The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 02 April 2012 /

Steve draws a blank at both events this week but with the year's first major just days away he's far from downbeat. Who'll be heading to Augusta in confident mood and who wishes they hadn't played in Texas? Read The Punter's thoughts here...

Thorbjørn Olesen did what many of us had expected him to do sooner rather than later and got off the mark at the Sicilian Open. The young Dane held his nerve well to stay ahead of the fast-finishing Chris Wood. This was his first win on the European Tour and you can bet your bottom dollar it won't be his last.

Across the pond at the Shell Houston Open, Hunter Mahan was equally impressive, calmly holding all at bay, eventually beating Sweden's Carl Pettersson by a single stroke.

My Bets
I drew a blank at both events but I'm not too downhearted. As I'd written in the In-Play Blog yesterday, I felt Olesen was the correct price at around [2.2] with a round to go but that was too short for me about someone who was looking for their first win and the decision to go on a very rare Sunday afternoon walk with the family was spot on.

At the other event, with hindsight, I could moan that I really should have just layed back my stake at least on third round leader Louis Oosthuizen before round four kicked off but I've no regrets. I'd gotten Louis onside at [10.5] on Friday and I could have comfortably layed him back at around [2.3] but instead I decided to leave the bet in place and try to be clever.

I didn't fancy the eventual winner Mahan, or the runner-up Pettersson and I really fancied someone just off the pace to swoop. Unfortunately the plan backfired. I'd placed further win bets on four players after round three but none of them seriously threatened and only Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley even broke par.

So it's been a losing week but not a disaster and with the year's first major just three days away I refuse to be fed up about it.

Player to swerve
The new rule is, always lay Louis the light-weight! I've highlighted how poor he's been in the past on several occasions, including here after his day four meltdown at the Dubai World Championship and I didn't see anything last night to change my opinion of him one iota. He clearly gets the jitters and even in piddling little events in his homeland he's struggled to cross the line.

Who's caught the eye in the final event before the Masters?
Angel Cabrera was the most obvious eye-catcher for me. His tied 21st at the Shell was a big improvement on what he'd been showing of late and it looked a great warm-up for Augusta. The 2009 US Masters champ was also in the final pairing last year and after this week's efforts in Texas, a bold showing again isn't out of the question.

I'd toyed with backing Y E Yang at the Shell. He's based in Texas, close to fellow Korean KJ Choi, but given he missed the cut last year, had finished 31st in 2010 and 66th back in 2008, I left him alone on account of his poor course form. His final round of 73 was disappointing this time around but his finishing position of tied 29th was still his best effort to date and it might just give him a bit of confidence ahead of the year's first major.

Who wishes they'd stayed at home?
I can't believe Lee Westwood will have gained much confidence from his performance at the Shell. Yet again he missed numerous makeable putts and he had the appearance of a frustrated man yesterday.

Charl Schwartzel finished in the top-30 last year, one week before his glorious two-stroke victory at Augusta so he must have been disappointed to have missed the cut this week. Somewhat worryingly, that was his second weekend off in-a-row following a poor effort at the Transitions Championship and he can't be too happy about his game ahead of his title defence.

What next for the two winners?
Olesen could now fly. He's been talked up favourably for some time now and the way he played so well in such tricky conditions on Saturday was most impressive. He clearly is a very adept young man and having now demonstrated such a strong links game, he might well be a lively outsider for the Open Championship itself.

I have to hold my hands up and say I was wrong re Hunter Mahan. Up until last night he's struggled in-contention and all his wins had come from off the pace but he held his nerves well yesterday. He did play the last eight holes in one-over par but he was always in control and the way he played the devilishly tough 18th was most impressive.

He'll head to the US Masters in very high spirits and it wouldn't be the biggest surprise ever if he were to become just the third player to win the year's first major after winning the previous week. He hasn't had a three-putt in over 100 holes now and he looks in almost total control of his game.

I'll be back with various Masters articles throughout the week and there's already a plethora of stuff to get your teeth into in our US Masters section.

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