Golf. Scottish Open – Loch Lomond. A very American style course plays host to the Scottish Open on the week before The Open Championship, a very odd venue choice as it is nothing like a links course, but the money is good and good quality field is the result. The course is on the banks of Loch Lomond and will play longer than its 7139 yards after the very wet Summer. The weather forecast is OK, mostly cloudy, a few showers for most days and a modest breeze on Thursday. The fairways are generous and this is very much a second shot course but the longer drivers should have an advantage on the soft fairways. Some big name favourites in the field. Els is a two time winner and loves this event, but 11/1 for a player who has not done much winning for a couple of years now is not my idea of value. Phil Mickelson is a surprise inclusion to me as he had previously said the he would prefer to play practice rounds on links courses as his best build up to The Open. His current form is poor since the wrist injury he picked up before the US Open. Goosen has lost his form and has done nothing since being runner up in The Masters. Garcia might enjoy his event but his putting remains poor and his recent form is not great. Luke Donald is the Tim Henman of British Golf, a gallant loser. Cabrera is interesting, his power of the tee and great iron play means he could make some very low scores on this course, but I have to wonder how winning the US Open will really affect him. Will he now raise his game and join the super elite, or will he now relax, safe in the knowledge that he has ‘made it’. He doesn’t strike me as being overly ambitious and might just sit back and ride the gravy train for the rest of his days. Any of the above could win, but there are two other who look better bets. 1 point e/w Ian Poulter @ 25/1 BetFred, Hills Lost 2 points (T8) A bit of a course expert with his last four events here resulting in form figures of 5/10/4/14. His 9th place last time out in France showed a return to form and he has said that he is happy with his game and just needs to hole a few more putts to be in contention for a win. The odds aren’t huge for a player who hasn’t won for a while, but he is a 6 timer tour winner and now back to form on a course he likes, he should give us a run for our money. (22/1 is available with Boylesports if you want the luxury of an extra place e/w). 1 point e/w Charl Schwartzel @ 50/1 BetFred, VCBet and Hills. lost 2 points (MC) Only 22 years old but now has two tour titles under his belt and was 2nd here last year. After winning the Spanish Open he has been playing most of his golf in America and while his form figures may not be that impressive, they are pretty good for a very young player stepping up to events like the Players Championship and US Open, making the cut in both. His length off the tee will be an asset and combined with his very good iron play could see him bettering his 10th in 2003 and 2nd last year. 2 points Tom Lehman to win Group D @ 7/2 with Ladbrokes. Lost 2 points Lehman is very much at the other end of the age scale to Schwartzel, but he has a very good course record, loves the event and the whole Scottish thing. He comes to the event in good form making his last 6 cuts with two top tens and 4 in the top 25. He has never finished worse than 30th in this event in eight starts which saw a win in ’97 and six top 14 finishes. His opponents (Havret, McDowell, Romero and Storm) are all reasonable players but only young Romero looks a real threat. 5 points Cabrera to beat Goosen at 10/11 with Ladbrokes. won 4.54 points
I will take a chance that Cabrera will make the most
of the chances his game should give him on this
course and that he will not cruising in the comfort
zone. Certainly Goosen looks a player to oppose as
he has shown poor form since runner up in the
Masters back in April. His last four events show
form figures of mc/mc/30/mc. He is a past winner of
this event but he is very hard to fancy this week. |
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Betting Previews
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