WHAT a weekend that was. Double bogeys and triple bogeys were the story of my selections in the Dunhill. Then there was Darren Fichardt with a 10 at the 18th in the second round while he was among the leaders.
He missed the cut by one! Hopefully we can avoid any such scores this week. The Nedbank Golf Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club in Sun City has been restructured and will have one of the largest prize funds in world golf with last place taking 100,000 euros. Greens are small and well protected by bunkers so accuracy is a must.
With this in mind you would look to Luke Donald but the last year has not been a great one for him. If he can get back to the driving accuracy and greens in regulation he had in 2011 all will be well. He finished fifth in the DP World Tour event in Dubai last month so hopefully he is getting back to his best.
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano is another one I like. He’s not a player who is always challenging at the top but when he hits a good streak he wins the odd tournament, like he did with the BMW in October.
There’s even a smaller field over in the Northwest Mutual World Challenge in California. In this Tiger Wood event 10 of the competitors in this 18-man gathering are Major winners and there are 10 of the top 20 in the Fed-Ex standings here so it's going to be a tight competition.
Rory McIlroy enjoyed his first win of the season last week in the Australian Open which might have been helped by Adam Scott bogeying the last hole but you can’t fault McIlroy for putting pressure on after being four behind at the beginning of the last round.
He will be there or thereabouts but I can’t see past Dustin Johnson. He seems to be getting his mojo back and I expect a Major from him next year. In the meantime he looks on good form after winning the WGC-HSBC Championship in China and he’s my main bet for this event.
Recommended Bets
Luke Donald 16-1 ew (Betfred, William Hill)
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano 40-1 ew (888sport, Stan James)
Dustin Johnson 18-1 ew (Betfred)
lAce Venturer
Resident football tipster at Scotland's most read newspaper, the Daily Record, for over 20 years and proud host of one the best betting communities on the web with daily betting tips.
Tournament selections:
Nedbank
S Garcia 14/1
J Luiten 28/1
World Challenge
J Furyk 22/1
L Westwood 25/1
Hong Kong
R Cabrera-Bello 22/1
S Hansen 50/1
R Finch 66/1
G Havret 66/1
Just on the Hong Kong event this week.
S.Hansen
Havret
Morrison
Doak
Drysdale
Nedbank Challenge
L.DONALD 16/1 £2 e/way
P.UIHLEIN 50/1 £2 e/way
World Challenge
R.MCILROY 11/2 £4 win