The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 06 September 2009 /

It's been a poor start for Steve in the States but he's still hopeful of a Spanish victory in Switzerland with Miguel Angel Jimenez...

I'm not sure whether I got drawn in by the beauty of the venue or by memories of past glories but I certainly jumped the gun a bit on Thursday at the Omega European Masters.

I'd backed Brett Rumford in-running two years ago when he won the event and I backed him again last year at the halfway stage, before he fell from a tie for 1st down to a tie for 23rd on the weekend. This year I at least got a decent price, backing him at an average of just over [80.0], as he constructed a quite brilliant nine under par 62 to lead on day one. He's now in a tie for 23rd again!

My other day one stray bullet was Gregory Havret - I backed him at average of just under [50.0] when he was four under par and about to play the two par fives. He's now in a tie for 65th! Oops.

The least said about my strongest fancy, Alvaro Quiros, the better. He was absolutely hopeless and I don't think he's quite developed the patience for a fiddly little track like this.

My sole ray of light is Miguel Angel Jimenez, who seemed to score just about as poorly as he could have done yesterday, missing two very makeable eagle putts and not making a putt of any length all day, apart form a par save from 20 feet on the 5th.

The Spaniard, one of my pre-event picks, was matched at below [4.0] yesterday and although not scoring heavily he was still very much in the hunt until he got to the par three 16th.

After waiting an age for playing partner Thomas Aiken on the previous hole, who was messing about over a ruling, my man had missed a very makeable eagle putt. He then four-putted the 16th to make double bogey. Mercifully, he birdied the last to stay within four shots of the lead but it was far from an ideal finish and I definitely think Aiken's shenanigans hadn't helped.

The current leader, Alexander Noren, is most definitely opposable, as is Charl Schwartzel in second and Bradley Dredge in third and although I'm obviously disappointed with Jimenez's finish to yesterday's round I'm still hopeful.

As I don't like the front three I may well back a few closers in-running today too, I'll be monitoring Chris Wood and Thongchai Jaidee in particular.

In the States, at the Deutsche Bank Championship, I've had a woeful start. Vijay Singh was the best of mine after day one, on four under par and four shots off the early pace, but he had a horror start yesterday and had given the four shots he picked up on day one back after just six holes!

Zach Johnson also went the wrong way at a rate of knots at the start of his second round and it was left to Phil Mickelson to carry the can.

Lefty had featured quite prominently in Thursday's coverage and from what I saw his game was in decent enough nick... until he got to the greens, where his putting was frankly atrocious. That trend continued yesterday, when he missed umpteen putts from inside six feet.

All three of my picks ended the second day on three under par and out of it - nine shots off the lead!

There are still two rounds to go as it's a Monday finish and I'm still not quite sure what to do with Tiger Woods. The plan was to jump on board in-running and as he's traded as high as [80.0] and for plenty of money at as high as [65.0], I've certainly had a chance to do so but I'm still not sure I want to.

Woods finally moved up a few gears on his back nine last night, birdying four of the last seven holes, but he was still missing short putts and on five under par, he's still seven shots behind the leaders, Sean O'Hair and Jim Furyk, so for now I'm holding off.

Of the leaders I quite like Dustin Johnson, three back on nine under par, and he looks a decent bit of value at around [26.0]. This is his debut at TPC Boston but he seems to warming to the venue and could well kick on from here.

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