The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 08 November 2009 /

There was a crazy five minutes at the HSBC Champions Trophy, but did Steve profit from all the Shanghai shenanigans?

With hindsight, getting up early on Thursday and Friday had been a bad idea and I was up even earlier on Saturday morning, rising just before three, but it had just about finished me off. I was completely shattered and couldn't face another early start today. As it transpired though, getting up on Saturday had served me very well.

I'd gone into the final two rounds hoping that Alvaro Quiros would kick on for a bumper payout or failing that Tiger Woods, backed after round one, would win to ensure a small profit. How things changed...

I'll start with Quiros, who, for the second time in a month, made a complete pig's ear of round three, with me shouting him on for a big win. He'd dropped out of contention at halfway in Portugal, when looking poised, and he did the same thing here - shooting a pathetic 76 to drop right out. He's worth persevering with though, he's a terrific raw talent and further wins are sure to come and quite possibly at decent prices.

Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey had messed up round two and Quiros had done the same in round three! All I could do was try not to get too down about it and concentrate on making the best of a bad job.

Tiger Woods had started the event well enough but was clearly out of sorts. He refused interviews after the second round, wasn't playing at his best and looked under pressure. Although he was three under par for his round, after birdying the eighth hole yesterday, with Phil Mickelson making a flying start (three under through five holes) and with Anthony Kim also playing well, I layed some of my bet back at [1.70].

At the time it was just a case of reducing losses really, I wasn't feeling chipper, I knew I was too tired to go another night, and I didn't want to add to my disappointment by suffering a bad loss.

It looked good timing though, as he then bogeyed the ninth. He made a bounce-back birdie at the 10th but also bogeyed the 11th. At the same time Anthony Kim looked a bit of value at [15.0] and I had small bet on him.

After his fast start, I thought I'd missed the boat on Lefty, but when he drove into the bunker on the par five 14th someone put up some [6.6] which was just too big, and I got him on-side as well.

At that point Woods had become a loser in the book, and Lefty and Kim were winners. Woods then plodded in with pars, Lefty birdied three of his last five holes, and Kim completely imploded.

Lefty ended the day leading by two and I took the decision to level off my book, I backed Woods back again at [2.60], and backed everyone else with any conceivable chance. Some of which were big winners on paper but I was just happy to have got out unscathed.

I got up this morning at just after six and could scarcely believe what had happened. Ernie Els, who I'd backed at an average of over [400.0], had birdied the 14th hole to get to eight under for his round and led by one!

All sorts of shenanigans were to follow and there was a really crazy five minutes.

Lefty got back on the birdie bus to regain the initiative but then Els birdied the 16th and 17th. It really was high class stuff. I was able to lay a fair bit back on Els at [2.98] down to [1.58] to make a nice profit on the week.

Then it all went crazy - as Els stood in the 18th fairway, Lefty played an air shot on the 16th and drifted to above [10.0]! The South African was matched at [1.11] and I was wishing I hadn't got up. All of a sudden Ryan Moore entered the fray when he made a birdie at the 17th just as Ernie was dunking his approach into the water! Moore was matched at below [4.0], but then seconds later Lefty made a lengthy par save and he was back to odds on!

It doesn't matter how much golf I watch, this game just never ceases to amaze me.

Lefty kept his cool, birdied the 17th and pared the last to win by one. I'd done the right thing after all, and what could have been a horrid week, especially as I'd backed Mickelson last week, had turned into a good one.

This was a cracking event with plenty of talking points. We saw a watery end to an odds on Ernie for the third time - he did the same thing in South Africa and Dubai at the beginning of last season. And what's wrong with Woods? He's being so hard on himself.

But best of all we saw another win for the games current greatest ambassador. Well done Lefty - shame it wasn't last week though!

There are three events next week, the Hong Kong Open, the Australian Masters and the Children's Miracle Network Challenge in the States and I'll preview them all on Wednesday.

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