The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 30 April 2008 / Leave a Comment

With course form thin on the ground, it's only a handful of selections for Steven Rawlings in this week's golf betting

The Real Club de Golf de Sevilla hosts the Open de Espana for the first time, making this the event's 29th different venue! Course form is therefore very thin on the ground but we can look back to the 2004 Open de Sevilla for a few somewhat dusty clues. The event was won by Ricardo Gonzalez, with last week's runner up Robert-Jan Derksen finishing in a tie for fourth.

A slightly more up to date but lower profile course form line is an event played here in March 2005 on the Peugeot Golf Tour. The winner on that occasion was Alvaro Quiros Garcia and @ [150.0] he's my first pick. He's a player who is often a generous price and who's played well in a couple of events on the US Tour this year. He's already a European Tour winner having won last year's Alfred Dunhill at Leopard Creek and I think the price is plenty generous enough.

My other selections are Philip Archer @ [110.0], who's often played well in Spain in the past and is simply to ogood a player never to win an event. Marc Warren @ [200.0] has been erratic this year but in a weak field he does know how to win. And finally I've had a small interest on Jean-Francois Remsey @ [300.0]. The French are flying this year and Remsey also finished in a tie for fourth in the 2004 Open de Sevilla.

I also considered a few others but have kept stakes and selections to a minimum given the lack of form to go on. I shall probably get involved in-running fairly early on though.

By far the strongest event this week is over the pond in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is only the sixth Wachovia Championship but it's already established itself as a top drawer event. Quail Hollow is a long and demanding course where on the evidence we have so far, the cream comes to the top. Four of the five event winners to date had already won a major.

I've taken this fact on board and dismissed anyone who isn't in that elite club. It could be a dangerous tactic to eliminate the bulk of the field so readily but it still leaves plenty to ponder. Although defending champ Woods is absent we're still left with past winners Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk. I'm going to overlook these two though, I've a sneaky suspicion that father time is catching up on both. Putting woes are affecting both too much to warrant selection at present. Of the major winners, Geoff Ogilvy has a decent bank of form here and is in fair fettle but is a shade short for my liking @ [23.0].

None of the other major winners in the field get close to the radar. Bar my two picks. The first of which is the most recent major winner Trevor Immelman @ [55.0]. It's fair to say his first appearance since claiming the famed green jacket, last week at the Byron Nelson, was atrocious and so it's a possibility he's still suffering the understandable hangover that such a win creates. If he is back in business this week though, the price is massive. He's got some very handy form on the course, indeed he was mugged in a play-off by Furyk here two years ago and if his driving is anything like it was at Augusta he'll have a great shout.

My other pick is Phil Mickelson @ [11.0]. Following a disappointing fifth in the Masters 'Lefty' has talked of how he needed to work on his putting. If he has done and the required improvement is achieved he'll be tough to beat on a course he's so far played well on.

I will post an update on Saturday, at the halfway stage in both events.

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