davio

The draw for Europa League knock out phase has now taken place, so let’s have a look if we can find anything else to add to our Anzhi selection. Speaking of Anzhi, they have been drawn against Hannover, who are currently sitting in mid table in the Bundesliga. They should navigate those German waters and that would leave them with a last 16 fixture against either Newcastle or Metalist. I have no qualms about them facing either of those two. So, the draw. I was sweet on Lyon’s chances coming into this but they have been drawn against Spurs and if they get through that, it’s either Inter or Cluj. That’s four tough matches to get through, so one has to pass. What you want is a team who have an easyish draw to begin with, a relatively straight forward Round 16 match and I...

This week sees the second WGC event of the year with WGC-Cadillac Championship. New world number one Rory McIlroy steps up to the tee along with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickleson, Lee Westwood, Masters Winner Charl Schwartzel, Former number 1 Luke Donald and Hennie Otto to name a few, so picking the winner from this field is going to be tough. I’m swerving the top 4 in the betting and concentrating on players who offer value, good course form and good current form. First up we have last year’s winners Nick Watney. Although he’s yet to really contend this year, Form figures of W / T9 / T2 can’t be ignored and the 33/1 is a fair price for a player capable of doing well around here. If he can improve on his Par 3 and 4 performances then the par 5’s seem to take of themselves (-26...

After last weeks shambles, which was eased somewhat with a bet on Grace I/R on the Saturday morning, we move on to the [b]Humana (Bob Hope) Challeng[/b]e and the [b]Volvo Golf Champions[/b]. And it’s with the [b]Humana[/b] where we shall begin. There’s tons of course form and player history to work with this week at La Quinta and a case can be made for about half of the field so let’s try and narrow it down and hopefully unearth the winner. Two bets jump out for me this week and they are [b]Bill Haas[/b] and [b]Matt Kuchar[/b]. [b]Hass[/b] nearly went achieved back to back victories last year but was piped by Johnny Vegas and is a whopping -57 for the last two years. 25/1 has long gone but is still worth a punt at 20/1. [b]Matt Kuchar[/b] somehow contrived not to win...

It was supposed to be so easy…..well it was looking that way after day 1 when Aiken and Byrd sat on top of the pile, looking down on the rest. However it wasn’t to be as the two tournament favourites battled back to win clearly in the end. Moving on to this week and we stay in the same part of the world with both tours as we take in the Joburg and the Sony Open in Hawaii. Starting with the [b]Joburg Open[/b] and the main player here is Masters Winner [b]Charl Schwartzel[/b]. The 4/1 on him has long gone (although Bwin and Sporting bet haven’t priced up the market yet) and he is widely available at 7/2. Now 7/2 might be skinnier than an anorexic model but given the fact he’s won this in the past two years and came fourth in 09 makes him the stand out pick. E/W value...

As Gary Glitter no longer sings in Thailand ‘It’s good to be back…hello…” The golfing years kicks off with [b]The Hyundai Tournament of Champions[/b] in Hawaii and the [b]Africa Open[/b] in South Africa. The [b]Hyundai Tournament of Champions[/b] takes place at the Plantation Course at Kapalua and is a whopping par 73 spanning a course yardage of 7411. Wowsers. The event itself is for last years winners on the PGA tour and a total of 28 players’ line up for contention this week. Stricker and Simpson are obvious favourites but im looking further a field for my picks this week and first on the list is [b]Jonathan Byrd[/b]. His form around here reads W/T15/T13 and has an average score around here of 68.81. 28/1 on the exchanges looks good value for last year’s victor. [b]Lucas...

As the golf season draws to a close we have the Australian Masters and the Thailand Golf Championship to keep us busy this week. The Australian Masters is being held for then second year at The Victoria Golf Club. There is little course form to play with apart from last years event and the 2002 Australian Open, with that in mind class should out and hopefully Luke Donald with cap his impressive year of with a W. A back up option will be Marcus Fraser (e/w), who has some solid form going into this week. Over in Thailand we have the inaugural Thailand Golf Championship and like the Australian Open im hoping class will out and Lee Westwood will take the victory. After his impressive performance in South Africa he didn’t quite get going in Dubai but hopefully with a weakened field...

What to say about last week apart from #winning? It would have been nice if Poulter could have won in Hong Kong (the acca was 291/1) but alas you can’t win them all. Unless of course, you are one of the lucky boys and girls who had Rory, Lee and Tiger all to win. Kudos. Moving on… This week we have the final chapter of the [b]Race to Dubai 2011[/b] with the [b]Dubai World Championship[/b] in which Donald and McIlroy are vying for the Number 1 spot. If Donald can keep McIlroy at bay it will see him become the first player to top both money lists in one season. As the pressure this week will be on them two, this should open up the field for a few others to take centre stage. Last year [b]Lee Westwood[/b] failed to defend his title by one shot. After spanking the field last...

This week’s instalment on the European Tour takes in Hong Kong with the UBS Hong Kong Open. After narrowly missing out in the World cup last week we’ll take last years winner, [b]Ian Poulter[/b], as the main bet for the week. After shooting a 60 here last year, Poults obviously likes ‘the course. I like the way it’s not very long and you have to think your way around it, playing positional stuff. The greens are small and pretty true, and if you get the putter going you can shoot some good scores. It's just a nice blend. It's old school.’ He would be a much shorter price if it wasn’t for McIlroy in the field and at 14/1; he has to be one for the shortlist. Next up: [b]Marcus Fraser[/b]. Two top 10 finishes in his last 4 starts on the European tour along with a second...

This week the European rocks up to the Serengeti Golf Club in Ekurhuleni for the South African Open Championship. With the course only holding the event for the second time we don’t really have much course form to play with. Messrs Louis and Charl are off playing in the world cup, leaving the two gold oldies at the head of the betting. Els piped Goosen in this last year by 1 shot and im taking Goosen to exact his revenge this time round. Goosen out performed Els in last weeks presidents cup and if he can bring that form to the course this week, along with the fact that the every South African loves to win on his own patch, he has every chance of claiming the W. Now last week Robert Rock and I had a bit of a falling out. Well I say we did, it was more me shouting obscenities...