-
Two outsiders to trade at this week's British Masters
-
Steve makes the case for 129/1130.00 and 199/1200.00 shots
-
Read my British Masters preview here
This week's FedEx Cup Playoff finale, the Tour Championship, has never been a great event for longshots and since it was transformed into a handicap event five years ago, with the leader in the FedEx Cup standings receiving strokes from the rest of the field, we're yet to see a winner go off at a double-figure price. For this column, it's a tournament to swerve.
I've concentrated my efforts on this week's DP World Tour event - the British Masters - which has been a fair tournament for outsiders of late.
Up until two weeks ago, regular DP World Tour members who didn't qualify for the Open Championship, travel to the States to play in either of the two co-sanctioned events (the Barracuda Championship and the ISCO Championship), or qualify for the Olympics, hadn't played anywhere in more than a month. So we probably shouldn't have been surprised to see that form at the Czech Masters a fortnight ago stood up nicely at the Danish Golf Championship last week.
The winner in Denmark, Frederic Lacroix, had finished third in the Czech Masters, the winner in Czechia, David Ravetto, finished fourth behind him, and fellow Frenchman, Adrien Saddier, finished inside the top-five in both events. It was also noticeable that Challenge Tour form stood up well in Denmark.
Christofer Blomstrand finished fifth in the Danish Golf Championship, just one week after winning the Finnish Challenge, and Lucas Bjerregaard finished third in his homeland on Sunday after finishing inside the top-10 in three events in-a-row on the Challenge Tour.
Anyone who played in Czechia or Denmark, or in both events, may have an advantage over the many players in the field that didn't, and I was happy to chance Bjerregaard to emulate Lacroix, and win a week after finishing third.
Bjerregaard led with a round to go in Denmark last week, where he understandably struggled a bit in round fourm but he's clearly getting close to his best (he's twice won on the DP World Tour) and he can build on his performances over the last month or so.
Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 & 12 Us @ 2.01/1
Promising Aussie David Micheluzzi was a selection for the column in the States in the ISCO Championship back in July, where he missed the cut.
It was a disappointing performance but I'm happy to overlook it given it came straight after his brilliant second in the BMW International Open. I'm happy to chance him again after last week's promising weekend in Denmark.
Micheluzzi missed the cut at the Czech Masters after a month off and he opened up last week's event with a couple of lacklustre rounds, but he climbed from 47th to 10th with rounds of 67 and 69 over the weekend and he might just be primed for another bold showing.
The 27-year-old, who won four times in his homeland last year to top the PGA Tour of Australasia, is a quite brilliant putter who looks to have a huge future. I thought 200.0199/1 was more than fair.
Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 & 12 Us @ 2.01/1
Now read my Tour Championship preview here