HSBC Champions Tournament. The official start of the 2008 European Tour, this event is co-sanctioned by no less than four different Tours and limited to 89 players, many of which are not even household names in their own households. That is not to say there are not plenty of quality players in the field, but even some of the big names would rather be at home with the kids, enjoying a winter break. However the lure of the sponsors largesse is enough to lure even the likes of Phil Mickelson to dust of his passport and make a rare trip outside of the USA. Obviously the credit crunch has yet to reach the sponsorship budget of the HSBC. You have to question the motivation of players like Mickelson and Singh who wouldn’t even travel to Wentworth for a £1 million prize, but go to China for a winners purse of just £400K. At least Els had the decency to admit that the reason why he wasn’t at Valderrama last week was because this is the time of year when the big name players get the wheel barrow out to collect the piles of cash on offer to play in these end of year events. No strong outright fancies but there are 3 match bets that are worth backing. 6 points John Senden to beat Nick O’Hern at 10/11 with Boylesports won 5.45 points Senden has dominated O’Hern this season and he is 7 – 1 up on the last 8 H2H’s. He has no course form while O’Hern has a T3rd under his belt back in 2006, so no stronger than 6 points. 6 points Harrington to beat Retief Goosen @ 5/6 with Skybet won 5 points 5 points Poulter to beat Retief Goosen @ 10/11 with Ladbrokes lost 5 points Basically opposing the fading Goosen with two in form players who may be more motivated to play well here and acquire some useful Ryder Cup points. Goosen is dropping down the world rankings like a stone, 6th at this time last year, now 22nd. That sums up his lack of form since April. He started the season in great nick, won in Qatar, runner up in the Masters but after that it has been 14 events, no top 20 finishes and 5 missed cuts. Harrington and Poulter come here in good form, Poulter with four top 10 finishes in his last seven events, and Harrington is 11/8/4 in his last three events. Poulters course record is not good but his season is not over yet as he has the World Cup of Golf coming up in two weeks and partnered with Justin Rose, he has a great chance there. That should keep his mind on the job and he needs to make the most of his European events to score Ryder Cup points. Harrington is stronger on the course and now that he has gotten over his Open Championship ‘hangover’, he looks to be on course to move up to the very top table of world golf. Goosen was third here last year and has a good record playing in China, so he could still pull something out of the bag, but there has been precious little to suggest that he is going to turn his game round here. A holiday and lots of work with his coach would be time better spent if it were not for the fat load of cash he will get just for turning up. |
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