The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 29 August 2009 /

Steve's time off hasn't helped his timing - his Tiger Woods bet yesterday was particularly ill-timed...

I've had a lovely week away in Wales with family but as a result I've barely looked at the golf. I watched about an hour of Thursday night's coverage of the Barclays but that was it until yesterday. I went out for the day on Thursday and then went racing at Ffos Las on Friday, and I can thoroughly recommend Britain's newest course. There's a unique and fantastic atmosphere there and I can see me becoming a regular.

Anyway, back to the golf, and at the Johnnie Walker Championship, with a round to go, two my initial selections, Raphael Jacquelin and Daniel Vancsik, are just about still in with a chance - sitting four off Peter Hedblom's lead. They will need to do something special in today's final round but stranger things have happened and I certainly haven't given up on them completely.

Yet again, it's a very wide open affair and picking the winner is no mean task. Last week's play-off loser Hedblom is clearly in great form but showed last week that he has to be treated with extreme caution. But the same can be said about just about all of his pursuers. I won't go near Paul Lawrie - I know he's been up there all the way so far this week, and he's an Open Championship winner, but he really gets down on himself nowadays and if he ever wins again I won't be on him.

I toyed with backing Jamie Donaldson, who's just two off the lead. He's been knocking at the door for his first victory pretty hard just lately and surely his day will come soon, but at less than [10.0] I've decided to leave him alone.

I have had one other bet though, a small bet on the defending champion, Gregory Havret, at [29.0]. I backed the Frenchman at the halfway stage last year at [8.0], so I've good memories of his hard-fought victory. It's asking a lot for him to follow up but he looks a fair enough price to do so.

I hadn't got involved with the European event until after round three, and when play finished in New Jersey last night I was wishing I'd done the same thing there, but unfortunately I chose to back Tiger Woods at almost the worst time.

I got with him just after he'd made three birdies in a row at [4.9], which at the time was a very fair price considering he was about to play the par five 8th. He failed to birdie the 8th but still shortened further to below [4.0], touching [3.65], and I did consider off loading and enjoying a free bet. Unfortunately I didn't and when he bogeyed the 10th he was drifting badly. When he put his second shot in the water on the par five 13th his price spiked right up to [15.0]. Thankfully he managed to save par there and go on to pick up a couple more shots, but he's now nearly twice the price I took.

There was some good news though, pre-event pick Zach Johnson birdied five of his last six holes to end the day alongside Woods on four under par, but both are five shots behind joint-leaders Steve Marino and Paul Goydos.

I haven't given up hope on either selection. Those above them are either looking for their first wins on tour or, with the possible exception of Steve Stricker, are players I'd fully expect to suffer badly with nerves. But Woods needs to find his touch on the greens and Johnson needs a better start than he had yesterday.

Whatever happens today, and I'm not exactly brimming with confidence, I'll post a review tomorrow.

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