The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 18 February 2009 /

Anthony Kim suffered a shocking time in Malaysia last week, but Steve is prepared to give him another chance at the Johnnie Walker...

Despite the presence of Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas, two of the world's most promising young stars, it's a pretty disappointing field that assembles for the Johnnie Walker Classic this week at the Vines Resort in Perth.

The event seems to have lost some of it kudos in recent years and the last three winners, Mark Brown, Anton Haig and Kevin Stadler are hardly household names. The last time the Vines was used was when Stadler triumphed with a whopping 20 under par total back in 2006. Prior to that it hosted the Heineken Classic between 1996 and 2001, so recent course form is somewhat thin on the ground.

My first pick is favourite Anthony Kim. He's a few points higher than he was last week when he was completely flummoxed on day one by the slow grainy greens in Malaysia.

His game after round one last week was pretty good and he'll be far more suited to this venue. He'll also be starting to get familiar with some of the European Tour stalwarts and given the poor field, he looks decent value to me.

Gareth Maybin has come close to winning his first European Tour title twice in his last three outings and looks well worth chancing if he's not too down about how he played his 72nd hole last week, making bogey on the par-5 18th hole, when a birdie would have secured at least a play-off.

Unfortunately, since backing them they've both been allocated afternoon tee times on day one, which is far from ideal here as the wind, known as the Fremantle Doctor or the Freo Doctor tends to get going in the afternoon and can be quite brutal.

Selections:

Anthony Kim @ 11.5
Gareth Maybin @ 55.0

In contrast to the Johnnie Walker, plenty of the world's big names tee it up at the Riviera Country Club for the Northern Trust Open, where I also found myself siding with the jolly.

I know he's been in woeful form so far this year but Phil Mickelson's more than capable of suddenly bouncing back. He made a mess of things in true Lefty style when tripping up on the line and handing Charles Howell victory in 2007 but made amends when winning comfortably last year. With that sort of recent course form I simply couldn't leave him out at [19.0].

I've also backed Zach Johnson, who was let down badly by his putting at the FBR Open last time out. He's been in fine form for a while now and although his course form isn't magnificent, it wasn't at Waialae either before he won the Hawaiian Open there in January.

Last up is Jeev Milkha Singh who takes his first look at the place, which won't help. But Riviera tends to throw up an experienced and wily winner and he fits that bill.
Look out for 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa, who makes his US Tour debut. He won his first tournament on the Japanese Tour at just 15 and much is expected of the lad they call the Bashful Prince.

Selections:

Phil Mickelson @ [19.0]
Zach Johnson @ [38.0]
Jeev Milkha Singh @ [200.0]

I'll post an update on Saturday morning after the completion of round three at the Johnnie Walker Classic and at the halfway stage of the Northern Trust Open.

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