"14", "name" => "Golf", "category" => "The Punter", "path" => "/var/www/vhosts/betting.betfair.com/httpdocs/golf/", "url" => "https://betting.betfair.com/golf/", "title" => "The Punter enjoys a stress-free wire to wire winner : The Punter : Golf", "desc" => "It's a completely stress-free evening for The Punter as Brian Gay strolls to a comfortable five shot victory in Memphis, booking himself a place in the Bethpage field....", "keywords" => "Brian Gay, Bryce Molder, Woody Austin, Bethpage, US Open", "robots" => "index,follow" ); $category_sid = "sid=4338"; ?>

The Punter enjoys a stress-free wire to wire winner

The Punter RSS / / 15 June 2009 /

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It's a completely stress-free evening for The Punter as Brian Gay strolls to a comfortable five shot victory in Memphis, booking himself a place in the Bethpage field.

After a distinct wobble late in Brian Gay's second round, it was very pleasing to see him put that behind him on Saturday. Having backed him pre-event at [48.0], I'd very nearly layed him back on Friday but he hadn't quite gone low enough, but it was a different story on Saturday.

Three birdies in his first six holes saw his odds tumble from [4.3] down to just above [2.0], and I made my first lay off the day. I made a further lay at [1.98] after ten holes and then I had a real stroke of luck as he played the 12th.

He had been trading at odds on for a little while, and quite rightly so, when someone suddenly tried to lay him at [2.1], which at the time looked too big and I was sorely tempted. Then when Gay's approach found its way safely on the green and 16 feet from the hole, the layer strangely pushed him out to [2.2], this time I couldn't resist and backed both my lays back. Moments later he'd drained the birdie and was odds on again.

Further lays and backs were made before Gay again slipped up at the end, bogeying the last hole, leaving him with an overnight lead of just one over Bryce Molder. After all my trading on Saturday I'd effectively layed some of my bet back at an average of [1.52] for a tidy guaranteed profit and Gay traded overnight at around [2.10].

My in-running pick, Woody Austin, didn't have a great day but a couple of late birdies kept him just about in touch, five behind Gay, and I topped up on him for small money at [40.0].

With no European event this week, I'd been looking forward to a day off on Sunday but with thunderstorms again expected in Memphis play was scheduled to start early, with the leaders due to start at 3.00pm UK time.

A dirty great storm prevented play from getting underway and after the start was put back four times the leaders eventually got going at 7.00pm. Tracking American rainclouds and hoping the event would be reduced to 54 holes was a complete waste of a lovely summer's afternoon and by the time they did get going I wasn't in the greatest of moods, but that soon changed.

As he'd done all week, Gay made three birdies through holes one to six and lays after the 2nd hole at [1.70], the 4th at [1.26] and finally at [1.22] after the 5th meant I had a completely stress-free evening, with a very nice win in the bag, regardless of who would lift the trophy. I'd done all the business Id needed to do and it was nice to just kick back and enjoy the golf with no stress.

It wasn't quite as comfortable as his win at the Verizon Heritage, less than two months ago, but it wasn't much of a sweat. For some reason Gay's gone from someone you'd look to oppose in the mix to someone you'd trust and he eventually won by five strokes, birdying the last just for good measure, winning wire to wire and booking himself a place in the field for Bethpage.

So a cracking week and just what the doctor ordered before the big one. I'll take a look at a couple of the other markets in the next few days, so look at for those, and I'll preview the US Open on Wednesday.

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