The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 15 July 2010 /

We couldn't have asked for a better start to this year's Championship, say Steve, with the first two in the betting making strong early moves...

What a great start to the week...

Where is the wind and the rain? Were the weather forecasts even worth looking at this week? The early starters were met with completely benign conditions this morning and boy did they take advantage...

Young pretender Rory McIlroy started his day quite slowly and was just one under par through eight holes, but he burst into life over the last ten, tying the first round scoring record for a Major with a nine under par total.

And if that wasn't enough excitement for one morning, world number one Tiger Woods has silenced his doubters by also getting into contention.

I have to admit, while some very, very good judges were tipping up young Rory, I thought he was a shocking price before kick-off. It seems I was wrong.

I wasn't wrong about Tiger though, once again he's enjoying the Old Course, and if the betting's to be believed it's already a two-man shoot-out between the old master and the new pretender.

Tiger has just finished his round and is on five under par and trading at around [5.5], which really is incredible. At the start of the year I'd have thought his sp here would have been no more than [3.5]. Indeed, he was matched at as low as [3.7] when the market first opened.

So who's the best bet from here? Well Rory looks to have his game in much better shape than Woods but I'm not switching allegiances just yet. I'm still not convinced that Rory quite has the nerve to cross the line in an event of this magnitude and although he's still not in tip-top form, there's no way I'm deserting the master just yet.

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