The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 24 May 2008 / 1

BBC coverage irritates our golf gambler but it can't be worse than a Paul McGinley charge to the BMW PGA title

The coverage of the PGA at Wentworth on the BBC has been very disappointing so far this year. There's no interactive elements like last year and when the show begins they give us two hours of recorded mornings play!

In fact the highlight for me has been listening to the dulcet tones of Peter Aliss and in particular him reading out an email that had been copied from the Betfair Golf Forum.

John Leslie's amusing post was edited somewhat but the original gave me a chuckle and I had to smile when it got read out. For your amusement, here's the original witty quip posted on the forum yesterday.

'My visit to Wentworth yesterday was seriously affected by the irritation caused by the astonishing number of spectators dressed as golfers. I have been to any number of sporting events but never before have I seen adults attempting to mirror the players to such an unbelievable extent. I know some people wear football shirts but this was the equivalent of going to the match in boots, shin pads and a knee support. There were any number of people (adults, not just kids) dressed in golf shoes, visors, golf socks, polo shirts, water proofs (in May???!!!!)....I even saw one fella in a glove. This is surely unacceptable behaviour. What goes through these peoples' heads when they get dressed in the morning? It got to the point where I didn't know who was playing and who was watching. I was waiting for 10 minutes for one guy to tee off and it turned out he was queuing for an ice cream.'

It certainly gave me a chuckle.

Anyway back to the event itself and what can I say? Ernie Els, what a great shout that was! Yet another inexplicably poor effort in the PGA, a missed cut. I'll move on.

The best of my original picks at Wentworth is Marc Warren on -5 but he's a whopping eight shots behind the leader, Ireland's Paul McGinley. The Dubliner has played immaculately for two days and has opened up a gap of four shots to Miles Tunnicliff and Robert Karlsson.

I had three further bets yesterday, the first of which was Miguel Angel Jimenez @ [18.0] when he was two under on his round after four holes. The Spaniard has a great record here and I had considered him before the off but felt he was just a shade too short @ [34.0]. His day improved after I'd backed him and he went on to shoot a five under par 67 but that still left him six behind, thanks to McGinley's great round.

I also backed Robert Karlsson @ [4.7] after he'd finished his second round and while McGinley was halfway through his and level with the Swede on -9. As McGinley started to rattle in a few birdies I traded him back and forth in order to get a better price and I now have him at an average of [5.6]. Not great, but better.

The hammer blow for me was McGinley's end to his round, lengthy birdie putts were made on the 13th and 15th holes and then he birdied the 17th and eagled the last. In no time at all a considerable gap had been established and the thrice Ryder Cupper is now trading at around [2.60].

My other bet was on Daniel Vancsik @ [65.0], placed as he stood over an eagle putt on the 17th. Unfortunately he failed to make that and failed to birdie the last and is now on -6 and trading a fair bit bigger.

So what now? Well I have a despondent feeling of déjà vu; two years ago I backed Jimenez just before David Howell sprinted away from the field, so I'm hoping history doesn't repeat itself with McGinley. I don't think it will, although I was very impressed with him yesterday I simply couldn't trust McGinley to do the hardest thing in golf and lead wire to wire. He's a player I'm always eager to oppose but he does look in great form and is no doubt inspired by the recent glut of Irish winners, but on balance I still think the value lies elsewhere.

At the Crowne Plaza Invitational selections Bart Bryant on -3, Ben Crane on -4 and Stephen Ames on -5 are all still in with a shout.

To varying degrees I'm frustrated with all of them though. Bryant was four over par after five holes on Thursday, so he's come back fantastically. While Ben Crane dropped two shots in his last seven holes yesterday and Stephen Ames made a hash of the last hole and made a costly bogey.

The tournament leader is my old mate Phil Mickelson on -7. It was obviously frustrating to see a player you've backed in his last couple of events improve on those performances and lead but even with hindsight I couldn't have fancied him before the event. Going into this week his course form was poor and his game didn't look to be at its absolute best. 'Lefty' had his putter to thank for holding his round together yesterday as he made three or four lengthy par saves but then when birdie chances came knocking at the end of the round the short stick went cold on him.

Whilst I wasn't on from the get go he's a play for me now and I've backed him @ [3.2]. There's usually plenty of interest in Mickelson so with close monitoring of his play early on this evening I'll be able to gauge whether I hang on to the bet or lay it off. But as things stand at the moment, I fancy he could well convert from here.

I'm looking forward to what should be a great weekend's play, hoping for a McGinley crumble and a Ben Crane charge. Whatever happens I'll post a review of events on Monday.

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1. Peter | 27 May 2008

   This may sound like classic aftertimimg ( but anybody who reads the BF golf forum will realise it isn't ) but Mcginley was the biggest golf lay bet of the year. He's a good guy etc but not that good a golfer now and a lay of 2.7 after 2 days was a steal.
   I am not keen on the BBC coverage of golf nowadays and they seem more interestd in showing the spectators than the golfers. There also seems to be a lack of atmosphere in uk golf events. Whilst I am not keen on the 'get in the hole mentality' of the USA crowds, they at least show a lot of enthusiasm and encouragement when watching their golf tournaments and the atmosphere is often excellent.

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