The Punter's De-Brief: Pieters finally wins big

Matt Cooper
24 January 2022
5:00 min read

Thomas Pieters with the trophy

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Thomas Pieters stayed calm to defeat a quality field and a tricky test in Abu Dhabi, while Hudson Swafford emerged from the pack to claim a second success in The American Express. Matt Cooper looks back at their respective wins...

It was Pieters who stood tall. 'The pin positions were tricky, questionable at best,' he said.

The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship's first visit to Yas Links proved to be quite an intriguing one - visually arresting for fans on television, extremely blustery at times, somewhat links-like, and with pin positions on the final day that prompted some wild scoring.

The week's first move was made by Scott Jamieson, whose first round 63 opened up a one shot lead on the field, an advantage he still held through 54 holes after a few dramas along the way, but the market was never quite convinced by the man whose only previous win had come in a reduced event (36 holes) on a reduced course (par 65), which was inside a racecourse (the 2012 Nelson Mandela Invitational).

Backed at 620.0619/1 and available at over 480.0479/1 before the off, the lowest he was matched was 5.39/2, indicated that the expectation was that he'd be caught and passed.

Among those thought most likely to offer the greatest challenge on Sunday were Shane Lowry (sharing second) and Viktor Hovland (sharing fourth), but both had early problems from which they didn't recover.

The Irishman's links credentials made him popular before the off, generally 25.024/1, and he started the final day 3.65, but was quickly abandoned after making a triple bogey-7 at the first.

Hovland made exactly the same score at the third and, having been heavily backed at around 11.010/1 before the off, he ended every round in the top four, was backed at a low of 2.9215/8, but despite fighting back to retain a share of fourth his race was run.

Pre-tournament second favourite Rory McIlroy made a slow start, but found something on Saturday and briefly got within two of the lead on Sunday, playing way in front of the leaders, but the market didn't fall for it and there was little money thrown at him - it was the right move as he made errors pressing for late birdies.

Tyrrell Hatton was 25.024/1 before the off and backed into 7.06/1 when opening with a 66. He would finish fast for a share of fourth, but was not a factor after scratching a nine and a seven against the 18th hole in his middle rounds. He professed a desire to bomb the hole afterwards. (It's worth noting how well he played the other 72 holes, however).

Rafa Cabrera Bello, backed at a high of 150.0149/1 before the off, was hunted down to 3.02/1 as he joined the lead late in the final lap while Shubhankar Sharma looked back to his best. He was captured at 480.0479/1 before the start and then into 3.65 as he remained calm on Sunday.

But it was Pieters who stood tall. "The pin positions were tricky, questionable at best," he said. "You needed to just pick your spot on the green, hit that, and two-putt."

Backed at 50.049/1 early in the week, he carded 65 on Thursday to drop to 11.521/2, was 4.1 when one blow back at the start of the final round and the market chipped away at him as his method proved sound (and his mind stayed clear).

Swafford strikes at American Express

Over in California there was plenty of expectation that the week would be dominated by the world number Jon Rahm and the reigning FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay.

When Cantlay played his first seven holes in 7-under-par, and carded a 62 to tie the lead, the pre-event 11.5 chance was backed into a low of 1.991/1. But he stalled after that, adding 68-72-68 to finish ninth and was never really a weekend factor.

Rahm, backed at 6.86/1 before a ball was struck, opened with a 66, but didn't end a lap inside the top 10 (he finished T14th). His accidental highlight of the week was being caught describing the set-up as a "piece of sh*t putting contest".

The final round began with the world 312 and 313, Lee Hodges and Paul Barjon, sharing the lead. Both had been backed at 1000.0 before the off and started Sunday 6.25/1 and 6.611/2 respectively. Hodges hung around longer to be backed at 1.9420/21 while Barjon's lowest matched figure was 5.49/2.

Tom Hoge, in his 201st start, was eyeing a first win and one blow behind the leaders heading into the last day. He'd been backed at 260.0259/1 early in the week, started Sunday 7.87/1, and would be matched at 3.39/4, but he came up short again.

As the above suggests, the pace-setters were vulnerable and it was past champion Hudson Swafford who took advantage with a fourth round 64.

Supported at 350.0349/1 before Thursday, generally 250.0249/1, he opened with a 70 to lie T73rd. Even after a second round 65, he was still outside the top 20 and could be backed at over 200.0199/1.

He began the final day priced 25.024/1 and three shots back before he accelerated through the turn. No-one could keep pace with him.

Steve's bets

There was no mention above of pre-tournament favourite Collin Morikawa, who never got himself in the hunt. Backed at 8.8 before the off, he didn't break 70 all week and was available at 40.0 by the end of round one.

Steve's outright selection in Palm Springs, Seamus Power, was bang in the hunt however, proving our man's point that the 44.043/1 available was more than fair. When solo fourth with 18 holes to play he looked set to make a good stab at winning a second title on the PGA Tour, and was backed as low as 3.9, but he made a terrible start, dropping three shots in the first two holes, and never recovered.

There was no joy with the four Find me a 100 Winner selections.

hudson swafford wins 2022 amex.jpg

Oddball Swafford

Hudson Swafford is a remarkable name - like a character with a murky romantic past, investigated by Sherlock Holmes as he chases a long lost love in menacing fashion from the middle of America to Victorian London - and his golf game is every bit as astonishing.

He's now made just seven top fives in 263 first and second tier starts - and yet he's now won four of those rare ventures to the top of the leaderboard.

It's a long, long way from being a fair comparison, but to emphasise how remarkable it is to convert 57% of top fives into wins, if Rory McIlroy did it he'd have 65 titles to his name.

Pieters ready to hit the big time?

"I kind of disappeared for a couple years I guess," the Belgian said after the win. "Happy to be back.

"As a golfer, the world's top 50 is your strive point. Honestly, it's everything. I took it badly (dropping out) but happy to be back again. I want to play all of the big tournaments and hopefully this gets me close."

His case really is another odd one. He excelled on his Ryder Cup debut in 2016, winning four of fives points and appeared made for the big stage.

But his five wins prior to this were quite frankly against ordinary fields, he's not played a WGC event since 2018 and only two major championships in the last two years.

He knows that he was out on a limb and it was perhaps intriguing that he gave credit this second win in three starts to a new putter which is allowing him to capitalise on the hard work he has done on the range and the practice putting green.

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