The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 30 August 2010 /

It's Pod over Paul for Monty but the captain's made his first mistake according to our man......

Edoardo Molinari heroically birdied his last three holes to win the Johnnie Walker Championship, his second title on Scottish soil in two months, forcing his way onto the European Ryder Cup team.

In the States, Scotsman Martin Laird was matched at a low of [1.1] before he three-putted the final green from just 23 feet when a simple two-putt would have secured him The Barclays title. He was then beaten by Matt Kuchar at the first play-off hole when the American hit a stunning approach shot to within just a few feet before making birdie.

My Bets

Of my pre-event picks at the Johnnie Walker Championship, only Peter Hanson entered the weekend with a realistic chance of victory and when he opened up his third round with a pair of birdies I was quite hopeful but it all went pear-shaped after that and my in-running bet on halfway leader Gary Boyd died a slow and painful death too. But I did manage to squeeze out a small profit for the week, thanks to Brett Rumford...

With conditions seemingly worsening, I backed the notoriously good poor weather performer yesterday, at [28.0], after he'd birdied the second hole and he very nearly obliged.

I'm not sure how low he traded at because with family visiting, I had to go out yesterday afternoon, so it was a case of recording the play and inputting a couple of lays. When I left the house Rumford was trading at around [8.0] and was still a shot behind the leaders. In hope rather than expectation I left in a couple of lays, one at [2.2] and one at [1.3] and both were matched.

When I sat down to watch, the result unbeknown, I assumed my lays had been taken when I saw that the Australian held a two-shot lead in the clubhouse and that it was going to take something extra special to deny him a win.... up stepped Edoardo. I must have been one of only a few who couldn't fully enjoy what was a quite remarkable finish - especially the monster putt on the 17th!

I won't complain as it was the second week running I'd made a profit without backing the winner. It had been a very similar story at the Czech Open with in-running pick Peter Lawrie.

I had a disappointing weekend at The Barclays, with all my picks, except Adam Scott, falling away on Saturday. Scott waited until early on in round four to do his disappearing act! By the time I'd finished watching Edoardo's heroics and caught up with the early action in New Jersey, Laird was clear and trading at heavy odds on.

Sensing the Scot may struggle I made a very small play on his playing partner Dustin Johnson at [8.0], when he had a great look at birdie on the 14th. He made that and then hit his tee-shot on the 15th to within eight feet for another birdie but he hit a woeful putt and collapsed over the last three holes. There's no doubt poor ole Dustin struggles in the mix nowadays, and I'd chosen the wrong player to oppose Larid with.

Monty's Picks

Captain Colin praised Edoardo's win to the hilt, claiming that he didn't think he'd ever seen a finish of that quality under such pressure by anyone in the 24 years he's been a member of the European Tour. It was very impressive and he couldn't possibly have left him out but in picking Padraig Harrington over Justin Rose and in particular Paul Casey, he's made his first mistake.

In a very odd quirk of fate Casey and Harrington were paired together at The Barclays and they'd already started their final rounds when Monty declared his hand. Casey found out he was out when Pod's wife received a text and gave hubby the thumbs up but not Paul.

"Caroline's a great friend," Casey said. "She would have said something to me if I had been picked. So at that point I kind of knew that I hadn't."

It wasn't an easy situation and it wasn't an easy decision but for my money it's the wrong one. Casey is ninth in the world rankings, is a proven match play specialist, having finished runner-up at the last two WGC Match Play Championships, as well as having won the 2006 HSBC World Match Play Championship, has a great Ryder Cup record and is in better current form than Pod.

Harrington on the other hand, is without a win anywhere in over two years, hasn't scored a Ryder Cup point since 2004 and is hitting it sideways off the tee. Monty kept referring to his stature and the fact that no American would want to face him but I think he's got it wrong and that he's heaping an awful lot of pressure on Pod.

Anyway, on to next week, where the Race to Dubai moves to the Swiss Alps and the stunning Crans-sur-Sierre course for the Omega European Masters and in the States, Kuchar will attempt to maintain his FedEx Cup lead at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Massachusetts. I'll preview both events on Wednesday.

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