The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 31 August 2010 / Leave a Comment

Our man's looking forward to a week of spectacular scenery and an Englishman or two proving their worth....

The European Tour pitches up in the Swiss Alps this week for the Omega European Masters at the stunning Crans-sur-Sierre course, high in the mountains of Crans Montana. The scenery is spectacular and I always enjoy watching this event, though in truth it's never been particularly kind to me punting wise.

It's an odd event because although course form holds up very well, with knowledge of the tricky upturned greens a distinct advantage, it also produces winners with little or no course form. Last year's victor, the now woefully out of form Alexander Noren, had Crans-sur-Sierre form that read 66th and MC prior to his success and the 2008 champ has an even odder set of form figures. Jean-Francois Lucquin missed the cut three times before winning and he did so again last year as defending champion.

My first pick has a wealth of form here though, and largely very good form. Miguel Angel Jimenez is making his 22nd consecutive appearance and he already has eight top-ten finishes including two seconds. I deliberated long enough to miss the bigger prices on him and I haven't had a sizeable wager but I felt I had to back him here again. I say again because I backed him last year for the umpteenth time in the event and he should really have fared better than fourth - he messed up with an ugly four-putt, just as he'd moved into the mix. I know he could be mentally and physically drained after being in contention over the last few weeks, with the added stress of having his Ryder Cup place in jeopardy but he has a similar record here to his record at the Dubai Desert Classic, an event he finally nailed back in February.

Next up is another Spaniard in Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, who really does seem to have solved his putting woes. He ranked third at the Czech Open and second at the Irish Open for Putts Per Green In Regulation, so just maybe another win isn't far away. He's played here four times previously, with his sixth placed finish in 2007 being his best result.

Last year this tournament became the first to be co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour on European soil and I've chanced three players from the East that look a fraction big to me.

Thongchai Jaidee was in with a shout here last year and eventually finished fifth. He's not playing particularly well at present but has often found form from nowhere. Whilst both China's Wen-Chong Liang and Korea's Seung-yul Noh competed well at the recent US PGA Championship and are better players than their prices suggest.

Selections:

Miguel Angel Jimenez @ [19.0]
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano @ [34.0]
Thongchai Jaidee @ [60.0]
Wen-Chong Ling @ [70.0]
Seung-yul Noh @ [80.0]

The second of the four FedEx Cup series event's is this week's Deutsche Bank Championship, which starts on Friday as Monday is Labor Day in the States.

This is the eighth staging of the event and it's never been played anywhere but TPC Boston - a long but forgiving track, where six of the eight previous winners could be described as long off the tee and seven of the eight could be described as top-class (apologies to 2005 champ Olin Browne).

Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh have two wins apiece but neither makes much appeal. Singh's gone right off the boil again and I just don't know what to make of Tiger. Usually woefully inaccurate off the tee, he actually topped the Driving Accuracy stats at The Barclays last week and for a round and a half the old Woods looked back on parade but he melted away quite pitifully. I concede that sooner or later he's going to bounce back and given that the Tiger Woods Foundation is a big benefactor of this event, and given his very good course form, this could be the week. But I'm not prepared to risk that it is.

My first pick has no course form, just a missed cut two years ago and a mighty big point to prove. I still don't understand how Paul Casey, who moved up to eighth in the world rankings with his 12th placed finish last week, was overlooked by Colin Montgomerie and I'm backing him to point out how wrong Monty was. And I'm not even going to start on how and when the news was communicated, suffice to say it was absolutely bonkers.

I'm also backing Justin Rose this week for the very same reason - though he actually has a bit of course formed to boast as well - having finished third in '03 and 4th in '06.

I've taken a chance on Ben Crane, who was 10th here two years ago. He's been in fine form all year and may even have an outside chance of a Captain's Pick at the Ryder Cup. Could he do an Eddy Molinari?

I've also backed Ryan Palmer who is too big to ignore given his upturn in fortunes recently and my final pick is Stephen Ames. ..

I've backed Ames several times this year, with no success at all, but he's spending this week with his coach, the man with the fastest growing reputation around - Sean Foley, and that may make quite a difference.

Selections:

Paul Casey @ [40.0]
Justin Rose @ [65.0]
Ben Crane @ [110.0]
Ryan Palmer @ [120.0]
Stephen Ames @ [280.0]

As the Deutsche Bank Championship doesn't start until Friday I'll post this week's update on Sunday morning.

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