Weekly Golf Betting Preview – Race to Dubai
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009It’s one of the biggest weekends on the European Tour this weekend as the Race to Dubai reaches leafy Surrey for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
What with last weeks sensational win for amateur Shane Lowry at the Irish Open, it’s a tough time for tipsters and punters alike, with this week seemingly no different. The PGA Championship has thrown up some big priced winners in the past, none more so than Scott Drummond, Ignacio Garrido and Andrew Oldcorn in recent years.
This year we have a quality field and it’s really difficult to see someone priced up at 100/1 or bigger winning here.
Of the main protagonists, TPC winner and totesport.org favourite Henrik Stenson heads the betting at 12/1 with totesport. The Swede won in fine fashion in the states a fortnight ago and returns to Europe in fine form, hoping to go one better than his second and third place finishes in Qatar and Dubai at the start of the year. Stenson looks the worthy favourite to us and definitely worth a bet.
Further down the betting, Englishman Ross Fisher looks a decent each-way shot at 33/1. Fisher’s game has come on leaps and bounds since his win at the European Open last summer and it won’t be long before he’s in the winning circle again. Fisher represents Wentworth on Tour and knows the course well. He blew up here when leading two years ago going into the final round carding a disastrous 84 which dropped him 38 places, but he’s a different player now so expect a better show if he’s in contention come Sunday.
The winner two years ago was Dane Anders Hansen, who made it his second win in the tournament after victory in 2002. Hansen had to wait another two years for his third win on tour which came at the start of this year in the Joburg Open. He’s followed up that win with some consistent play on Tour and with his undoubted course form represents a bit of a dark horse here this week at 40/1 with totesport.
If you’re looking for another rank outsider to follow in the footsteps of past winners in this tournament, we’ve picked out a few to consider this week. Australian Richard Green has a good record at Wentworth, finishing in the top fifteen in the last three visits. Green hasn’t played much in 2009 and it’s not encouraging to see he’s missed his last three cuts. However, he’s carded a tied 11th finish in the Dubai Desert Classic this year and is based just down the road in Bagshot is worth a shot at 66/1 here.
At 100/1 Alejandro Canizares catches the eye. The Spaniard doesn’t play too often on Tour but comes here off the back of a good May to date and two top twenty finishes here in his last two visits. Finally Colin Montgomerie showed glimpses of former glory days last week in Ireland before fading badly over the weekend. He does have course form though having won this tournament three times in a row at the turn of the century. Monty knows the course like the back of his hand and it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see him turn back the years this week and at 125/1, he may well be worth a small each-way bet.
With such a high quality field there are plenty of other runners worth a closer look. The likes of Paul Casey (14/1) and Luke Donald (22/1) come here in good nick from the PGA Tour. Youngsters Rory McIlroy (28/1)and Martin Kaymer (25/1) have the game to take this prize, along with former winners Miguel Angel Jimenez (28/1) and Angel Cabrera (16/1), the latter of course comes here off the back of his fine win in the masters last month.
All in all, you’ll be doing well to pick the winner!
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