Golf Bets

Starting off with the UBS Hong King Open….

SOREN KJELDSEN has 2 wins and 7 other top-10′s in the last year including a 6th in the US PGA and a top-10 last time behind PHil Mickelson in Shanghai where he closed with a final round 66. He is clearly in good order and has a 4th and 6th place finish in this event in recent years. 28/1 is a fair price.

OLIVER WILSON was 2nd in the HSBC Champions event last year and followed that up the following week with a 6th in the event. He has hit a lot of crossbars since then notably with a couple of top-10′s in WGC events, a top-20 in the US PGA and a close 2nd in the Dunhill links a few outings ago. He is reportedly swinging a lot better and feeling confident about his game so he is also included at odds of 33/1. He also attended Happy Valley races last night and won a few quid so he will be feeling good about himself

At slightly bigger odds WEN-CHONG LIANG has been in the top-20 for this event in the last 5 years so clearly plays it well and couldn’t come into this in better form with a 2nd in the Japan Tour Panasonic Open followed up with a win in the Asian Tour China Classic and a 2nd to Poulter in the Singapore Open. 50/1 is too big.

SOREN KJELDSEN – 2pts e/w @ 28/1
OLIVER WILSON – 2pts e/w @ 33/1
WEN-CHONG LIANG 1pt e/w @ 50/1

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Down under in the JBWere (Australian) Masters (Please note start time of 8pm on Wednesday evening) it’s all about Tiger Woods who was lacklustre last week but this is a much weaker field and if he handles the extremely hot conditions should win this. He only played 9 holes practice because of the 30+ temperature but that was probably a wise move and he plays 18-holes in the Pro-Am so should have a better feel for the course.

A young player that could give him a real fight of it though is US Nationwide Tour multiple winner MICHAEL SIM. Originally from Aberdeen but emigrated out to Australia (smart move) at a young age, his results on the US Tour a few years ago when just starting out were mixed as he played back and forth between the States and Australia and grew accustomed to the US Tour life. During that time he finished 3rd in the Australia PGA, 20th and 21st in two Australian Opens, 11th in an Australian Masters and 4rd in the Johnnie Walker Classic at the start of this year so he clearly plays well ‘back home’.
However, his game has stepped up a notch this year as he has secured 3 US Nationwide Tour titles (and his full PGA Tour card for next year) and has also had 5 other top-5 finishes including the Moonah Classic in Australia. He will clearly relish returning home to take on the likes of Woods and a largely substandard field with the likes of Scott, Baddely and Appleby all out of form. With Woods in the field there is only one way to play this and it’s a straight e/w in the market ‘without Woods’ at a generous 14/1.

MICHAEL SIM (without Woods) – 4pts e/w @ 14/1

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Finally, have a 1pt e/w bet on SCOTT PIERCY in the US event, the Childrens Miracle Network Classic at 50/1. He has led the last 2 events going into Sunday only to succumb late on but it could be 3rd time lucky for him.

RICKIE FOWLER caught my eye in last year’s US Open when he was joint-leader after round 1 and was one of only a handful of players to break par but inevitably faded. I thought that was impressive given he was an amateur, still only 18/19(?) and and the occasion and media attention probably did him more harm than good in that event. When you see something like that you put them on your radar. I watched him cane the British players in the Walker Cup winning all his games last month and then he turned pro.

He has caught my eye at the tail end of this season on the full tour with a 7th in the Justin Timberlake event with 4 rounds in the 60′s and then lost out in a playoff the following week in the Fry Open to Troy Matteson, earnings of over $1/2m in just a few months of being pro is quite an exceptional achievement so have a 1pt e/w at 28/1 as he will need a good finish to secure his tour card for next year from just a handful of events.

SCOTT PIERCY – 1pt e/w @ 50/1
RICKIE FOWLER – 1pt e/w @ 28/1