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Trading loss is outweighed by joy at Clarke's victory

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This weekend was an exercise in sensible hedging and vigorous trading for betting.betfair's golf betting columnist

How do you feel when your final day pick gets pipped at the post thanks to a monster 40 foot putt? Usually pretty miffed but when the player making the putt is Darren Clarke, securing his first win in five years, you're sort of pleased really. I can only imagine the depths 'Dazzler' has been to during those five years and I wonder, from a golfing perspective, if he'd have ever recovered from throwing this one away, which he very nearly did.

It was apparent quite early on that it was going to be a two horse race between Clarke and my pick Derksen. Clarke had started the day leading the Dutchman by one stroke and although briefly headed early on, that was still the state of play when the pivotal moment came on the par-three 14th. Clarke hit his tee shot long to the rough behind the green, it looked like advantage Derksen but he did exactly the same. Clarke then chipped onto the green to about 15 feet, not great but nowhere near as bad as what followed from Derksen. He managed to clip his chip across the green and into the lake in front of it! To his credit he did get manage to get up and down after his drop for a double bogey, but after Clarke made bogey the lead was now two.

Having traded matching pars on the 15th, Clarke drove to the middle of the fairway on the 16th and Derksen found the trees. At this point Clarke was matched at a low of [1.04], but those taking the long odds-on were about to get a nasty shock. Derksen somehow made par and Clarke remarkably missed his par putt from about 18 inches. A stray drive on the 17th led to another bogey for the Ulsterman and the two were suddenly and dramatically level.

A chip and putt par from Derksen looked to have secured him a play-off but fortunately I had the wherewithal to lay back my stake @ [2.1]. Seconds later the aforementioned Clarke birdie putt bolted into the hole and Clarke had won.

I'd questioned Clarke's temperament on Saturday and with some justification but I couldn't help but be pleased to see him win, he's definitely one of the good guys.

Saturday night had seen my great hope for the weekend's US event, Mark Hensby, drop back tamely. Another of my in-running selections, Bart Bryant, had hung in there though and he would be out in the final group with leader Adam Scott.

Sunday brought strong cooling winds and it wasn't long before I realised that it was going to be a war of attrition out there. When Scott had played his first three holes in one over par I laid him @ [1.29]. My view was that anyone could win in these conditions and a three shot lead was not substantial enough to warrant such a short price on such a dodgy closer. To be frank he's been a right plonker when presented with clear cut chances lately and I was going to get stuck in.

It wasn't long before my decision was vindicated when he double bogeyed the 5th and by the time Scott reached the turn he was trailing Ryan Moore by a shot.

This gave me all the opportunity I needed and I was able to comfortably trade the pair to a point whereby I had a nice green book for a change.

As an added bonus, Bryant, having bogeyed two of the first three holes, hauled his way back to the fringes of contention and even missed a birdie putt on the 15th that would have tied him for the lead.

That was as close as I got to what would have been a dream result though and when Scott nailed a nine foot birdie on the 18th he and Moore were in a play off. Scott had to be favourite, Moore, who had traded as short as [1.07] in regulation play, looked shaken. I think he thought he'd done enough to win. To his credit he rose to the challenge and it took a birdie putt from Scott from fully 48 feet, with six feet of swing, on the third play off hole to finish him off.

So, no silliness from Scott this time, in truth it had been a pretty gritty display and very enjoyable to watch. I felt for Moore, as stated, he thought he'd done enough but his turn will come for sure.

What about my punting? Well the best of my original picks was John Bickerton, who ended up in a tie for 7th, none of my in-running selections had obliged and the two winners were players I'd set out to oppose. Yet some sensible hedging and vigorous trading had resulted in only a very minor loss. And after the run I've had I was more than happy.

I'll post my picks for next week on Wednesday.