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Favourite racks up the hattrick in style Down Under
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Outsider wins wire-to-wire in South Africa
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Odds-on Valimaki comes up shy
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The Australian events have bumped up favourite backers' Christmas coffers for many a year and that was again the case last week in Brisbane.
The Australian PGA Championship returned to the DP World Tour schedule for the first time in three years, but it was business as usual with the 4.3100/30 favourite, Cameron Smith, comfortably winning the title for a third time.
The reigning Open Champion had drifted out to a high of 8.07/1 after a slightly pedestrian start saw him sitting tied for 14th and three off the lead after round one. But a six-under-par 65 in round two moved him up into second, just a stroke behind Jason Scrivener, and he led by three with a round to go.
Smith was trading at just 1.364/11 before the final round so it looked like a done deal. But it wasn't all smooth sailing on Sunday.
Play was suspended for lightning after the leader had made the turn in just one-under-par and his lead had shrunk to just one.
Jason Scrivener had played his first 11 holes in four-under-par to close the gap and Japan's Ryo Hisatsune was within two when play restarted, but it didn't resume for long.
Pre-event 100.099/1 chance, Hisatsune, birdied the 13th to pull alongside Scrivener in the brief resumption and Smith had just enough time to get up-and-down for par at 10 and miss the green at the par three 11th, before the hooter went again.
Just over half-an-hour later the sky brightened, and play resumed once more but a sloppy chip from Smith led to a bogey four and we had a three-way tie at the top.
Having been matched at a low of 1.330/100, it looked like Smith might be in trouble, but that didn't last long.
Hisatsune missed a tiny par putt at 14 to drop out of the lead, Scrivener parred 13 and 14, when he really needed to apply some pressure, and Smith made back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13 to move two strokes clear again.
Scrivener birdied the par five 15th to get back to within one but he double bogeyed the par three 17th and Smith went on to win by three.
Bradbury wins wire-to-wire
Favourite backers looked like doubling up a few hours later when the pre-event jolly at the Joburg Open, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who was generally an 8.615/2 chance before the off, made a big move from off the pace in round four.
Bezuidenhout begun the final round trading at 12.523/2 and trailing the 54-hole leader, Dan Bradbury, by five. But Bezuidenhout played his first six holes on Sunday in five-under-par to get to within two of the lead in solo second. He was matched at a low of just 2.47/5 when it looked highly likely that the gap would close further.
Having led by a stroke over Sami Valimaki after 54 holes, Bradbury, who was generally a 550.0549/1 shot before the off and a 2.942/1 chance with a round to go, started round four nicely with birdies at one and three but he looked in all sorts of trouble on the sixth after a poor drive.
Bezuidenhout backers started to think he was the man to beat but his birdie putt at the par three seventh slipped by just minutes before Bradbury produced this magical par save on six.
Bradbury parred the next two before making a bomb for birdie at nine, that would have left a lengthy par save had it not hit the hole, and he never looked back after that.
Pre-event 55.054/1 chance, Valimaki, who was matched at a low of 1.618/13 when he led through 53 holes (he double bogeyed 18 in round three), got to within two with a lengthy birdie putt at 15.
But the week belonged to Bradbury and he put the result to bed with yet another birdie at the par three 16th.
A bogey five at the 18th, his only dropped shot of the day, reduced the 23-year-old's margin of victory to three but it mattered not a jot.
Playing on a tournament invite, in just his third start on the DP World Tour, and matched at high of 800.0799/1 before the off, it was impossible not to be impressed by Bradbury's wire-to-wire success.
The Englishman's attitude was fabulous all week long and his infectious grin looks like a huge asset to the Tour.
Ordinarily I'd suggest that we won't see odds of 800.0799/1 about him for a long while now but he's been already matched at 1000.0999/1 for this week's South African Open so someone's made a mistake!
As Bradley bids to double-up in South Africa, Jon Rahm will be looking to follow up his impressive victory at the DP World Tour Championship two weeks ago with a second success at the Hero World Challenge - an event he won in 2018.
I'll be back with previews of both those events tomorrow, and Matt Cooper will be along with a look at the Australian Open where Cameron Smith is a warm favourite to go back-back.
*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter