The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 05 July 2008 /

The leaderboards look similar on both sides of the Atlantic but our golf bettor is happy with his positions

It's a fascinating leaderboard at the European Open with Ross Fisher out front on -13, one clear of Graeme McDowell, who in turn is three clear of Sergio Garcia.

Behind them there's a number of decent players who could put themselves in the picture with a great round today.

Garcia's now the favourite at around [4.1] but he's too short for me, as he very often is. With only one win in three years he's rarely the value pick.

Best of my original bets is Robert Karlsson who recovered a lot of ground yesterday after a very poor first round, when he seemed to get irritated by the pace of Padraig Harrington's play. At one point he walked back down the fairway to see what the hold up was! Although nine shots off the lead I haven't given up on him completely.

I made a couple of plays yesterday; firstly I backed McDowell @ [4.8] after he'd finished his round and just as Ross Fisher started his. The theory being that Fisher had shot his fantastic first round 63 without seeing the course and had said afterwards that he felt tired. I fancied Fisher to be a bit flat yesterday, thus leaving McDowell with a commanding lead.

He was hardly flat as he backed the 63 up with a 68 but I still think of the two McDowell's the more likely winner.

My second in-running bet was Ian Poulter, backed halfway through his second round @ [46.0].

I'm not sure he was helped too much by his playing partner, Monty, who was in a particularly grumpy mood yesterday and a final hole bogey for 'Poults' leaves him six back on -7.

The weather forecast is again pretty poor, with rain and wind predicted which may favour McDowell. This course is pretty easy though and a bolter from the pack could quite conceivably shoot a 62 or 63 and change the whole complexion of things but for now I'm pretty happy with my position.

My US picks have been awful and none can win from where they are.

The current leaderboard is similar to that at the European Open; with two players three clear of the field.

Jeff Overton on -9 is a wonderful young talent but has reacted very poorly to leading in the past. His co-leader, Tom Pernice Jnr, isn't the most solid of conveyances but he's the logical but modest play now @ [6.2].

Three back is the new wonder kid Anthony Kim. Or at least that's what he was billed as after he annihilated the Wachovia field at Quall Hollow back in May.

Regardless of the result this week, a picture of Kim is emerging now. It seems he really likes a proper tough test. This course isn't a birdie fest, like Quall Hollow it's a grind. But he got well clear there which made winning that bit easier. He hasn't shown enough yet to make him a bet at less than [5.0] with a three shot deficit to overcome.

There are a host of players at -5 but they're all infrequent or non winners and none of them can be considered dangerous.

At 48 years of age and with only a couple of wins to his name, Pernice's hardly the first man you would look to back but three shots is a decent lead and if, as I expect, Overton stutters, he could be in a commanding position, given the strength of the chasers.

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