The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 31 August 2009 /

Time off and poor putting result in a losing week for Steve....

It's been a different sort of week with my attention elsewhere and it's definitely cost me. We all need a break and I'm not complaining for a moment but I do have a feeling that not watching the play at either event for the first two days has had a bearing on why I've had such a poor week.

Going into yesterday's final round at the Johnnie Walker Championship I hadn't staked much and I'd expected even less. My only in-running play prior to round four had been on last year's winner Gregory Havret at [29.0] and he did me proud, but his five under par final round 67 was never going to be quite enough.

If I'd left things alone yesterday it wouldn't have been what I'd call a bad result at all, stakes had been kept low and although I'd never really looked like winning, I wasn't losing much at all, but unfortunately I had further involvement, and all to no avail.

Martin Erlandsson flew through the field, eventually shooting a remarkable ten under par 62. I'd looked to back the Swede at several points throughout the day but always felt he'd just fall short and I had been right, he eventually did fall short. But unfortunately, once he'd finished for the day, there was a moment when I changed my opinion and I backed him.

Peter Hedblom, playing in the final group and having started his round over an hour and half after Erlandsson, had the event at his mercy, leading by one with four to play and he looked all over the winner until a poor approach shot on the 15th finished up in the thick rough and it was then that I backed Erlandsson at an average of [4.90]. A missed par putt from Hedblom meant my man was soon level with his countryman and maybe I'd done the right thing? But no, I hadn't.

In contrast to last week, when he'd also led going into the final round, Hedblom was calm and collected - he birdied the very next hole to regain the lead and made two comfortable pars to collect the trophy, and you couldn't possibly begrudge the brave Swede. He'd bounced back very well after last week's disappointment and was without doubt the deserved winner.

The final round of the Barclays was even more frustrating, with my in-running pick, Tiger Woods, trading below the [4.90] that I'd taken during Saturday's third round on three separate occasions before he fell an agonising single shot short of surprise winner Heath Slocum.

Slocum eventually won the event, when he sunk a 22 foot par save on the final hole, to surprise and disappoint just about everyone. I was disappointed, not only because I'd backed Woods on Saturday but also because I've backed Slocum on many occasions, but not this week. And it's safe to assume that the TV companies, PGA Tour top brass and all the sponsors would have preferred an exciting five man play-off, as opposed to the damp squib of a finish that Slocum's par putt produced.

Maybe I'm being hard on myself, maybe not. For a change Peter Hedblom finished strongly and kept his nerve and Woods putted poorly, his miss from less than seven feet on the very last hole epitomising his form with the flat-stick, but if I'm completely honest I do think that not watching the events, in their entirety, had a bearing on how the week panned out.

I'll be better focussed next week for the Omega European Masters and the Deutsche Bank Championship and I'll preview both events on Wednesday.

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