Dunhill Links Championship. A Pro-Am played over 3 different courses with St. Andrews being played for the second time after the cut on Sunday. It does appear to be an event that some players love and come back and play well year in, year out. Harrington is a two time winner, but he has not sparkled since winning The Open at Carnoustie (one of the courses played this week). He could bounce back to form but I prefer another past winner who is in great form. 2 points win Lee Westwood to win @ 14/1 with Boylesports, Paddy Power. lost 2 points His recent form reads 9/6/6/1 and his course form 1/5/7/8. Strangely he has said that he doesn’t like links golf but he certainly likes this format. In his current form he looks a must bet. Of course back to back wins are rare, but Westwood has done just that four times in is career. No prizes for originality, but he cannot ignored from a betting point of view. 2 points e/w Soren Kjeldsen to be top European @ 15/1 with Stan James. 1 point e/w Mikko Ilonen to be top European @ 20/1 with Boylesports. lost 6 points With market leader Stenson coming back from a a fruitless spell in the States, Soren Hansen having a very poor track record (four missed cuts and a 58th in this), and the market leader Fasth having a very ordinary event record, this market looks there for the taking for one of these two. Both are in great form and both have shown good form on links courses. Kjeldsen comes here with finishes of 6th and 4th in his last two events and has finished 13th and 8th in his last two Dunhill’s. Ilonen has not done much in this event but he has caught my eye in The Open with finishes of 9/50/16, which suggests he can handle links golf. His current form, with the exception of the British Masters, is very good with 7 top 20 finishes in his last 10 events. 5 points N. Green to beat Graeme McDowell @ 10/11 with Ladbrokes. lost 5 points McDowell has had another disappointing season despite a few decent finishes. His recent form is patchy to say the least, mc/mc/mc/11/11/mc and his course form much the same, mc/mc/2/mc/mc. So very much hot or cold, but in this event, mostly cold. For a player who cut his teeth playing at Royal Portrush, McDowell’s record on links courses is pretty dire in his professional career, with just a second place in this event a few years ago, being the only result of note. N. Green plays most of his golf in the United States and this is a bit of a drop in class. As an Aussie he should have little played enough links style golf in his formative years and he has played in this event twice before, finishing a respectable 29th in 2004. Green is no world beater, very much a journey man pro, but he is playing steady golf making the cut in nearly 80% of his PGA events this year. Making the cut here might well be enough to win this match up. |
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Betting Previews
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