The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 24 August 2009 / Leave a Comment

It wasn't just the England cricket team that had a great day yesterday, as Steve hoovers up with Dyson and then profits from another woeful Garcia finish...

At the KLM Open on Saturday, the best of my pre-event picks, Kenneth Ferrie, started by missing a birdie putt on the first from around seven feet, and that pretty much set the tone for his day. He tends to get down on himself very easily and was groaning away all day but did finish with a few birdies on the 15th and 16th.

I'd been tempted by Darren Clarke during round two and before round three started but hadn't taken the plunge and when his playing partner, Peter Hedblom, started strongly, while he struggled, I was glad I'd held off.

I did have a speculative little punt on Oskar Henningsson at [29.0] though, after he'd played eight holes. It looked a decent play as he birdied the 10th and 12th holes but his run petered out and at the close of play he was trading at triple figure odds, Hedblom had opened up a two shot lead on Peter Lawrie, and Ferrie was still my best chance, four back, but I was struggling.

I had one bet after play on Saturday, on Marcus Brier, who was five off the lead and trading at [55.0]. I'd liked the look of Brier before the event and thought he was just the type to capitalise should the leaders falter.

There was another weather delay at the Wyndham Championship on Saturday and it ended up being another late night. I had two bets during the evening, both speculative - I took [55.0] about Steve Marino as he charged through the field just before the delay and took [500.0] about Richard S Johnson, just after the delay.

When play was suspended for the day, at around one in the morning UK time, Sergio Garcia and Chris Riley led on 13 under par, but they still had eight holes of round three to play.

Sunday was always going to be hectic, with the Wyndham Championship finishing off round three at the same time as the KLM Open was starting round four, but it wasn't long before I was out of the game in Holland - both Brier and Ferrie bogeyed the first hole and were soon out of it.

A few players started well but then faded, while Clarke really struggled, and it was Hedblom and Lawrie that looked likely to fight out the finish but then Simon Dyson made a move and I backed him modestly at [9.8] to cover stakes.

When Dyson hit his second shot onto the green on the par 5 12th I went in again at [5.0], and then yet again at [6.0], after he made an absolute bomb of a putt for birdie on the 17th to close to just one behind Lawrie.

Dyson parred the last hole and it looked a two horse race. Lawrie still had five holes to play and he's a player I couldn't entirely trust so felt it was well worth a further play on Dyson, this time at [5.3].

Lawrie parred 14 and 15 but then made a very odd decision. Playing the 472 yard par four 16th, he decided to take an iron off the tee. Once he'd missed the fairway with it he was always struggling and those backers that had taken [1.26] about the Irishman weren't on good terms with themselves. He made bogey and was level with Dyson on 15 under.

Hedblom had drifted out of the picture and out to [50.0] but finished very strongly, and when he followed his birdie on the 15th with one on the 17th, he too was on 15 under and the event was heading for a play-off.

The play-off was over fairly quickly. Poor approaches from Hedblom and Lawrie gave me a chance to lay some of my Dyson bet back at [1.88], but I needn't have bothered. He made his birdie putt to win the event for the second time in four years.

Once they'd finished round three in the States, pre-event pick Brandt Snedeker and Steve Marino had picked up another shot a piece, but they were both three off the lead, still held by Garcia and Riley.

Round four seemed to start slowly, with nothing much happening, but then Garcia birdied the 5th and 6th to lead by a couple and was all of a sudden a heavy odds on shot. I didn't waste much time and was soon laying him at [1.40]. A hole later and he'd made another birdie and I went in again, this time at [1.25]. I didn't go mad, I layed him to lose my Dyson winnings. I don't trust Sergio one iota, and with 11 holes still to play, he was far too short.

Three bogeys in the next five holes and a run of six straight pars saw him fall short off the three man play-off by a stroke and I'd had a very good day.

Ryan Moore won the event, getting the better of Kevin Stadler and Jason Bohn in the play-off.

Next week's events are the Johnnie Walker Championships and the Barclays, the first event of the Fed-ex playoffs series. I'll preview them both on Wednesday.

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