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Timely return to form for Immelman and Goosen can bag the World Cup for South Africa

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Betfair's golf betting expert TQ chases a third week of success with a pick of South Africa in golf's team event

The World Cup returns this year without its former WGC tag but with a long-term sponsor and home. The Omega Mission Hills World Cup will be played in China for the next 12 years in a bid to give this once great event a more stable footing in the golfing calendar.

The World Cup has been around for more than 50 years and there are some illustrious names on the trophy including Woods, Faldo, Nicklaus, Ballesteros and many more. This makes it all the more remarkable that the top stars in the sport now go out of their way to avoid the event. I won't list the potential line-up if every country had been able to select their top ranked players but it is fair to say we could have had a far classier field than we have. All that said, our job is to pick the winner regardless of who misses out.

With only 28 runners in the field your betting strategy is one of all out aggression. Don't be tentative with your elimination of teams that don't cut the mustard. At least a dozen of them can go without so much as a second consideration. Others can be dismissed one by one for a plethora of reasons until you end up with the two favourites.

Quite clearly the form choices are South Africa and England. England are the favourites and deservedly so based on the form of the players this year. Rose and Poulter have both progressed this year and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see one of them win a major next season. However, they miss out as the main pick this week as I am not sure these great friends will have the killer instinct you need to win this event.

South Africa are represented by Goosen and Immelman and for a variety of reasons they have not enjoyed the best of years. In any other year over the past five this pairing would have been favourites for the title. Recent signs of a return to form from both players make them the firm picks this week. Both players have won the World Cup in previous years with different partners. Add into that South Africa's very good record in this event which clearly shows that take it very seriously. At [8.2] they are a great bet and are definitely the headline pick of the week.

With the winner of the event firmly tucked away there is no harm in finding some value in the peripheral markets. The Tournament Matchbets is the place to start, where the best method is to find a team that you want to take on. Right away Scotland jump out at me, Monty is having a mediocre end to the season and Marc Warren is inconsistent to the point that he could totally derail the team. I advise that you take them on in all Matchbets but concentrate mainly on their match-up against France. The French team are currently available at around [1.9] and they merit a maximum wager.

The final selection of the week comes in the first round four balls. In Jacquelin and Havret, France have a formidable unit who are experienced in team golf. They have been drawn alongside Paraguay in the first round four balls and I am in no doubt they will come on top in that encounter. Paraguay fall into the pot of teams that have one decent player and one out of his depth, in this match-up it's the team that will be out of its depth and France should be backed at anything around 1.6 to win this four ball.

So, the World Cup has undertaken yet another revamp to try and give it some stability. This raises all sorts of questions - most obviously, why doesn't this tournament have the same kudos that winning a World Cup in almost every other sport does? I assume the most popular answer will be because money talks and this event is not that important to a player in an individual sport. Any other ideas are welcome.

I will leave you with this poser. Has signing a 12-year deal to host the tournament in China helped or hindered the development of the event? For what it's worth I am of the opinion that it's a mistake and the tournament will fade even more into the golfing priorities of the professional golfer. Cue another revamp - possibly before those 12 years are up.