The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 13 October 2008 /

Despite a weekend of making bad situations worse, The Punter pays tribute to a fellow columnist.

I wrote on Saturday that I felt my good run was coming to an end and maybe it just about has.
At the Madrid Masters all I managed to do over the weekend was to make a bad situation worse.

Other than joint leader Schwartzel the entire leaderboard appeared to crumble on Saturday and as I'd expected a couple of players flew through the field to change the complexion of the event.

Argentinean Ricardo Gonzalez and Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal were Saturday's flyers but Schwartzel still held court. I had layed him on Saturday after he three putted the ninth at [1.7] and I did so again yesterday at [1.4] after the seventh hole and with the benefit of hindsight it was obviously the wrong thing to do. Two 66's ensured a comfortable three shot win for the South African.

But it's easy to say that now, he has a poor record in contention and as comfortable as his win was, and it was very comfortable, he did it all on the bridle, this was a very weak event and I suspect he wouldn't be so convincing in better company. One swallow doth not a summer make.

It's always hard to judge when an immensely talented youngster who struggles to get the job done has learnt his craft, and maybe Schwartzel now has but I'm not convinced yet.

In America it was much the same story as in Madrid on Saturday with Zach Johnson and Rory Sabbatini flying through the field to take up the running.

Sabbatini led the former Masters winner by a shot and with history showing that the winner usually comes from the final group here I took the [3.75] about Johnson that was available in the morning.

When Sabbatini opened up with an atrocious double bogey and Johnson birdied the first it looked a great move with Johnson even touching [2.0]. I didn't lay anything off at that stage but it was tempting and 20 minutes later I was wishing I had when he three putted the second to make bogey.

For a while it looked as though Stephen Ames, one of my forlorn in running stabs, might make a successful dash for the line but as it transpired his eight under final day round was nowhere near enough.

As his round progressed, Johnson more than steadied things and a run of four birdies in five holes from the sixth looked to be enough to ensure the win but challengers kept coming. Charlie Wi, Mark Wilson and Tim Wilkinson all put in very determined back nines and it was a nervy night which resulted in me giving a fair bit back. I layed Johnson at various rates from [1.40] down, mainly because I was still reeling from the afternoon's bashing and was perhaps over cautious but again, that's with the beauty of hindsight.

As it happened Zach birdied the last for a cosy two shot win, completing the Johnson double after young Dustin's success last week and securing yet another big priced winner for fellow columnist Paul Krishnamurty who had highlighted Zach Johnson's credentials and advocated a wager at [65.0] last Tuesday.

In summary it was a hard weekend's work which resulted in a small loss but hardly the end of the world. It could have been worse I could have bought a load of bank shares last week instead!
The Grand Slam of Golf starts tomorrow night, an event that is supposed to feature the four major winners but with Padraig Harrington winning two and Tiger Woods injured, Retief Goosen and Jim Furyk join Trevor Immelman and Pod in Bermuda. Its not an event to go mad on but I'll be having a small wager on Furyk who has been over there practising on the course and is keen to make up for his poor effort in the event last year when he arrived late after playing in Korea.

Next week's events are the Portugal Masters and the Timberlake Shriners Open and I'll preview both on Wednesday morning.

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