June 17th – US Open Golf Championship
What a great weekend to be home watching sport with the World Cup starting to heat up and many teams dreams being dashed as they enter their 2nd round matches. But for me the real spectacle will be the US Open Golf Championship held at the majestic Pebble Beach Golf Course. This course has seen some of the biggest names in golf take the title here and mostly due to its tough layout when played during a major championship. The last 4 times the US Open has been held at Pebble Beach the winners have been Jack Nicholas (1972), Tom Watson (1982), Tom Kite (1992) and Tiger Woods (2000) who incredibly won by 15 strokes in 2000 finishing 12 under par meaning the 2 nearest rivals and in fact every other player on the course was over par. Considering how bad TIGER WOODS ($8.00) is playing at the moment it’d be hard to see him being a real contender again but he proved at the Masters at Augusta National that he has favourite venues that even when not playing well he can rise to the occasion so don’t count him out if it gets in a dog fight. The big thing I’ve noticed since his comeback earlier in the year has been his putting which used to be a corner stone of his fantastic game. He is missing many more smaller putts than he ever used to and I believe that focus is the main issue. If his head is right he is right in this!
To the other contenders and I’d be crazy once again to not mention PHIL MICKELSON ($8.00) who won the year’s first major in the Masters at Augusta. He has also been there or there abouts in a numbers of tournaments and although he isn’t winning as many as he probably should I’d probably say he’s playing better than he has for a while (That’s so hard for me to say!). He does also boast 5 runner-up crowns at the US Open. ERNIE ELS ($31.00) is a fairly nice price considering he hasn’t been without form in recent times and did finish runner-up to Woods in 2000 at Pebble Beach. His short game is probably the key here and although it hasn’t been as good as when he was top of the world many years ago he could easily find his game at a venue he loves. MIGUEL ANGEL JIMINEZ ($126.00) is incredibly priced considering he finished tied with Els as runner-up in 2000 and has been in the best form of his career in recent times. He has a win this year and just looks in control of his game which sometimes can get a little wayward. I said at the start of the season that LEE WESTWOOD ($13.00) is primed to win a major but I’m not going to go with him here. He at times can be a little gunho with his chipping and approach shots from long range and that can really hurt you around Pebble Beach. While it’s important to be able to make birdies, which Westwood can do, I think it more crucial to stop the bleeding which I think could really hurt him here. I’ve said all year the Open Championship at St Andrews is his for the winning in a few weeks time. It’s also the reason I am shying away from another punters favourite in PADRAIG HARRINGTON ($29.00) who has been up and down for the past 2 years and whilst he has still managed to finish at the top end of many leaderboard’s this year he still seems to be fighting with his driver and unfortunately on a course like Pebble he could produce and 8 or 9 hole which will blow him out of the water. The player who has really come out of the clouds as far as major contenders in recent weeks has been LUKE DONALD ($34.00) who is consistently bringing results to the table and his short game will excel around this style of course. Although his US Open record isn’t flash this layout is much shorter which he is more comfortable with as he’s not the biggest hitter on tour. A real chance here! I also suggested at the start of the season ROBERT ALLENBY ($67.00) was going to have his best season yet and he started on fire with a couple of runner-up performances and probably should have won one of those at least. He is probably considered a chance here due to his supreme ball-striking but I feel he will be better suited in the final major of the year in the US PGA Championship later in the year. RORY McILROY ($34.00) is also being talked up as a contender with some strong performances this year but I think he is far to erratic to win on this course and his big advantage is his length which is somewhat negated by the shorter course here. Finally but certainly not leastly (Don’t think that’s a word but you get my drift), CAMILLO VILEGAS ($41.00) has really found some form in recent weeks and he could really shine at Pebble Beach. His short game is looking superb at the moment and his is an excellent ball-striker who when on, can fire off a number of quick birdies. Small greens will not bother him at all.
Our bets this weekend are:
CAMILLO VILEGAS to beat Dustin Johnson at $1.90 (Sports Managed Fund 5% Bet)
ERNIE ELS to beat Jim Furyk at $1.95 (Sports Managed Fund 5% Bet)
LUKE DONALD to beat Geoff Ogilvy at $1.77 (Sports Managed Fund 10% Bet)
MARTIN KAYMER to make the cut at $1.50 (Sports Managed Fund 10% Bet)
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