The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 26 May 2008 /

"The Punter" sees the end of a bad run with not just the one winner, but two.

A win at last! It's been a while but finally a winner and a stress free Sunday afternoon to boot.
As mentioned on Saturday I had backed both Jimenez @ [18.0] and Karlsson @ [5.6] in running at the PGA. So after the third round I was always in the driving seat when the two selections were in Sunday's final pairing. Which coincidentally was a repeat of the Hong Kong Open's final pairing last November. On that occasion Jimenez had clawed back a four shot deficit, or should I say Karlsson had relinquished a four shot lead.

The forecast bad weather, that didn't materialise, meant that I not only layed back a bit of Karlsson @ [1.55] prior to yesterday's play but I also layed back some Jimenez @ [7.8]. The Spaniard never plays well in poor weather, so when I saw the calm conditions I was a bit aggrieved that I'd been so hasty.

Karlsson started tardily to say the least, while a lengthy par save at the first gave Jimenez all the momentum he needed and when he made a hole in one on the fifth it looked like it was going to be the Spaniard's day, and so it proved.

Not before plenty of ebbing and flowing though and I spent the entire fourth round trading my selections and runner-up Oliver Wilson, who Jimenez beat in a play off. In fact by the time we reached the play-off, both Wilson and Jimenez were equal winners for me.

With hindsight I could regret trading as much as I did but I don't, not for a second. I had a very strong hand on Sunday morning and I was determined to show a healthy profit.

I won slightly less than if I hadn't switched the pc on at all but if I'd done that Oliver Wilson would have surely, finally, gotten his maiden victory. And maybe he should have anyway, he had his chances and traded as low as [1.51]. I had backed him in running @ an average of around [5.0] to make sure I'd have a winning tournament but I didn't honestly think he'd break his duck.

He's not a player I like in contention, though that's obvious given he's now finished runner-up eight times. A wayward drive on the 17th, which had coincided with him taking the outright lead, and the almost lime green trousers were definite errors but other than that he didn't do an awful lot wrong. I won't be readily dismissing him in the future.

Indeed Wilson can take some big positives away from this week but the same can't be said for Paul McGinley and Robert Karlsson. McGinley was woeful on Saturday, sinking out of contention with a tardy 79 and Karlsson repeated his efforts in Hong Kong, throwing away a four shot lead going into Sunday.

Sunday evening at the Crown Plaza was far from stress free. I had spent Saturday night getting myself into a very strong position on Mickelson. Having backed him on Friday at [3.2] I layed him back @ [2.66] before he'd finished playing the 1st hole. I then backed him back at differing rates, the best being [5.0]. By the time the final round started I had very healthy positions on 'Lefty' and my original picks Ames and Crane.

The huge great fly in the ointment was Australian Rodney Pampling, who had been a player I had looked at prior to the event. He lives about thirty miles from the course and has an impressive record there but he isn't one to trust, which is the only reason I hadn't backed him prior to the off.

A run of three birdies in four holes from the 6th saw him take a two shot lead going into the back nine and with Crane having too much to do, Ames having a shocker and 'Lefty' slow at best with his progress it looked like I may have done my money. Having been so prudent in the afternoon I was cursing my stubbornness to back 'dodgy' Pampling.

A Mickelson birdie on the 11th closed the gap to one but when he found trouble on the 15th Pampling was again the strong favourite, trading at a low of [1.49].

On the par 3 16th tee the cracks in Pamplings temperament appeared and a loose tee shot left him with a devilishly tricky bunker shot which he played miraculously to within nine feet.

Stoically he made his par save there but then on the 17th he drove into a ditch. It had been a long time coming but the Rodney Pampling I was expecting had finally arrived.

While all this was happening another player who struggles to get his head in front, Tim Clark, was birdying 16 and 17 and was suddenly tied for the lead! He traded at a low of [2.4] but sinfully left his 14 foot birdie attempt at the last short.

Pampling salvaged a bogey on the 17th so as him and Mickelson went to the final tee it was a three way tie.

Then we had a Winged Foot moment, with Mickelson replicating the now infamous drive on the 72nd hole in the 2006 US Open by wildly slashing his tee shot into the trees left of the fairway. And when Pampling split the fairway with his drive 'Lefty' touched [6.0] and traded for plenty at around [4.5].

We weren't to see a calamitous double bogey a la 2006 though, what we did witness was no doubt shot of the year to date and was described after by Mickelson as in his top five ever. His 140 yard wedge shot went under one tree and over another, clipping the leaves on the way and maybe proving correct the hard to believe theory that trees are indeed 90% air. He jogged out to the fairway just in time to see the ball drop a mere nine feet from the hole.

When Pampling failed to make birdie it was left to Mickelson to roll in his fourth birdie on 18 in as many rounds to win for the second time this season.

What a relief, weeks without a decent winner and now, like buses as the saying goes, two arrive at once.

As usual I'll post my pre event picks for next week on Wednesday morning.

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