The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 30 June 2008 / Leave a Comment

Our golf bettor rounds up his betting moves as Kenny Perry lands the Buick and Pablo Larrazabal the Open de France

What an odd thing betting and trading on golf is sometimes. I lost in France but enjoyed the result immensely. Then I got a fantastic win in the US but just felt really sad for the runner-up.

I'll start with the Open de France.

Going into the weekend it looked like a real puzzle and I couldn't decide on anyone. I didn't fancy the young Spaniard leading. Pablo Larrazabal's driving stats for the first two days were horrendous, he took the lead with some exceptional putting but that doesn't usually save anyone for four days.

So I set off in round three very cautiously and did very little trading. I did back Monty @ [10.0] as he birdied the 6th hole. Backing the big man is a real rarity for me, as to say I'm not a fan is an understatement of considerable size, but he was playing immaculately and was starting to hole putts.

Monty stuttered at the end of his third round but the young Spaniard went from strength to strength and by the close of play he was trading at under [3.0] and leading by three shots. Dispensing with the services of his driver had paid big dividends. If I'd known he was going to adopt that tactic I may have been tempted by the [16.5] available on Saturday morning. Oh well, pots and pans and all that.

As stated on Saturday, I was going to look closely at the top of the leaderboard after the third round and concentrate on the leaders. The names concerning Larrazabal were Soren Hansen, Monty and Lee Westwood, with one or two others in with an outside chance.

I didn't like the look of any, the Spaniard was an unknown quantity and the other main protagonists had struggled to get over the line lately. After much deliberation I plumped for a small bet on Hansen @ [5.2] and an even smaller one on Markus Brier @ [44.0].

I also had a bet on Markus Brier to beat David Lynn in his two-ball @ [2.24], which looked far too big given Lynn's record on a Sunday.

I managed to lay Monty back @ [6.8] on the first hole but got stuck with Hansen who never ever looked like winning. In fact nobody except the young Spaniard looked like winning from a long way out.

He was exceptional and a breath of fresh air, going for everything with a massive smile. You couldn't help but be charmed by his youthful exuberance and by the time he came to the last hole with a four shot lead I too was smiling. A star had been borne and good luck to him, like last week's winner Kaymer we'll be seeing a lot more of this new kid on the block.

As marvellous as Pablo's win was nobody could have expected it to have sparked such scenes in Madrid last night. I had no idea golf was so popular in Spain!

So it was a loss, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been, thanks to some deserved caution and Brier winning his two-ball, by just six shots! Poor David Lynn, he's very talented and a great putter but always struggles when in any sort of contention.

On to the States where things had looked a lot more promising going into the final round. One of my original picks, Woody Austin, backed @ [65.0] and Kenny Perry, backed in-running @ [24.0] were on the heels of leader Daniel Chopra and I was quietly confident, and rightly so as it proved.

Chopra struggled badly from the start and was soon out of the race, which by the back nine looked to concern my two picks and Dudley Hart.

Perry looked by far the likeliest winner but when he made a hash of the par five 13th and made bogey I was relieved that I'd layed him back a couple of times. At [2.2] after he'd played the 8th and @ [1.80] after he'd played the 10th.

After that I took out some insurance and backed Hart @ [8.0] even though I didn't fancy his chances one iota. A few minutes later I was laying Austin @ [2.02] and then all of a sudden things changed again when Perry chipped in for an eagle from 94 feet from the greenside bunker on the 14th.

Perry lost his initiative again though when he bogeyed the 15th while Woody was birdying the 14th. From then on Austin was in charge, and when a fantastic up and down from the rough secured another birdie for him at the par-5 16th hole it looked all over.

But then the 'choking dog' Woody resurfaced. A charge he'd levelled against himself after failing to convert the chance of victory at this year's Honda.

An ugly three putt bogey on the 17th was followed by another on the last hole. I'd had the wherewithal to back Perry again @ [2.64] while all this was going on to make him the best result, but it was all rather sad and I really felt for the extremely likeable Woody.

Bubba Watson backed @ [25.0] (like Hart for insurance) and playing in the last group with Chopra, finished with a flurry and had a chance to draw level with Perry but he couldn't convert the required birdie putt from 11 feet.

So that was that, another win for Kenny Perry who is in some form and must regret to some degree not playing at the US Open, you've got to think he'd have at least contended.

I'll post my picks for the two events next week, the European Open and the AT & T National, on Wednesday.

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