Outsider

For a pleasant change there are outsiders galore to choose from this week. I must have come across ten cracking bets down the field but I have finally restricted it to just a couple. Firstly, I don't think we can get away from a small punt on Monty. The Scot is sure to prove plenty of people wrong and find some decent form soon.

I just get the feeling this tight course will bring out the best in him. He won here in 2006 and with those memories still relatively fresh I expect him to go well and must be worth some support at odds of [85.0].

The other outsider who I will get involved with this week is Rookie of the year Pablo Larrazabal. The Spaniard has not been in great form recently but he is a talented player who will like this place. At current odds of [130.0] you can't go wrong with a small investment.

Interesting Info

Nine major champions have won this tournament. Four major winners line-up this week in what is a strong field. There have been five holes-in-one in the last five years and on the relatively short par threes you have to fancy another. Nobody has ever led from start to finish in this tournament so be careful about jumping in on the early leader of this event.

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