Golf Events / Editor / 13 February 2007 /

Simon Dyson has made some bold predictions ahead of this week's Enjoy Jakarta Aston Indonesia Open and will be hoping to live up to his claims when he defends his title in Jakarta.

Dyson relishes playing on the Asian Tour after winning its Order of Merit title in 2000 and believes he is the man to beat whenever the European Tour holds an event in the region.

The Englishman claimed the first European Tour title of his career when he beat Australian Andrew Buckle to win by two strokes last year and is confident of repeating his success when the tournament begins on Thursday.

Dyson, who has finished in the top ten in his last two events, can be backed at 9.8 to win this week with Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee just ahead of him in the market at 9.6.

Jaidee's compatriot Prom Meesawat is again fancied to do well after his promising showings in the last two weeks and is trading at 18 ahead of Liang Wen-Chong (25), Shiv Kapur (29), Japan's Taichi Tashima (30) and Ignacio Garrido and Thaworn Wiratchant - who are both available at 36.

Hugely-talented teenager Oliver Fisher will start the fifth European Tour event of his career hoping for his first top ten finish and he can be backed at 4.5, but it is Dyson who looks to be the form player at the start of the week.

The 29-year-old Yorkshireman, who has already won four tournaments in Asia during his career, could have won last week in Malaysia but made crucial mistakes at critical moments and eventually had to settle for a share of third place.

That has done little to affect Dyson's confidence though, as he knows how to win and, with one of the best putting touches on tour, should be involved in the finish on Sunday.

He is trading at 3.5 to record a second successive top-five placing and could also be a good bet against Jaidee in one of the tournament's match bets on offer.

Jaidee, twice winner of the Asian Order of Merit, is normally the man to beat on his home continent but struggled at the Malaysian Open last week and failed to make the cut.

He will be eager to make up for that disappointment in Indonesia and finished third here last year but with Dyson playing well at the moment he could be worth opposing in the match bet.

Wiratchant won this tournament two years ago and is one of the best putters on tour at the moment, lying third in the statistics and averaging under 29 putts per round.

But Wiratchant has been inconsistent of late and, importantly, his victory was at a different venue to the 7,121-yard course at the Damai Indah Golf and Country Club being used this week.

Others players make more appeal and it could pay to follow those who have been on top of their games in recent weeks.

Meesawat, one of Thailand's great hopes at the age of 22 and 4.6 to finish in the top five this week, has come joint seventh in the last two weeks and has been in contention until the last few holes on both occasions.

Garrido looked capable of winning in Malaysia until having to settle for third place alongside Dyson behind winner Peter Hedblom and will be a popular selection this week.
And so will Thai teenager Chinarat Phadungsil, who looks to have a great career in front of him at the age of just 18.

Phadungsil paid for some over-aggressive putting at the Malaysian Open as he carded a 77 in his third round to fall back after leading the tournament at the halfway stage.

But he recovered well on the final day to finish tied for seventh and looks attractively priced at 42 to win and 8.8 to place in the first five in Indonesia.

Gary Lockerbie and Marcus Higley, both priced at 80 to win and around 16 to place in the top five, will be eager to follow their promising fifth-placed finishes last week - especially the latter who is a Challenge Tour graduate and has made a great start to life on the European Tour.

Simon Yates and Mikko Ilonen, priced at 65 and 70 respectively to win this week, will also be looking to continue where they left off in Malaysia, while Swede Patrik Sjoland (75 to win) could well challenge if he produces the form he showed in South Africa before Christmas.

Tashima is an interesting name in the field after winning twice on the Japanese Tour in 2006 to finish fourth in their Order of Merit, but the eyes of many will once again be fixed on two of the tour's newcomers for 2007 - Fisher and Notah Begay.

Fisher continues to amaze followers of the tour. The 18-year-old has made all four cuts of the tournaments he has played in since turning professional and recorded his best effort yet on his last appearance - finished tied for 11th at the Qatar Masters.

He is trading at 46 to win and 10 to come in the first five while Begay will be hoping to improve on his first two events since joining the European Tour.

The Native American came in well down the field in Qatar and Dubai but the quality of the field is not as high here and he could be worth backing at odds of 100 to win, 19 to come in the first five and 8.2 to finish in the top ten.

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