The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 25 August 2010 /

With Ryder Cup places and the world number one at stake, it's a big week for golf and Steve thinks it's time for Lefty to shine...

The chase for European Ryder Cup places finally ends this week and on Sunday evening captain Colin Montgomerie will name his three wildcard picks for the bi-annual battle in October. There are all sorts of connotations even this late in the race, with Simon Dyson, Alvaro Quiros and Ross McGowan looking to force themselves onto the team and Miguel Angel Jimenez and last week's winner Peter Hanson not yet guaranteed a place.

If one of the three trying to barge their way onto the side win, Monty is going to have a devil of a job choosing who else to leave out (it's hard enough already!) but I don't think he'll have that problem. Hanson showed with his wobbly finish to last week's Czech Open how hard it is to win what equates to two prizes at once, and he's bound to be feeling far more relaxed this week, which is why I think he's worth a play....

Hanson went off at a much shorter price last week with so much more at stake and he's clearly holding his form brilliantly. Although I concede back-to-back wins are rare, he's a fair price at anything over [20.0].

My second pick is another Swede, and one who is also in fine form. Robert Karlsson didn't fare brilliantly at the Bridgestone Invitational but that effort was sandwiched between a 16th place at the PGA Championship and a fast finishing seventh at the Scandinavian Masters, which came hot on the heels of an excellent 14th at the Open Championship. With the added boost of course form, having finished ninth here on the last of his three appearances at Gleneagles back in 2006, I thought he was more than fairly priced at [24.0] on Monday, and I've topped up at less since.

Gregory Havret could quite easily have been arriving here as US Open Champion, as it is he merely lines up as the player with the best course form. His third place last year, as defending champion having won this title in '08, was by some distance his best effort of 2009, and I couldn't leave him out this year.

At the end of 2009, I highlighted Marcel Siem as a player I thought might just nick a win in 2010 and he's had his chances but I felt this would be his best opportunity. I was hoping for a little bigger but I've backed him all the same.

With dire weather a distinct possibility, I've also added Thomas Bjorn. As well as having shown an ability to handle testing conditions, it's only two months since he was hacking up at the Estoril Open de Portugal. We've seen an incredible 11 two-time winners in 2010 already (six in Europe and five in the States) so why not one more?

Selections:

Peter Hanson @ [24.0]
Robert Karlsson @ [24.0]
Gregory Havret @ [50.0]
Marcel Siem @ [110.0]
Thomas Bjorn @ [140.0]

For all the hype surrounding the European Ryder Cup shenanigans the start of the four week Fed-Ex Cup play-off series is really where it's at this week and it's hard to fault the four 'big names' not yet in Monty's team for teeing it up in New Jersey tomorrow. Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and Justin Rose now all require a wildcard pick and a good performance here will surely catch the Scotsman's eye but for my wagers I've looked elsewhere.

For the first time in a while Phil Mickelson looks to have a really solid chance and at [15.0] he's a very fair price. This is only the second time that the A.W. Tillinghast-designed Ridgewood Golf Course has been used on Tour (also used for this event in '08), so course form is sparse. What we do know from an analysis of the stats though is that Driving Accuracy is of little importance (a tick for Lefty), scrambling is (another Lefty tick) and a hot putter will be a big plus too (Lefty tick - sometimes!). Add in his impressive final round at Whistling Straights last time out, his aptitude for other A.W. Tillinghast tracks (Baltusrol, Bethpage Black, Winged Foot and even Firestone before it was tweaked) and the fact that Barclays is one of his major sponsors and the only conclusion I can come up with is that he's going to be right up for it.

The only slight negative is the that the prospect of overtaking Tiger Woods as world number one appears to be holding him back somewhat.

After that I've backed two players in Zach Johnson and Justin Leonard who have done me proud in recent weeks, without actually winning, and three youngsters who I think are the future of the game.

I highlighted Michael Sim as my player to watch in last week's De-Brief and it's nice to see my colleague Paul Krishnamurty also fancies his chances this week.

And finally, I've had a couple of small bets on a pair of outrageous outsiders....

Matt Bettencourt withdrew after just nine holes of last week's Wyndham Championship with a wrist injury but if he's overcome that, given his recent form, he's a very, very big price and last up is Graham DeLaet, who very nearly obliged for me earlier in the year at [600.0] at the Houston Open - beaten a single stroke to third. It takes a huge leap of faith to think he could win an event of this magnitude but stranger things have happened in this game.

Selections:

Phil Mickelson @ [15.0]
Zach Johnson @ [60.0]
Justin Leonard @ [80.0]
Michael Sim @ [140.0]
Matt Bettencourt @ [500.0]
Graham DeLaet @ [740.0]

I'll be back again on Saturday morning with an update on both events.

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