The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 28 August 2010 /

As Tiger Woods finds some form, and then swiftly loses it again, our man takes a look at the state of play at both this week's events....

The first two days of competition, on either side of the Atlantic, have been dominated by Ryder Cup talk, with speculation rife as to who Colin Montgomerie's three wildcards will be.

Would he be taking a dim view of those not making the trip to Gleneagles, as he'd intimated back in June? Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Padraig Harington and Justin Rose, or the FedEx Four as they've been dubbed, have made the decision to stay Stateside and try and win the FedEx Cup. Or does he now concede that to have expected them not to strive for golf's biggest monetary prize would have been unreasonable?

Well the ladder can be put away now, the climb down's complete. Judging by interviews screened yesterday it's almost certainly the latter and I'd be amazed if Monty's three picks don't come from the FedEx four. It appears he's had a rethink and I think he's right to have done so.

I can't help feeling for those about to miss out though, in particular Edourdo Molinari, who has already expressed his disappointment that Monty won't stick to his word. "Colin said at the beginning of the year he would like all the players to play Celtic Manor (the Wales Open) and Gleneagles," he said. "I will play both as I think it is good to show you are making an effort to make the team.

"Obviously, other players have different plans," he added, although he conceded his cause might already be lost. "But I am making every effort and that's all I can do."

I'm not entirely convinced he'll miss out but he needs to win this week at the very least and that's not impossible. Rather bizarrely all the Ryder Cup candidates are sitting on -6 at the halfway stage, three shots off the lead.

The two players that currently hold sway could have been described as virtual unknowns a week ago but not now. Drawn together for the first two days, both Julien Guerrier and Gary Boyd, Challenge Tour graduates striving to making a name for themselves on the main Tour, have carried on from where they left off in the Czech Republic last Sunday. Gurrier finished in a tie for 5th, whilst Boyd lost out in the play-off, and I've added the latter to my portfolio.

I was really impressed by Boyd's attitude last week and I've backed him at an average of [18.0]. Whether he's quite ready to win on the European Tour is debatable but judging by his mannerisms on course, his past results in-contention on the Challenge Tour, and his demeanour when interviewed at the close of play yesterday, he's definitely a player to keep an eye on. If this week isn't the week he breaks his duck so be it but I don't think it'll be long.

The best of my original bets is last week's victor Peter Hanson, who birdied his final three holes yesterday to get to -6. Mike Norman's faring better; both his two main picks are up with the pace. Soren Hansen shot a storming second round 65 to get to -5 and the ultra consistent Francesco Molinari is alongside my man Hanson.

But over in the States, Dan Geraghty's putting us both to shame with his monster-priced outsider - Kevin Streelman, who's sitting just one off the lead! Though the start of a certain Tiger Woods is probably the main story of the week so far...

A brief statement had revealed that he and Mrs Woods were now divorced and it looked as though Tiger was playing better golf as a result, but then all of a sudden the wheels fell off yesterday.

Tiger played the last eight holes of round two in four over par and those that had dived in at just a shade over [2.0], after it looked as though he was back to his old self, can't be feeling too confident. Whatever he does from here though, he's going to fare better than my main pick, Phil Mickelson.

I was confident of a bold showing from Lefty this week but knew I was in trouble once Woods started so well. Mainly to keep TV audiences happy for the first two days, Tiger and Phil are almost always on different sides of the draw and I've noticed that if Woods starts well with a Thursday morning tee-time, Lefty struggles in the afternoon. It's as if he just tries too hard, too early, to make up the ground. Disaster almost always strikes and it has done again - he hasn't even made the cut!

Zach Johnson is the best of my pre-event picks but he's fully four shots off the lead, held by the bang in-form Aussie Jason Day on -8 but I've added a few more...

I took [40.0] about Brian Gay before he started round two and it looked a great move when he reached -2 for his round and -7 for the event, after just five holes. But like Tiger, he lost his way and he too has fallen back to -4.

Then when Tiger was dropping shots I also backed Ben Crane at [34.0] and Adam Scott at [20.0], so I now have a number of players in the mix and will wait to see what today brings.

It's a fascinating, if not particularly strong, halfway leaderboard and it's going to be very interesting to see how Woods performs today. Is he back? I'm not so sure he is. That was a worryingly poor and very un-Woods like finish to his second round. Whether he is or he isn't, I'll be back to pick the bones out of both events in Monday's De-Brief.

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