The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 18 August 2008 / 1

After a very bad weekend, The Punter is licking his wounds and looking ahead to Holland and the Barclays.

There are poor weeks and there are very poor weeks. This was a very poor week and it could have easily been worse.

Given the two tournament winners I can't complain though, both are players I'd look to take on and it didn't turn out as bad as it could have done.

The worst result was at the SAS Masters where nothing went right for me all week. After Saturday's third round all my picks had slipped out of the fray without much of a fight but I wasn't prepared to simply leave the event alone yesterday as I felt overnight leader Peter Hanson was vulnerable.

I backed a couple of players early on in the final round, Bradley Dredge at [60.0] and Nick Dougherty at [15.0], blissfully unaware that the latter was struggling with a back injury. And then when Hanson took a four shot lead with eight to play I layed him at [1.15]. Minutes later he'd vindicated the decision by double bogeying the 11th hole and it was game on.
After that, in running pick Paul Broadhurst momentarily threatened the lead, as did that bloke with the ridiculous headgear - Pelle Edberg - and even injured Nick Dougherty had a birdie attempt on the 18th that would have gotten him into a play off. But it wasn't to be and in the end Hanson managed to fumble and bumble himself across the line despite bogeys at the 16th and 17th holes.

Across the pond there was another Swede readying himself to inflict further damage on my battered wallet. Carl Pettersson, layed at [2.2] after the second round went into the final round two shots clear of American veteran Scott McCarron and a strong favourite.
It was McCarron who started the brighter though and the two were level by the time they reached the fourth tee. By the fifth tee the Swede was back in front but when he made consecutive bogeys at the tenth and eleventh the initiative and lead was with McCarron.
Then the turning point and the best trade I'd done all week.

Playing the par three twelve Pettersson was left with 13 feet to save par, while McCarron had ten feet for birdie and at that moment I backed Pettersson back at a generous [4.0]. After the poor result in Europe I was quite keen to reduce the size of the red figure next to the Swede's name and it proved a wise decision. Pettersson drained the par save and McCarron three putted! They were level again and Pettersson was all of a sudden back to odds on.

It all proved a bit too much for McCarron who was clearly rusty. The three time winner had found himself in with a chance of victory for the first time in many years and quite frankly blew it. Having missed the entire season last year after having surgery on his right elbow it would have been a nice story if he had won but it wasn't to be and Pettersson was left to coast home by two shots.

No complaints, the back of Pettersson took a lot of the pain away and I'll stand by my judgement on both winners. Had either had a stouter adversary the outcomes would have been different.

Onwards and upwards then and both events this week have a stronger look to them. In Europe it's the KLM Open in Holland and in the US the Barclays kicks off the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedExCup. Once I've finished wound licking I'll start studying and I'll post my picks on Wednesday.

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1. brian elliott | 18 August 2008

   i dont normaly get involved with with golf betting but over the weekend i had a few punts on advice offered, yes im licking my wounds but no worries i hope weds advice redeems all and even increases my bank. cheers Brian

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