The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 18 August 2009 /

Steve plumps for some big-priced picks on either side of the Atlantic but isn't necessarily brimming with confidence...

After two weeks with no event in mainland Europe it's very disappointing to see such a weak line up for this week's Race to Dubai event, the KLM Open in Holland, played at the Kennemer Golf & Country Club, used this year for the fourth year running.

The two players I gave closest consideration to towards the head of the market were Chris Wood and Markus Brier but I've passed them both over as they're both a bit shorter than I'd have liked, so I've gone a bit further down the list for my selections. That said, if Wood keeps drifting I may pounce!

First up is Ignacio Garrido who has contended fairly well and finished in the top three in two of his last six events. He also led here three years ago halfway through round two before crashing. He's certainly flaky in contention but the last two performances in Wales and the Czech Republic weren't awful.

Next up is Robert Rock, who also showed up early in the 2006 event, shooting 66 in round one, before disappearing in traditional Robert Rock style! Kennemer is a links style course and Rock has shown a liking for this type of venue in the past, most recently when finally succumbing to Shane Lowry at the Irish Open. That was a vastly improved effort in contention for Robert and changed my opinion that he'd never win an event.

My third pick is Kenneth Ferrie, who after a couple of decent weeks, finishing 6th at the Open de France and 17th at the Scottish Open, may have lost his way again but he wasn't well in Sweden, where he withdrew, so he could bounce back.

Christian Cevaer, winner of this year's European Open in impressive, stoic, and somewhat slow style, hasn't been in terrific form since but he did finish 4th here in 2006 and looked a tad big at [130.0].

Last up is James Kingston, who, like Rock, also plays well on links style courses. Indeed his only win, in the South African Open, was on a links style track and he showed up well in this years Open Championship.

Selections:

Ignacio Garrido @ [85.0]
Robert Rock @ [110.0]
Kenneth Ferrie @ [120.0]
Christian Cevaer @ [130.0]
James Kingston @ [130.0]

The PGA Tour event this week is the Wyndham Championship, held at the Sedgefield Country Club for the second year running, and I found it so hard to find a few picks here that I even considered backing perennial bridesmaid Tim Clark! I can see him going well, but he finds it so difficult to get across the line I have to overlook him at just a little over [20.0].

The first player to catch my eye was Martin Laird. He led here after round one last year, before crashing in round two with a 74. That dropped him right down to 61st place and he nearly missed the cut! He went on to shot 64 -63 on the weekend to finish in a tie for 4th so he clearly has an eye for the place. I turned my nose up at the [50.0] available on Monday, considering it too short, but after going through the field a little closer I had a rethink but had to settle for a shorter price.

Brandt Snedeker, winner of this event in 2007, returned from injury in sparkling form with three top five finishes in July. He looks like he may have gone off the boil since his 5th in Canada but at [48.0] I thought he was worth taking a chance on.

I backed last year's winner, Carl Pettersson, on Monday, but having just read his interview on PGATOUR.com I'm not exactly brimming with confidence, he hardly talks up his chances! Hopefully he's just being cautious; though in truth he hasn't had the greatest of years.

Last but certainly not least this week, is Jeev Milkha Singh, who I think has the class to win in the States, might just take to this sort of low scoring course and is well worth chancing with at a triple figure price.

Selections:

Martin Laird @ [46.0]
Brandt Snedeker @ [48.0]
Carl Pettersson @ [100.0]
Jeev Milkha Singh @ [110.0]

I'll post an update on proceedings at the halfway stage of both events on Saturday morning.

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