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Weekend Golf Betting: Here's hoping Phil regains his brains at the Wachovia

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Things were looking rosy for The Punter until Mickelson lost it! Third round charges from Jimenez, Hansen, Lara, Derksen and Otto would be very welcome at the Open De Espana

The first round in Spain was disappointing, the best of my four selections was Remesy, who's round of 71 left him six back of first round leader, Sweden's Martin Erlandsson on -7.

Philip Archer had positioned himself nicely at -2 until he dropped three shots over the last three holes, while Marc Warren's round had an even more frustrating conclusion. When he reached his final hole, the par five 9th he was on -3. Would he make a birdie to get right in the mix? No it was to be a snowman, an eight! Alvaro Quiros Garcia also managed a triple bogey during his round and finished up with a +1 total of 73.

The leaderboard looked decidedly weak and I decided to wait to see how things would unfold.

In the US, Mickelson was 86% for driving accuracy and his short game was also in good order, resulting in a -4 first round score of 68. Only one shot more than leader David Toms. Trevor Immelman hadn't shaken off his Masters hangover and shot a woeful 76. Trevor's clearly one to avoid for a while.

Unusually for me yesterday, I didn't bother to see what was happening in Spain until 10.30am, figuring very little would have happened. But I was wrong, those first few hours were pivotal, Ignacio Garrido had sprinted clear of the field and was trading @ around [2.5]. It was then quite simply a question of would I go with Garrido or against him. I went for the latter and set about backing players I thought would benefit should the Spaniard falter on the weekend. As a result I've now backed Jimenez @ [16.0], Soren Hansen @ [20.0], Jose Manuel Lara @ [30.0], Robert Jan Derksen @ [65.0] and Hennie Otto @ [100.0].

I could have just layed Garrido but I think I'm getting better value this way as I don't fancy many of the challengers. We'll see today.

Why am I so keen to oppose Garrido? Well the last time he led after two rounds was the 2006 KLM Open, he shot 73, 74 on the weekend and finished up in a tie for 42nd. He has a better cushion going into the weekend this time but he's far from a safe conveyance.

It was a stuttering start for Mickelson at the Wachovia. Indeed he didn't seem to settle down until he birdied the 8th but after that he played some nice golf, until he hit a snag.

Anyone that's played the game knows what it's like to get to the next hole and realise you've left your putter, your sand iron, your hat, your umbrella or something else behind at the previous hole. Well it was apparent to anyone watching Mickelson play the par-five 15th hole that he had left his brain behind on the 14th green!

After driving into the trees left of the fairway he compounded the error by attempting to thrash it out of the rough with a wood, despite me screaming NO! More wild slashes followed and the end result was a grotesque double bogey seven. He'd gone from [2.94] out to [7.4] in a matter of minutes. He steadied himself with pars on the next two holes then hit a perfect drive down the last. But from position A in the fairway he somehow chipped it straight into the stream that runs all the way down the left hand side of the hole. The result was another double bogey and the end of Michelson's chance.

He's the archetypical flawed genius is 'Lefty' and you have to take these unwelcome aberrations on the chin. Knowing that doesn't make it any easier to swallow though.

So what now? Nobody has come from further back than fifth at the halfway stage to win here so it's probably not worth glancing too far down the leaderboard. Jim Furyk, tied for third and the only major winner left in the top five, fits the profile of past Wachovia winners, but I just can't trust his putting enough to side with him at less than [7.0]. I've thrown a few pounds at Heath Slocum @ an average of [45.0] which I felt was probably ten points too big. Other than that I think the wisest play for me at this stage is to hold off for now and see what today brings.

As always, I'll review both events on Monday.