Golf Events / Tareq Quiroz / 08 July 2009 /

TQ is sweet on the chances of the brilliant young German following his success at the Open de France.

The Open Championship is just around the corner and I can't wait. Tiger showed us last week that he is ready and so for that matter did the impressive young German, Martin Kaymer. Firstly however, we have the not so small matter of the Scottish Open to deal with. This is the only real event of the year that gets a high class field the week before a major. There are some serious players at Loch Lomond this week so we should be in for a cracker.

The Course
Loch Lomond GC has to be one of the most picturesque settings for any golf tournament in the world. The course is nestled on the banks of Loch Lomond which is just half an hour away from Glasgow. The surroundings may be serene but any player who thinks that the track itself will roll over and yield birdies galore is in for a rude awakening. The par 71 course measures just over 7,100 yards and can play pretty tough. Just a quick glance down the list of winners show that accuracy with your irons are a must. Keep the ball in-play off the tee and make sure you hit the greens as getting up and down can be very difficult indeed.

The Favourite
It is a pretty close run thing for the right to be the market leader this week but it looks as though that honour is going to go to Ian Poulter at odds of around [17.5]. There is no doubt that the Englishman is in fantastic nick and he also has plenty of decent course form. The concern for anyone backing him is his propensity to make the headlines for things other than his victories. He was staying on but never quite getting there when he put his approach shot at the 15th in the water last week. A cameraman was apparently to blame and don't we all know it. Over an hour later when we should have been concentrating on the climax Poulter was telling anyone who would listen that he won't be coming back to the Open de France next year. If he continues to act like that I doubt the organizers will be that bothered. Poulter is a top player and I would really fancy him this week on a purely golfing outlook but I know that there will be so much talk of last week that I can't see him quite hitting the spot.

The Next Best Bets
This field is just bursting with talent and is made all the more exciting with the added blend of many PGA Tour players over here getting a run out before the Open. There are some big names at the top of the market but I just can't get away from last week's winner Martin Kaymer. I am not usually a fan of following a player who won the week before but in this case I am going to make an exception. The control he showed last week was as impressive a performance as I have seen all year on the European Tour. He hits it long, he hits it straight and if the putter works like it did in the final round last week then he will very hard to beat at Loch Lomond. At current odds of [34.0] he is the main bet for me this week.

The Massive Outsider
As is always the case in fields of this quality, we have some excellent value deep in the market. As I scroll down the first name to jump out at me is Oliver Wilson. Ninth here last year this is just the type of course that this young Englishman will do well at. He hits his mid-irons as well anyone in this field and I fully expect him to contend at Loch Lomond. At odds of [70.0] Wilson is a must for my staking plan this week.

Even further down the list I notice the name of Stuart Appleby. The Aussie has shown some recent signs of a return to form and didn't play badly at all last week in the AT&T National. If he can get himself into contention early on then he will a difficult man to beat so he is definitely worth a punt at long odds of [160.0].

Interesting Info
Despite its illustrious list of winners nobody has ever defended this title so things don't look too promising for last year's winner Graeme McDowell. Loch Lomond master Ernie Els is an incredible 84 under par for his last 32 rounds here. This includes a tally of 28 of those rounds being under par, so a word of warning - he really isn't the kind of guy you want to oppose in this week's three-ball betting.

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