The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 05 December 2009 /

It hasn't been a great couple of days for Steve, promising starts by a couple of picks have fizzled out and others have been quite simply pants...

I'm completely out of the game at the Australian Open, where all three of my picks have failed dismally. I'd decided to ignore the usual Aussie suspects, on account of them not being in sparkling form, but one of them should be taking the title now. With hindsight, both Adam Scott and Stuart Appleby had shown bits of recent form and it's that pair that will fight out the finish. I'm not about to try and guess which one will win though and I've left the event alone now.

After the first two rounds of the Nedbank Challenge, I've given myself 100 lines -Never ever back a Nedbank Debutant. None have won since 1986 and that fact really should have deterred me from backing Nick Watney - he looks completely lost on the greens. Backing Richard Sterne was perhaps even more unforgivable...Not only was he making his debut in the event but he already had poor course form in the bag-having played the course on the Sunshine Tour. Both picks have been quite simply pants and now have no chance.

To add to my woes the coverage has been almost insufferable. The cameramen are incapable of following the ball half the time, the commentators have been irritating in the extreme, and there are only so many times the viewer wants to look at a monkeys arse! I know it's in Africa and I know there are animals, but we don't need to see their backsides every two minutes!

If all that wasn't bad enough, my only other pick, Robert Karlsson, has been really frustrating. Through 11 holes on Thursday I was fairly confident. After a steady start, he'd sprung into life with four birdies in a row and he looked in tip-top form, but it's all gone pear-shaped since. The 17th has been his nemesis and he's played the hole in three over par. He's not completely out of it, five shots behind leader Retief Goosen, but I'm not holding my breath!

Early on in round two, defending champ, Henrik Stenson, looked to be getting into the groove and was matched at as short as [2.82], as early on as the 6th hole, but he stuttered after that, and I'm glad he did, as it gave me a chance to get aboard. I very nearly backed him from the start but didn't, so as he closed out his round yesterday, I nibbled away at him and I'm now on at an average of [4.3]. If he can fare a little better on the par fives than he did yesterday, I don't think he'll be far away.

My only pick from the start at the Chevron Challenge was Zach Johnson at [14.0], but I've added a couple of others since. Justin Leonard had been on my shortlist and he was backed at [15.0] when he eagled the 2nd on day one. He's bobbed up and down the leaderboard since, but bobbed harder down than up - it looks like a kneejerk pick and a lost bet.

I also added Graeme McDowell, at [42.0], after round one and that looked a great move when he birdied the first three holes of round two but that as good as it got. He gave all those back over the next four holes and now five off Y E Yang's lead, he looks to have too much to do.

Those two poor moves should pale into insignificance, given that I topped up on Zach at [13.5] when he birdied the 2nd and that he's already traded as short as [3.8]. And if I'd have traded better they would do.

Zach was no better than [11.0] on the High Street before kick-off, so [13.5] when he was one under through two holes was just plain wrong, or so I thought...He had a decent day one and ended it tied with Ian Poulter in first place on -4, and still looked too big at [6.4]. I'd doubled my stake and was keen to off load some but I wasn't going to give it away...

Zach's second round started birdie-eagle and I dumped some at an average of [4.2], just to cover stakes. I could have easily layed some more but I was confident things would get even better. Of course they didn't...

The TV coverage started just in time to show my man bogeying the par five 5th and I then spent a couple of agonising hours watching things go from bad to worse. He eventually arrested quite an atrocious slide when he birdied two of the last four holes but it was very disappointing. He's now three off the lead and I should really be grateful - it could have been very much worse.

In Japan, pre-event pick Jeev Milkha Singh has moved right into contention, and it's a good job too, I may need him to save the week!

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