The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 20 November 2009 /

Not the greatest of starts for Steve but its all set up for a thrilling finish to the Race to Dubai

The first day's coverage of the Dubai World Championship, understandably, focused on the only four players that could still win the Race to Dubai - Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, Ross Fisher and one of my pre-event picks, Martin Kaymer.

Day two's coverage, understandably, focused on the two players that could still win the Race to Dubai - Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood.

Ross Fisher and my man, Kaymer, had had a poor first round. Playing together in the penultimate pairing, they couldn't get anything going all day. Fisher ended the day eight shots adrift of overnight leader Robert Allenby, and Kaymer, whose putting had been poor, ended the day six back.

In contrast Westwood and McIlroy were superb and both handled the pressure impeccably. After a patient start, Westwood started birdying at will. While Rory made some lengthy par saves to keep him in the game around the turn before he also boarded the birdie bus. They'd read the script and were playing out the drama perfectly. Day one ended with Westwood trailing Allenby by one, with Rory just two shots further back in a tie for 5th.

The best of my picks at the close of play on Thursday had been Alvaro Quiros and Johan Edfors, who had both shot three under par to be tied for 10th, but it's fair to say I'd had a disapointing day. I'd also thrown a few pounds at Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano at [80.0] and he's plummeted down the leaderboard ever since!

Day two started as day one had ended, with McIlroy and Westwood still going forward, whilst my picks floundered poorly. Quiros was by far the biggest let down; this course is right up his street, very long with virtually no rough but he followed up his reasonable start with a one over par 73 which puts him out of the game.

For most of this morning there was more chance of Thierry Henry and his family holidaying in Dublin than there was of one of my picks winning, but things did improve slightly as the morning wore on

Standing on the tee of the 13th Rory McIlroy led the event by two shots, was on his way down to [3.0] and led his playing partner and one of my picks, Johan Edfors, by a whopping six shots. Four holes later and they were tied - McIlroy had bogeyed the very birdie-able 14th and 15th holes, whilst Edfors had birdied four in a row!

My joy re Edfors wasn't to last though as he double-bogeyed the lethal last, as did Padraig Harrington -who had been leading the event by two strokes at the time.

After a dramatic morning, with an ever changing leaderboard, Lee Westwood now holds sway and takes a two shot lead into the weekend. It will be very interesting to see how he handles the pressure; I for one would not be rushing in at less than [4.00]. While he'd be a very worthy winner and he's playing some great golf, I still don't trust him at all.

The best of my pre-event wagers is Raphael Cabrera-Bello, who's three off the pace. He could have been in a much stronger position if it hadn't been for a mini crisis on Thursday, when he dropped four shots in six holes on the back nine but he's still right in it.

As play drew to a close I added to my bets by backing Sergio Garcia at [25.0] and Ross McGowan at [30.0]. It looked as though I'd nicked a nice bit of value when Harrington was messing up the last but Westwood's birdie finish took the gloss off somewhat.

Though I'm not exactly in position A1, I'm quite happy with what I have in what's now a very open event. There could be some almighty price swings at around 11.00 am on Sunday, as the last few holes are treacherous and all sorts of scores are possible. If I'm lucky enough to have someone in with a chance I'll be sure to be poised over the pink button. Indeed laying anyone with the lead late on could well be the tactic.

Whatever happens I'll preview the last two rounds, either late on Sunday, or early on Monday.

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