The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 16 February 2009 / Leave a Comment

Profits are assured in both tournaments, but how sweet it would have been to back Kang at [1000.0].

Monitoring the PGA Tour website for hours on end doesn't constitute the most romantic of evenings, but that's how I spend Valentine's.

It was worth it though, as my in-running pick, Dustin Johnson, gradually pulled away from the field as Retief Goosen predictably wobbled. A late rally from Mike Weir closed the gap to four but I was in a strong position.

He was matched as low as [1.58] on Saturday night but I didn't lay any back because the weather forecast was so poor and there was a doubt whether they'd even play round four. I wanted to wait until close of play before I did anything, as bets struck after the third round would be void should the tournament be reduced to 54 holes and any layed before the end of the third round wouldn't.

Sunday started as early as Saturday, at around 4.00 am, but when Prayad Marksaeng birdied the first two holes of his final round at the Malaysian Open and I layed him back at [4.0], it had been worth getting up. He failed to birdie the par five 3rd hole and then bogeyed the easy 4th, so I'd done the right thing.

It looked like the final round was going to be an intriguing affair and so it proved with plenty of twists and turns. I won't bore you with all the details but at least ten players looked at some point to be in with every chance and it came down to the last hole, as it invariably does.

Three players stood on the final tee at 16 under par. First up was Gareth Maybin, who I'd backed early on Saturday, but he fumbled his way to the green and eventually made bogey, having been matched at a low of [4.0].

Then in the penultimate three-ball both Marksaeng and Anthony Kang arrived at the 18th tee on 16 under with the tournament at their mercy.

Marksaeng had fought back well after another bogey at the 9th looked to have cost him dear and I made further lays at [3.3] after the 15th hole and again at around [3.0] as they went to the final tee.

Unfortunately, my man's tee shot finished up in a horrible position in a bunker, while Kang hit his drive straight down the middle and it was always going to be tough after that. Marksaeng did have a birdie putt from around 20 feet but shamefully left it short and Kang stepped in to tap in for birdie and the title.

It was a painful result; Marksaeng would have been a cracker. And either Tunnicliff (who finished tied second) or Maybin winning would have been a terrific result but it wasn't to be. In the end it was just a small profit thanks to the Marksaeng lays.

I'm not taking anything away from the winner though, he deserved it. He made a ridiculous mistake on the 15th when he put his approach shot in the water but he recovered well and got up and down for bogey and was very solid other than that clanger.

Remarkably Kang had been matched at [1000.0] after his first round two over par 74, which had left him 12 shots of the lead, so it was some comeback.

At the start of the week all the talk had been about American Anthony Kim and now it's all about his fellow countryman with a very similar name and it got me thinking, I wonder, did any lucky punters clicked on the wrong name?

After a few hours sleep my attention turned to the final round of the AT & T but a couple of predictable weather delay soon led to abandonment for the day. Water-logging and high winds were behind the complete loss of play yesterday and I'm hoping for more of the same today.

I layed Dustin Johnson back at [1.72] last night to guarantee a fair profit on the week even if he loses, but by far the best outcome would be a cancellation of round four. Yesterday's lay bet will then be void but my bets made during round two will stand, resulting in a decent profit for the week.

Next week's events are the Johnnie Walker Classic and the Northern Trust Open, I'll preview both on Wednesday.

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