The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 19 October 2009 /

Steve's on the wrong side of a coin toss in Europe and is denied a monster win in the States...

It didn't take long on Saturday for me to realise I was in trouble at the Portugal Masters. Given the batch of players atop of the leaderboard and their collective habit of avoiding victory, I really fancied Alvaro Quiros, whom I backed after round one and in-running on Friday. But when he double bogeyed the 7th hole, and then bogeyed the 8th and 10th, his title defence was dead. And so was my wager.

Going into the final round, Retief Goosen held sway and traded at a shade over [2.0]. I was tempted to lay him but decided to wait for play to start and see if I could claw some cash back in-running. I did have a small bet on Gareth Maybin, at [75.0], before play began, but he bogeyed two of the first three holes and was out of it immediately.

I also backed Padraig Harrington at [34.0], after he'd birdied the tough 7th. Half an hour later he'd bogeyed the 9th!

My first lay of the day was on Lee Westwood at [1.4] after he'd played eight holes. Francesco Molinari had double-bogeyed the 7th and Westwood was suddenly two clear but then Molinari drained a monster birdie putt on the 8th and I backed him at [4.8].

As the day wore on it was obvious that the event was going to be fought out between Westwood and Molinari, but when the Italian went favourite with just four holes to play I took out the risk, backing Westwood back at [2.40] and laying Molinari back at [1.8]. I still wanted the Italian but my book was looking much better.

As is the way just lately the coin came down on the wrong side and after a lucky break on the 16th, where he received a free drop from an unfavourable spot, after a very poor second shot on the par 16th, Westwood went on to win the event.

I had no complaints, I couldn't have backed Westwood at any stage - he's been a player to take on for a couple of years now, and I'd done so again but had been sensible enough to back out when the chance presented itself.

I'd left things roll on Saturday in the States and when I got home from the pub it was just in time to see one of my picks, Chad Campbell, backed at [60,0] after day one, make a double bogey after dumping his second shot into the water on the par 5 16th to relinquish his lead. He made birdie on the last though and going into the final round he and Scott Piercy, whom I backed before the off at [110.0], were tied for the lead.

Campbell started yesterday trading at around [3.4], while Piercy was around [5.0]. I thought about laying them both back but decided to go for it and try and land the 'biggy'. As it transpired, it wasn't a good time to throw caution to the wind...

Chad started well, making a 37 foot birdie putt on the first but he lost his way after that. While Piercy was pretty much all over the shop until he birdied the 14th and 15th to draw level with leader Martin Laird, but just as he looked to be in with a great shout he hit a poor drive on the 16th and after that he was hopeless, double-bogeying both the last two holes. Mercifully I'd layed a bit back at [3.85], but not nearly enough.

Martin Laird, holding a one shot lead after the 16th, over both of my picks, had traded as short as [1.41] but his tee-shot went through the green and he failed to get up and down for par. It made Piercy's collapse all the more frustrating, but I at least had Chad who would surely go odds on now and I'd get plenty out of it? No.

While the last group were playing the penultimate hole, George McNeil was making a monster birdie putt to join the party, and I was scrabbling aboard him at [3.8]. After Campbell and Laird had played their somewhat poor approaches to the last McNeil was matched at as low as [1.81] but Campbell two putted from distance and Laird made an 11 foot putt for par, and we had, what sounded like, an all Scottish three-man play-off.

During the play-off I layed Campbell at [2.32] and backed Laird at [3.25], guaranteeing a small profit on the week.

Three pars on 18 saw them go back to 17 where agonisingly, my man missed a ridiculously short par putt. Just as he had in this year's Masters, Campbell had been the first of three to be eliminated and I was well and truly gutted.

Every time my men had looked out of it they got back into it, only to ultimately disappoint and I was again reminded of John Cleese's line in the film Clockwise, 'It's not the despair, I can cope with the despair. It's the hope I can't stand'...

Scotsman Laird got the better of the two Americans and eventually won with a birdie on the 18th.

Before the event I'd backed an array of promising youngsters at big prices, which were looking for their first Tour wins. Unfortunately, although he also met the profile exactly, Martin Laird had not been one of them. It was a very, very frustrating result.

Onward and upward...again! We've some golf tomorrow night with the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, and on Thursday it's the Castello Masters and the Frys.com. I'll preview both on Wednesday morning.

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