The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 10 March 2008 /

With Cheltenham on the mind a small loss from the Malaysian Open and PODS Championship seems somewhat a good result

On the European Tour it's yet another new course to wrangle with at the Malaysian Open. Severely hampered by a loss of internet connection for a couple of days, I back duel event winner Thonchai Jaidee and a few other darts are carelessly tossed at some Asian outsiders.

The PODS Championship in Florida is a lot easier. Plenty of course form to evaluate and selections come easily. Accurate iron play is at an absolute premium here and I make Chad Campbell [46.0] my main pick.

Day One

Yet again it's a case of the majority of the first day's play being completed while I'm snoring. I get up, log on, glance at the leaderboard, and disappointedly make breakfast. So much for the Asian players, seems I should have been looking far closer to home. Liverpudlian Nick Dougherty was leading on a mere -10! In fact he'd been -10 through 14 holes.

Recent winner of mine SSP Chowrasia backed at [260.0] this week ended up being my best selection, finishing on -6. Jaidee shot a disastrous two over 74, but I find out he's had a bad back and been ill, a fact I'd have discovered if Id had internet access.

Former US Open Champion Michael Campbell's demise is looking even more serious as he shoots an 84. Cambo aside, It's clearly going to be a low scoring event so I'll look to keeping my powder dry until much later on.

Chad Campbell fares better than Jaidee at least but Im not whooping and hollering, a pretty poor level par round leaves him six shots off leader Bart Bryant. Best of mine so far are John Senden [100.0] and Jonathan Byrd [65.0], both two back on -4. Round one doesn't quite get finished after a rain delay.

Day Two

A messy day all round, rain delays at both events result in neither second rounds getting finished. In Malaysia, none of mine are showing at all favourably and the lead is shared between home hope Danny Chia and Dougherty on -12, both players having finished their rounds. I decide to back Dougherty at [5.9], which seems pretty generous if he gets off to a decent start tomorrow. I also make a small play on Dutchman Robert-Jan Derkson at [40.0].

The PODS event is painful stuff, I think anyone who has an interest will get frustrated, everyone seems to be going two steps forward and three back. The conditions are very tough though with high winds hampering progress. When play is suspended some players have barely stated their second rounds. Jeff Maggert is three clear on -8 but still has nine to play. My best selection is Heath Slocum [80.0] six back having completed a level par second round. So not exactly great.

Day Three

It's another early start with live coverage starting at 4.30am. The scoring is already low and when Dougherty fails to birdie the easy par 5 first I lay him back off at [5.6]. If he's at all pedestrian today he'll get lapped. I also back Francesco Molinari at [46.0] after he gets to within two of the lead when he birdies both the third and fourth holes. Soon after I wonder why I bother with these early starts when I see Derkson three putt from five feet! But minutes later I manage to back Darren Clarke at [12.0] after his 6th birdie of the day ties him for the lead on the 8th. He follows that with another on nine and he's trading below [6.0]. Im then sucked in to backing Dougherty back yet again at [7.4] when he birdies the 8th and 9th.

Fast forward two and half hours and how have my in-running bets done? Derkson pants, Molinari pants, Clarke and Dougherty huge pants! Now all trading at at least double figures and to make it worse, Daniel Vanscik, who I backed last week at [200.0], is just two back of the leader, last year's winner Peter Hedblom on -17. I thought Dougherty may have a changed attitude after picking up the Dunhill last year but his body language was awful and he was clearly getting annoyed with himself.

As for Clarke, who I haven't backed for years due to a very suspect temperament, well he was a different player on the back nine. Seven under front nine, two over back nine. Shocking stuff and I really wish I'd done what I knew on Thursday I had to do and that was wait, wait and wait again. Low scoring events like this change so often that they can be a layers dream. So what now? Do I give it up as a bad job or make a play in the last round?

In Florida I make my first in running play with last year's winner Mark Calcavecchia at [12.0]. They're struggling to catch up after the rain delays and when play is halted Stuart Cink is clear by two on -5 and Calcavecchia's had a disappointing day, yet to finish his third round he sits 4 back with two holes to play, so things don't look too clever.

Day Four

I don't like the look of the leaderboard and there was nobody there Id really want to go to war with so I don't even set the alarm clock. As it happens I didn't need to, with the leaders still having five holes to play, there's yet another rain delay. When they returned Simon Dyson, who had seized the initiative when he'd birdied four of the first seven holes, looked like he was going to coast to victory and traded at [1.50] but when he bogied the 16th he was suddenly one behind Hedblom, who birdied 16 and Atwal who had finished.

I furiously traded both Hedblom and Atwal as Hedblom played the last two holes, and When Hedblom's birdie putt on 18 somehow refused to drop I was able to level them both off and I had managed to reduce my losses quite satisfactorily. Then the play off gave further trading opportunities, with Hedblom finding water from the tee Atwal traded as short as [1.10] but he made a hash of it and then Hedblom looked the likely winner and traded at [1.24] but two pars saw them play on. On the next hole a three putt Hedblom bogey handed victory to Atwal but I was quite happy. I'd resisted any temptation to get further involved and traded well to get some back. If I had been forced to back someone before the last round it would have been Dyson at around [8.0].

In the States I put a couple of small bets on McNeil [110.0] and Bryant [44.0] before the start as they were only a few back on another leaderboard loaded with dodgepots. When overnight leader Cink went three clear after only two holes I couldn't resist taking him on at [1.31]. As is always possible with Mr Cink his round completely unravelled but I cautiously backed him back at [3.5]. In no time Sean O'Hair was in complete control and went on to win by two.

With my mind on Cheltenham and my nose in the festival form book I'd possibly not given the golf my all. I'd managed to get myself in quite a hole by Saturday but I did at least manage to put the spade down and stop digging and indeed I had managed to scramble back, almost to the top of the hole! A small loss but two winners I wouldn't be looking to back and an outcome that was a lot better than had looked likely on Saturday.

I won't put anyone away with offering up any selections for next week, I'm off to Stratford today and Cheltenham tomorrow and haven't given next week's golf any attention as yet.

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