The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 13 September 2009 /

It's another losing week for Steve and it might be some time before he backs Fisher or Stenson again...

Going into the weekend, all my pre-event picks at the Mercedes-Benz Championship had fallen by the wayside, as well as a couple off ill-judged in-running punts. My only hope had been Ross Fisher who I'd backed early in round two at [7.4].

He'd had his chance to take control of the event on Friday and had been matched at as low as [3.0] but had stumbled on the back nine. I had decided to overlook that, though I'm really not sure why. I should have listened to my instinct and layed him off because by the time he'd played six holes on Saturday he was completely out of contention.

A bogey at the 5th was followed by a triple-bogey at the 6th and I was reminded why he's a player I hardly ever back. It was a truly woeful effort and stomach churning to watch. Considering how close Fisher came to winning a major this year, watching him play so poorly was almost unbelievable.

With confidence at an all time low and with an extremely congested final day leaderboard to fathom, with hindsight, I should have just called it a day but unfortunately I didn't.

Going into the final round Henrik Stenson was the player on the leaderboard with the stoutest pedigree and the one I felt most likely to take the title. He had started yesterday as favourite and after he'd birdied the 3rd and 4th, his odds fell to a low of [2.7]. I held of then but when he bogeyed the tricky par three 8th hole I backed him at [5.6]. He was only two of the lead and I felt it could have been a mere blip. Those around and above him all have a propensity to struggle with a lead and I thought he may outscore and outclass them on the back nine, but again, it wasn't to be.

Stenson was poor, and like Fisher before him, he'd shown comprehensively why I very rarely back him.

After Stenson had bogeyed the 14th, surrendering any chance he had, it was all I could do to watch the rest of the play.

I didn't want to make a bad book worse but when James Kingston opened up a gap of two shots over his rivals with three to play and traded at heavy odds on I simply had to lay him. James has a habit of throwing away winning chances and, albeit modestly, I layed him at [1.25]. He made a solid par at the tricky 16th but then three-putted the 17th, whilst both Anders Hansen and Peter Hanson picked up birdies, suddenly the three were level.

Just as it looked like I may salvage something from the wreckage Peter Hanson then also three-putted the 17th and Kingston negotiated the last safely to join Anders Hansen in the house on 13 under par.

The final three-ball of Simon Dyson, Soren Hansen and Peter Hanson all trailed by just a shot playing the last but none of them managed a birdie. Dyson's attempt was bang on line but he left it agonisingly short and he must be furious with himself. So it was left to Anders Hansen and James Kingston to fight it out in a play-off.

Hansen was marginal favourite, trading at [1.92] to Kingston's [2.12]. All I'd have achieved, had Kingston lost, was to claw back my Fisher and Stenson stakes, so I just let it play out and of course the player I've backed a couple of times this year, including a few weeks ago in Holland at [120.0], won the play-off with a par to make it a thoroughly miserable weekend.

It was another hammer blow for golf punters. Kingston came into the event with no course form and on the back of four missed cuts. The [360.0] he went off at wasn't tight.

In the States, Tiger Woods is back in emphatic style. He bogeyed his first hole on Saturday and briefly touched [2.5] when he had a tricky par save to negotiate on the 4th, but once that putt was sunk he played almost perfect golf, going on to shoot an incredible nine under par. Quite what Rees Jones, who has just toughened the course up, felt about his display is anyone's guess.

Woods started the final round trading at [1.02] and leading by seven shots, he went on to win on the bridle by a comfortable eight shots.

It's probably not a bad thing that there's only one event for me to concentrate on, or should I say balls up, next week. It's a blank week in the States but I'll preview the Race to Dubai event, the Austrian Open, on Wednesday.

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