Golf – Hong Kong Open. Not nearly the quality of field that we had for the HSBC last week, but a competition that has been farmed by European’s in the last 7 years. Perhaps the gap between the European tour and the Asian tour is closing, but clearly the first place to look for the winner is with the ‘big guns’ from the European & US tours. 2 points e/w Michael Campbell @ 16/1 with Totesport, VCBet, Paddy Power, Coral. lost 4 points Campbell is a player who blows hot and cold and it looks like he is just about to catch fire. His playing schedule was hardly taxing last year but he has blown off the cobwebs with a 2nd and 3rd in his last two events. He really could/should have won last week but for a horrible 77 in RD3. To his credit he came back with a magnificent 64 in the final round and if he can carry on in that vein he can win this. His course form is sound (13th and 10th) and when he is on top of his game, he is one of the finest players in the world. He is an accurate player and this short but tight course will suit him very nicely. 1 point e/w K. J. Choi @ 16/1 with Stan James, Ladbrokes, Coral. lost 2 points Another player in fine form having won the Chrysler Classic and a solid 9th last week. The fact that fellow Korean Yang won in Shanghai may just spur him on, a little bit of personal pride at stake perhaps. He can play the course well (2nd last year) and his excellent putting skills can put him in with a winning chance. 0.5 point e/w Gaurav Ghei @ 150/1 with Skybet. lost 1 point There has been a vast improvement in the standard of professional golfers coming out of India. In last weeks high quality field in Shanghai there were 4 Indian players in the top 26, something quite unthinkable a few years ago. Jeev Milka Singh’s big win at Valderrama a few weeks ago has raised the bar and it seems like his fellow countrymen are now setting their sights on winning tournaments (recent wins also for Randhawa and Ghei) Ghei has been on the Asian tour since 1998 but it took him until 1st October 2006 until he won his first event, the Taiwan Masters. His recent form is decent with 4 top 15 finishes in his last 6 events and a final round 74 denied him a top 20 finish in Shanghai last week, in a field that was much stronger than this weeks. His course form is only fair (best finish 25th in 2005) but his game has never been better and with the Indian pro’s inspiring each other, Ghei could be a dark horse this week and looks worth a small bet at a big price. 5 points Jeev Milka Singh to beat Miguel Angel Jimenez @ 10/11 with Stan James. won 4.54 points Jimenez is a past winner here (2004) but his form since July has been poor, 36 competitive rounds and just 9 of them broke 70 and no top 20 finishes. His 21st at Valderrama was his best result for some time, but after a great 1st round 68, he drifted tamely down the leaderboard. He is struggling with his putting in particular. Singh is perhaps the hottest Indian outside of a vindaloo, with recent form figures of 3/25/14/8/3/21/13/1/2/17, spread across the Asian, Japanese and European tours. He has won 3 of the last 4 H2H’s against Jimenez (the only loss being in the US Open which was a very new experience for Singh). He was 18th here last year and his game is on a much higher level now. The only big worry is that he must be getting tired having played 18 tournaments across the globe in the last 22 weeks. Adding: 5 points D. McGrane to beat Peter Lawrie @ 1.88 with Unibet. lost 5 points Two journeymen Irish Pro’s but McGrane looks the value in this match up. He has played here twice with a respectable record of 29th and 7th last year. Lawrie has played 3 times with a unspectacular record of 40/mc/56. On recent form, again it is McGrane who has been playing the better golf, winning 7 of the last 9 H2H’s. |
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