The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 28 November 2008 /

Surprise, surprise, England have let Steve down at the World Cup, so it all rests on Robert Allenby to make up for it in Australia...

Should I bother to get up in the night and watch the golf? That was the question on Wednesday evening - I pondered briefly, but not for long if I'm honest. The last few weeks of early mornings have taken their toll and I decided to wait until the weekend before depriving myself of yet more sleep.

So I flipped open the laptop on Thursday morning, wondering how well my picks had fared while I slept. In a word, pants.

I first checked the World Cup leaderboard and couldn't quite believe how poorly Ross Fisher and Ian Poulter had fared; a pathetic round of 69 saw them trail leaders Germany by seven shots.

Things weren't much better at the Australian Masters. Best of my three was David Horsey, four off the lead after a one under par 71.

Tournament favourite and main selection Robert Allenby still had a few holes to play but was disappointingly on +1. On viewing the highlights it was clear that his putting was to blame, his attempt to save par on the 13th was just plain ugly.

In his defence he'd also played in the worst of the conditions until play was suspended but I was still pretty despondent about his chances.

After such a poor start on Wednesday night/Thursday morning there was no way I was going to get up in the dead of night to witness at first hand the disappearance of my cash. When I went to bed Allenby was plodding along, one under par for the day through 11 holes, level for the tournament and too far back.

Up this morning without the hope and anticipation of yesterday, just a dull expectation of disappointment. My expectations were met fully in the World Cup, with England somehow performing even worse. If they don't improve soon they'll be heading for the Tower when they get back home. It's been a dismal effort to say the least - they're just the 16 shots behind leaders Spain!

Spain are odds-on across the boards but odds-against on Betfair. I'm not tempted. Under normal circumstances a four shot lead is pretty comfortable at halfway, especially given there are only five, maybe six rivals left that can feasibly trouble them.

They played some incredible stuff and could quite easily have been several shots further clear, indeed they've already been matched at [1.7] but a lot can happen in four balls, tomorrow's format, and if they're only slightly off their game they could get swamped.

I've had a small investment on the United States @ [15.0], who finished their second round with four birdies and may just carry that momentum through to tomorrow.

In stark contrast to the World Cup leaderboard, the Australian Masters' one was a very pleasant sight. Allenby had really found his mojo and was five under par for his last six holes and is just two off the lead, held by perennial bridesmaid Tim Clark.

Also on five under is one of my other picks, David Horsey. Let's hope he doesn't stop. Sorry.

So I'm not going to meddle here just yet and I'll see what tomorrow brings, I'd like to think they can both kick on, not just Horsey. Sorry, again.

Allenby's putting is certainly a concern but I'd like to think he will boss this event from here.

As for the bet on Ames in the LG Skins, well that's doing fine on account that they haven't started yet. The event gets underway tonight.

I'll post a review of events on Monday.

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