The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 26 October 2009 / Leave a Comment

It was an amazing final day in Spain and Arizona, where there were twists and turns a plenty, but did Steve manage to make a profit?

With a number of players still having to finish their second rounds at the Castello Masters, play resumed early in Spain on Saturday morning. I made another in-running play, backing Daniel Vancsik, at [80.0], as he made birdies at will on his way to a 62.

That saw the Argentine close right up into a tie for 4th but I'd chosen the wrong closer. Michael Jonzon also had to finish up, and he birdied his final three holes to also get into a tie for 4th.

Vancsik momentarily tied for the lead early in round three but was soon plummeting down the leaderboard, while my main chance, Martin Kaymer, backed at [28.0] on Thursday, put his tee-shot into the water on the 2nd. Not a great start but he stuck in there and by the close of play he was alongside Sergio Garcia in a tie for second, one shot off Jonzon, who, unlike Vancsik, had carried his early morning form into the afternoon.

Before play started yesterday I layed some Kaymer back at [3.80], just to cover stakes, but I didn't want to give too much back. I was confident he could convert.

Garcia and Kaymer both birdied the 1st hole to draw level with Jonzon, and when Garcia followed up with another at the 2nd, the Spaniard was trading at odds on, but I was far from worried. I simply don't trust Sergio at all and yet again he was to disappoint his faithful followers. It took him until the 9th hole to make another birdie, by which time he already looked out of it.

My man fared well enough and shot a three under par 33 on the front nine. A perfectly respectfully score in the mix on a Sunday but he was getting left behind by Jonzon!

The turning point for the Swede, a pre-event [660.0] shot, had been the par five 4th. From out of the trees, left of the green, he chipped in for birdie. It was travelling at some pace and had it not gone in, would have left a real tester for par. But it did go in, and boy did he capitalise, playing the next five holes in four under par, putting daylight between him and the field.

Jonzon looked in complete control and when Kaymer made a mess of the easy par five 13th, making a double bogey, my man was fully six shots behind with just five holes to play. He was matched at [500.0] and I was pretty fed up. He made a bounce-back birdie on the next but it hardly lifted my spirits.

The only conceivable danger to Jonzon looked to be another Swede, Christian Nilsson, who made a run of six straight birdies around the turn but in truth, Jonzon looked in control. But then he reached the par 4 15th and it all went a bit crazy!

A scruffy double bogey saw Jonzon's lead evaporate, he was level with Nilsson and three clear of Kaymer. It was getting interesting.

Nilsson then bogeyed the 16th and Kaymer birdied it and then on 17 there was a real turning point, Jonzon failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker and made bogey, while my man Kaymer drained an absolute monster birdie putt.

All of a sudden it was a three-way tie, Kaymer's price contracted dramatically and I wasn't going to start looking in this particular gift horse's gob - I layed a lump off at [2.40].

Nilsson safely negotiated the last and it was down to Kaymer and Jonzon to see if they could sneak a birdie and the win. Kaymer hit the best approach shot and I was pressing the pink button again - this time at [1.82] and I was soon glad I had when the Swede showed true grit and drained his putt and inevitably Kaymer missed his. It was disappointing but I'd gotten far more out of the event than I'd ever thought I would.

That really should have been enough excitement for one day but no, the climax to the Frys.Com Open was every bit as dramatic.

Troy Matteson had shot consecutive 61's to take a three shot lead into the final round. I toyed with the idea of laying him at [2.6] but in the end left it alone. But when the Tour's hottest new star, Rickie Fowler, found the par 5 4th in two, after he'd already birdied the first two holes, I had a modest bet on him at [9.6]. He birdied that and then made an ace at the next hole. It was game on!

To cut a long story short, Matteson traded as short as [1.08] before bogeying the last two holes to slip back into a tie with my man Fowler and another rookie in Jamie Lovemark, who had been matched during the round at [1000.0]!

For the second week running it was a three man play-off on the US Tour. Another gift horse and the correct action was again taken - I layed my man back at [2.80] to almost cover my stakes on the event.

Fowler had looked like he'd driven into the water on the last in regulation play, but it somehow stayed dry and he'd made bogey. But if that was remarkable, Lovemark's approach in the play-off was incredible - it went into the lake and bounced out!

Troy Matteson went on to win with a brilliant birdie at the second play-off hole. Rather strangely he now has two Frys.Com trophy's but for two different events. Last week's event was previously called the Frys.com when Matteson won it back in 2006.

After a poor run, it was nice to make a profit and so on to next week and the Volvo World Match Play, The Singapore Open and the Viking Classic. I'll preview them all on Wednesday.

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