The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 22 February 2010 / Leave a Comment

It's been a poor week for Steve, as he draws a blank in both events, but has he learnt anything for the future?

As darkness descended late on Saturday, a missed Camilo Villegas putt from inside three feet on the fifth extra hole, meant that he and Paul Casey had to return early yesterday to finish off their protracted semi-final.

And having been locked together for so long, it took very little time to separate the pair - the Columbian hooked his tee-shot into the desert and that was that. The stage was set for an all England final between Ian Poulter and Paul Casey.

Casey took the lead after just two holes but he was pegged back on the third, and that was the last he saw of the lead. Poulter went on to win quite comfortably, 4 & 2.

Whilst in Mexico, where I didn't see a single shot played, Cameron Beckman won the Mayakoba Golf Classic - his third PGA Tour title.

My Bets

I make no secret of my dislike of match play knock-out events as betting mediums, I'm sure some punters love them, but I simply can't get to grips with them at all. The only positive I can come up with is that I didn't stake too much.

I'd backed a dozen outsiders from the start and was chuffed to bits to get half of them through to the last 16, but it all went very wrong after that. Five of the six fell by the wayside in round three and my last man standing, Thongchai Jaidee, backed at [280.0], couldn't quite put Poults to bed, despite leading four times in their quarter-final. When he left his birdie putt on the last agonizingly close and Poults drained his par save from around six feet that was the event over for me.

It was particularly painful as the Thai had been given a real chance by the Englishman who played very poorly - shooting one over par. If he'd have gotten to the last four, not only could I have layed some back at a reasonably short price but he may well have had a chance of progressing further. The weather turned sour as the semi-finals started, which would have suited Jaidee, who has a very decent record in bad weather, and Poulter's opponent, Sergio Garcia, was woeful.

And to really rub salt in the wounds, I checked back on my records to see that I'd backed Poults in this event in each of the last five years! That said, I have no regrets, even now he's won. I still think he was plenty short enough at around [30.0].

In Mexico, Heath Slocum closed to within one of the lead during round three and was matched at below [6.0] before drifting back down the leaderboard, eventually finishing in a tie for 13th. My other pick, KJ Choi, was also disappointing, finishing tied 20th.

Player to watch

It's impossible to advocate anyone strongly after the quick fire match play format but it's worth pointing out that Alvaro Quiros, who prior to this week's event was in fine fettle, may not have played as poorly as his first round result suggested. He was battered 8 & 6 by Mike Weir, which would imply he'd played tardily but the Canadian remarkably birdied 10 of the 12 holes they played and Quiros must have been in a daze.

Players to Swerve

Again, it's hard to glean much from match play results but it's worth pointing out that Nick Watney is definitely still struggling with his putter. I've backed him a few times lately and expected a big year and a win from the young Californian in 2010, but he really does need to brush up his play on the greens.

What have we learnt for next year?

Choose Match Play week to go on holiday? Get someone to hide the lap-top for five days?

As far as the Match Play's concerned, all I've learnt is that I'm still not very good at betting on it! I may well just stick to the same tactics though...I wasn't a million miles away from being in a fairly strong position for smallish stakes.

It's worth pointing out that the shocks all came early this year, and after the first two rounds nearly all the matches went the way of the favourites.

At the Mayakoba Golf Classic, it was once again crucial to be up with the pace from the get-go -Beckman was never far away after an opening 65. Whilst 2nd placed Joe Durant was another accurate driver to fair well in the event- he topped the Driving Accuracy stat last year, despite being out of form.

There's just the one event to concentrate on this week, the WM Phoenix Open, where a really high class field assembles. I'll post my preview of the event on either Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.

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