The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 11 October 2009 /

Nothing but frustration for Steve as promising starts turn sour and odds on Sergio goes un-layed.

It's been a disappointing week all round, where I did nothing right from the moment I felt Ross McGowan was a bit too short for the Madrid Masters on Tuesday.

Going into the weekend in Spain the event had revolved around Sergio Garcia. He held sway over a bunch of journeymen pros and non-winners and when he started Saturday with two birdies the writing looked on the wall. Another two followed on the front nine and he went odds on, but yet again the wheels fell off in horrific style. Four bogeys in six holes on a course where birdies were flying in left, right and centre saw him drop right out of contention, and left me rueing my decision not to take him on.

As it transpired I was to have a couple more things to rue as the weekend wore on. Firstly a back of David Drysdale at [12.0], when he was just a shot out of the lead, looked a good move for a while. With just three holes to play on Saturday he was only a shot behind new leader Ross McGowan and was trading at [5.0]. Half an hour or so lately, at the close of play, he trailed by seven!

The finish by McGowan, indeed his entire third round, was nothing short of incredible. He'd shot a 12 under par 60, which included two bogeys on the back nine! And the event was effectively over with a day to go.

I searched for instances where a player had entered day four with a seven shot lead and of the 26 I found, only once had a player failed to win - Parker McLachlin in the Pete Dye Classic back in 2007. It made the [1.18] that McGowan was trading at look generous and certainly put any thoughts I had of laying him out of my mind.

So heading into yesterday I had no intention of getting involved, Ross McGowan was going to win and I was going to have an afternoon off, but I couldn't resist a little look...And when he bogeyed the first and I was still able to lay him at [1.18] I couldn't help myself and I layed him modestly. An hour later and he'd also bogeyed the 4th hole, his lead had shrunk to just three, and he was trading at around [1.34].

For a few minutes it looked like he may just do the unthinkable, as Finland's Mikko Ilonen applied the pressure - rushing to three under through five holes, but McGowan turned it all around with a birdie on the 5th hole and from that moment on he always looked safe, although Ilonen, to his credit, kept up the pressure and with four to play McGowan's lead was only two.

You couldn't fault the Englishman's performance though, a superb birdie on the 15th extended his lead back to three and it stayed that way until the end. He'd had a little wobble at the start but he'd recovered very well and it's pretty much guaranteed that this won't be the last we hear of Ross McGowan.

I felt it was another winner, following Simon Dyson last week, that didn't take a lot of picking - compared to some of the outrageous winners in Europe this season. Like Dyson he'd been in very good recent form and I was a bit miffed I'd not been on.

There was no joy at the Presidents Cup either. Not only did the US Team comfortably beat the International Team 18-14, but Ernie Els, my pick for Top International, got battered 6 & 4 in his singles match against Sean O'Hair, resulting in Vijay Singh winning that particular market.

I hadn't lost a fortune, but it had been a frustrating week. A couple of outsiders I'd backed from the off - Jorge Campillo and Marcel Siem did well, but not well enough for me to trade out at all. Then there was Ignacio Garrido, who after shooting 74 on Thursday which had left him languishing in a tie for 103rd place shot three low rounds to finish tied 7th!

Anyway, onward and upward, next week's events are the Portugal Masters, where there's a particularly strong field for a change, and the JT Shriners Hospitals Open in the States. I'll preview both events on Wednesday.

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