Find Me A 100 Winner / Paul Krishnamurty / 04 September 2007 /

The best wearer of a headband in golf - ever - is worth a punt at three figures

Gamblers tend to have short memories, often causing major over-reactions in the market. Over the course of a season, there's very little to choose between the middle ranking majority on the European Tour, yet one good performance or a couple of missed cuts can see the pre-tournament odds of this type of player fluctuate wildly.

It's important not to interpret recent form too literally - only a select few are consistent enough to avoid the odd run of missed cuts, even fewer win more than twice in a season. And there are plenty of talented but inconsistent players available at huge odds who are quite capable of winning in ideal conditions even if they have just endured a couple of bad weeks.

Consider the cases of rising Scandinavian stars Mikko Ilonen and Pelle Edberg. Three weeks ago at the Scandinavian Masters, Edberg started the event amongst the market leaders, trading around 30, with Ilonen just below at 34. Ilonen went on to win the event, his second of the season, and deservedly starts at roughly the same odds again this week in Switzerland.
Edberg, however, missed the cut and did so again at last week's Gleneagles event. Consequently, Edberg is now available at mouthwatering three-figure odds.

It's worth remembering why Edberg was seen as one of the players to beat in Scandinavia. The 28-year-old picked up just short of half a million Euros during a tremendous July that saw his game rise to another level. Amongst world-class company, Pelle grabbed 3rd place at The K Club, 4th at Loch Lomond and followed up with an excellent 12th place on his Open debut at Carnoustie.

Edberg didn't appear out of place in any of those situations, looking an imminent first-time European Tour winner.

There's plenty to suggest this week's Swiss venue can inspire a return to those heights. Crans-sur-Sierre contains four par-5s and a stretch of three very short par-4s, offering considerable advantage to the longest hitters.

Aggressive play is the key to scoring round here, along with a good short game to conquer greens shaped like upturned saucers. Edberg looks strong in all the key categories, ranking eighth in driving distance, 14th in birdie average and a respectable 28th in scrambling over the past three months.

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