The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 03 December 2008 /

Steve Rawlings has made his early selections as he prepares for another week playing the odds in golf tournaments across the world.

With the US Tour on a break until January and with no event this week in the Race To Dubai, you could be forgiven for thinking there wouldn't be much to get stuck into on the golf betting front but there's plenty going on.

In the States the PGA Tour qualifying event, to determine who joins the lucrative tour next year, starts today. I may get involved as the six round marathon develops but will pass from the outset. There's also the Vietnam Masters on the Asian Tour but that too will be ignored for now.

I have got involved in the other three events this week though, starting with by far the best of them, the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa.

Favourite is Sergio Garcia, who after infuriating his legion of supporters for the bulk of the year by failing to add to his win at the Players' Championship, despite being in quite sublime form, has suddenly found the key to getting his nose in front and won twice in his last three outings. On current form he has to be respected but his last three outings here have resulted in one last place finish, one second from last and one tied seventh and he's a bit too short for me.

I really liked both the Swedes and of the two would have possibly favoured Henrik Stenson, who has a fourth and a second place in two attempts here, whereas Robert Karlsson is making his debut. But their win last week in the World Cup has shortened both their prices a bit too much for me.

Lee Westwood is no favourite of mine and has gone a long time without winning and Justin Rose, who pushed last year's winner Trevor Immelman all the way, hasn't had a great year since.

Rory Sabbatini can't string four good rounds together, Luke Donald returns after a very long break and both Kenny Perry and Miguel Angel Jimenez have failed to sparkle here in the past.

Defending champion Immelman nearly made it as a pick, especially as I backed him in 2007, but Masters win apart, he hasn't had a great year and his current form is not quite good enough, so that just leaves my two picks.

First up is K J Choi at [20.0]. His putting has been poor and is holding him back and he's also making his debut at Sun City, which is clearly not an advantage as debutants haven't fared well here but he represents a little bit of value.

My other pick, James Kingston, looks 10 or 15 points too big to me at [65.0]. The SA Open champion and last season's Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner, makes his debut. His invitation came courtesy of his SA Open victory and, immediately afterwards, he stated how excited he was about the chance to play here.

"Competing in the Nedbank has been a childhood dream, I was a boy when I first watched the players taking part at the Million Dollar event at Sun City'" said Kingston.

"Some of the participants were champions like Seve Ballesteros, Johnny Miller and David Frost. Frost was one of my childhood heroes. He gave me my very first golf lesson as a kid. "

It's fair to say Kingston suffers a bit with his nerves so there's always a chance the occasion will get to him but if he overcomes first day jitters I could see him contending, though I must stress I think this is a very tricky event to call and stakes aren't the highest I've wagered by any means.

Selections:

K J Choi @ [20.0]
James Kingston @ [65.0]

In Australia it's the PGA Championship at Coolum and few would begrudge Robert Allenby victory after last week's late stumble. An emotional Allenby is surely desperate to get his hands on another trophy and to be able to dedicate the win to his terminally ill mother, whose presence at the course last week brought him to tears. I'm going to pass him up at just [9.0] given the circumstances.

Peter Lonard is the man to beat around here but he played very poorly last week and also has the pressure of defending so he's passed over too.

The sole pick is last week's winner Rodney Pampling who will certainly be on a high and has a decent bank of form here. I thought he was a bit of value at [17.0]. Again, smallish stakes, as being an overnight event I wont be monitoring play.

Selection:

Rodney Pampling @ [17.0]

Finally, in Japan I've backed Jeev Milkha Singh to win the Nippon Series JT Cup, an event he won two years ago.

Selection:

J M Singh @ [7.2]

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