The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 14 November 2008 /

Waking at 5.15am isn't much fun when heavy rain means suspended play. It's going to be a battle for Steve to secure a profit on events in the Far East this week.

As absorbing as last week's HSBC event in China was, the sleep deprivation took its toll in the end and I'd promised myself I wouldn't do it again this week. But then I saw that KJ Choi, my sole pick, had a tee time of 4.50am and the live coverage was starting at 5.30am so I changed my mind, the plan was to get up yesterday but to stay in bed today.

So I was up at 5.15am yesterday and I soon wished I hadn't bothered. The forecast stormy weather had hit and play was suspended. It wasn't worth going back to bed so I sat and watched the recorded play.

First and second favourites, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott had struggled. Lefty was two over par through 15 holes and Scott three over through 14. Watching the recorded play it didn't take long to see why, some of the pin placements were very tough for a first round and the Bermuda grass rough looked vicious.

Early pace setter was pre event [1000.0] shot Lam Chih Bing. The Singaporean led by three shots on -4 but I couldn't see him keeping it up for long. A cursory glance at his previous results was enough to immediately dismiss his chance - just one top ten in 89 Asian Tour events.

Play did resume at around 7.15am and although there were occasional sightings of my man the bulk of the coverage centred on Ernie Els, who looked fitter and thinner than he had been the last time Id seen him. He was playing well too and by the close of play he was three under through 14 holes.

I was intrigued by the new Ernie and took a look at his website, perhaps something I should have done before the event. Not only has he been focusing on his fitness he'd also won an event last week, the King Hassan II Trophy in Morocco, getting the better of Simon Dyson and Johan Edfors.

Choi was going OK too, after starting with a birdie and making an eagle at the 4th, level par for the front nine was a bit of a disappointment but he managed to notch another birdie on the 10th before finishing for the day on -1 after playing the 12th.

I stayed in bed until 7.00am this morning and when I did get up play was suspended again. My man Choi had completed two rounds but now very well. He's currently in a tie for 80th and looks sure to miss the cut following a dreadful 77. I think putting could be at the root of it, he's changed putters again and missed quite a few short ones from what I saw yesterday.

The new look Ernie Els and Simon Dyson share the lead on -6 and having also completed their second rounds are in a strong position; who'd have thought the form line that needed examining was the King Hassan II Trophy!

They did resume again this morning but they won't play for long and at the time of writing Mickelson was on +2 and still had 14 holes of his second round to play and Harrington on the same score had 16 left. Some players haven't even started their second rounds yet so it's all a bit of a mess again this week.

I think the guys in the house have a very big advantage and although I know taking short prices about the Big Easy hasn't been particularly profitable over the last few years, I felt the [3.8] available this morning was too big to ignore.

In Japan none of those I'd considered started well and nothing grabbed me yesterday so I'd let it run until now. I quite like Ryuji Imada from here though, two shots off leader Shingo Katayama. He looks worth a few bob at around the [7.0] mark.

Well, it looks like another long and frustrating weekend that may even run into Monday again. Live coverage starts at 3.00am tomorrow but I won't be setting the alarm. I'll see where it's all got to this time tomorrow and probably get up early Sunday morning.

I'll post a review of events on Monday.

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