Golf Bets / Steven Rawlings / 21 December 2010 /

The golf season enjoys a very mini break over the next fortnight so Steve focuses minds for the year to come with a quintet of bets that will be placed in 2011

There has been much debate amongst golf fans as to when and whether a certain Tiger Eldrick Woods will be the force he once was. Personally, I, somewhat naively, thought he'd be back in the groove pretty much straight away and I've squandered more than a few pounds trying to catch him at a decent price on his return to the winners' enclosure.

If someone had told me a year ago that 2010 would be a completely barren year for the game's greatest exponent I'd have thought they were mad, but here we are on the eve of 2011 and the question remains the same: will he ever be the same again?

A relatively successful Ryder Cup, a decent attempt down under at the JB Were Masters, and a very close shave at his own event (the Chevron World Challenge) all add up to a Tiger on the way back for my money and I'm prepared to go in again and soon.

Torrey Pines was the scene of what was arguably his greatest ever achievement when overcoming a double stress fracture of the left knee for 90 holes to win the 2008 US Open and it's will be the scene of the first of these 2011 bets.

Tiger won the Buick Invitational on four occasions before he got the better of Rocco Mediate in his major success here and you have to go back to 2004 to find the last occasion Woods was beaten at this beautiful San Diego course. Is there a better place for him to get back on track?

The Buick is now known as the Farmers Insurance Open and I will be ploughing into Woods there at the end of January.

Flush with funds after Woods has obliged, the following week I'll be recycling my winnings in Qatar on Alvaro Quiros. He won the Qatar Masters in 2009, at a monster price, and he finished second there in 2010, despite playing poorly for two days. His game was simply not on and yet he still outscored all but Robert Karlsson. This venue fits his game so perfectly that he has to be backed again this year - though whether he'll be anywhere near the [90.0] he was when he won, or even the [30.0] available last year, is quite another matter.

I'm going to skip forward to the spring now and to what is just about my favourite event of the year - the US Masters. No doubt I'll be having my obligatory wager on Phil Mickelson again but the player I'm convinced will also taste success at Augusta, and maybe this year at a bumper price, is Anthony Kim.

In just his second competitive round at Augusta in 2009 he made a remarkable 11 birdies on the way to recording a seven under par 65 - a score he again achieved in the final round last year, on his way to finishing third.

He spent most of the latter part of 2010 out of the game following surgery on a damaged left thumb but a tied 25th on a return to action at the HSBC Champions was far from a disgrace. And there were definitely signs of the old Kim at both the Chevron World Challenge and the recent Shark Shootout, where he and his partner Chris DiMarco finished in a tie for third. I'll be looking to snap up some early value here because if he starts the year well, with his glaringly obvious course form, he'll be plenty short enough come April.

Returning to Royal St George's in July for the Open Championship will bring back painful memories for me and no doubt many others. The number of punters who have never quite recovered from Thomas Bjorn's nightmare in the bunker on the 16th hole must far outweigh those who still glow with fond memories of the then almost unknown Ben Curtis' win.

I'm pretty sure Thomas has never got over 2003 and I'm really not surprised, but that result was a reminder of what a treacherous betting heat the game's most prestigious tournament can be. The year after Ben's win, Todd Hamilton broke many a punter's heart (including mine) when he out-played Ernie Els in a play-off and only last year Louis Oosthuizen romped home at a monster price. There's no doubt about it, the greatest event it may be but it sure is one of the trickiest. Nevertheless we've got to have a go haven't we, and one player I think will go really close is Graeme McDowell.

Having now won a major, answered the sternest of questions at the Ryder Cup and out-battled Tiger - at the Chevron World Challenge - with an already very sound links game and the deadly accurate iron game that Sandwich demands, G-Mac looks like a very strong candidate for the 2011 renewal.

A hangover following such a stellar year wouldn't surprise me in the least and if he does get off to a sluggish start he may well be a decent price come July. So, in contrast to Kim at Augusta, I'm inclined to wait a while, but he's certainly on the radar.

Last but not least, one player who we're all excited about is young Italian sensation, Matteo Manassero. Opinions vary as to whether this immense talent will kick on strongly this year or whether he'll still need time to bed-in comfortably to life on tour, but there's one place I'll be backing him, regardless of how his year pans out, and that's Switzerland.

He showed a real aptitude for the quirky Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club on his debut at the European Masters in September but his inexperience in contention took its toll as he drifted up and down the leaderboard before eventually finishing third. There was enough in that performance to suggest this is a course where success will come though and I'll definitely have him onside in September.

The Bets In Full...
Back Tiger Woods to win the Farmers Insurance Open
Back Alvaro Quiros to win the Qatar Masters
Back Anthony Kim to win the Masters
Back Graeme McDowell to win the Open Championship
Back Matteo Manasesero to win the European Masters

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