May 18th 10.00 Last event for me to back in this week is the BMW Pro-Am on the Nationwide Tour and first pick is Troy Kelly. Last summer he had a hip replacement at the age of 31 and returned this season with five starts on the Nationwide Toir and the chance of Monday Qualifying for the PGA tour. In just his second round of golf he Monday qualified for Phoenix and went on to make the cut - no mean feat! On the lower tour he has had three starts and improved with every one 30/24/2. He now comes to a course where he was 1tth last year off the back of three straight missed cuts and I think this is the week where he could well sew up his card for next year and a return to the bigger stage - £50 e/w at 40/45. Second up is a small bet on DJ Brigman - he is having a bit of a torrid time on the main tour and drops down in grade for an event where he has been 3rd before and one where he made his first start as a pro back in 2002. He has won twice at this level including last year but at 66/1 it's only a small bet for me - £15 e/w 66/1. Well I am off to pack up the rest of the house and will be back in a little over two weeks time but I will leave you with one further thought on the US Open which this year comes from Congressional. Sergio Garcia is showing signs of life but needs a good week to get inside the top 50 in the world to qualify automatically. It would come as no surprise to see him get that good week in the very near future - I backed him last week - £40 e/w 80/1 and £20 95 to start off my US Open portfolio. May 17th 21.39 Since backing Hoey earlier today I have added another £30 e/w at 40/1 and he is my main pick for Madiera. He arguably has the best course form on show having finished 6th both times and he must like this part of the world as his one European tour win came in Portugal in 09. This is his time of the year as in 38 pro starts in April/May he has won three times. Whilst he isn't in sparkling form this season his 15th in Dubai reads well in this field and back in Europe we can expect a bold showing. I was looking through the Challenge Tour grads where the last two winners have come from and I liked the look of Kaleka and Gagli. The latter can boast a 5th in Sicily and was going well in the Spanish Open til the final round. He was 29th here last year and has been 3rd in the co-sanntioned St Omer Open before. I like the young French player Kaleka and think he will go far - 11th here last season after an opening 74 so clearly can play the tricky course. Last up is another young French player Russo who like Kaleka shot an opening round 74 here last year but went on to finish 4th. He has started the season in fine form on the Challenge tour and in a poor event could well replicate last years finish. Back tomorrow with the Nationwide BMW Pro-Am. May 17th 20.43 First up I will go into reasons for the Crowne Plaza and to be honest most of the reasons for picking Zach Johnson are pretty obvious. Everyone knows he is defending champion and that he has defended a title in Texas before but the other times he has defended a title on the same course are worth looking at. He won at Sugarloaf in 04 but didn't play it again til 06 when 2nd and then won again in 07. Lacantera was where he won in 08 and 09 and the Sony Open looks interesting as well as in 2010 he led after rd rd1, 2nd rd 2 and 3rd in rd 3 before fading to 12th. He seems to like playing the week after Sawgrass - in 2006 he was 2nd, 2007 won and again in 2009 whilst his win here last season came in his second event after Sawgrass. I had him down as 16/1 favourite and the only favourite I can see beating him is Day but I would take Johnsons seven wins to Days one any day. Paul Goydos has shown time and time again in his career that he can play well back to back so don't be surprised to see him continue last weeks form. Last week he was first for Driving Accuracy and 2nd for GIR on his way to finishing 3rd in a top quality field. Colonial suits the grizzled short hitting vets and Goydos is no exception and can boast a 2nd, 4th and 10th round here - all he needs is to hole a few more putts. May 17th 12.04 I have pieced together my team for Madeira over the last 18 hours - being quick off the mark has helped as prices were all over the shop - reminds me of the old days!! Below are the players I have backed - shop around and you might still get close Michael Hoey - £30 e/w 45/1 - miseed the 60/50!!! Charles-Edouard Russo - £25 e/w 80/1 Alexandre Kaleka - £15 e/w 90/1 + £10 e/w 80/1 Lorenzo Gagli - £20 e/w 100/1 May 17th 09.53 Bit behind this week with prices slow to materialise on the events I want to back in - completed bets for Crowne Plaza which are below - write up later Zach Johnson £100 e/w 25/1 + £100 28/1 average on Betfair Paul Goydos £40 e/w 100/1 + £20 110/1 average on Betfair May 16th 14.17 I had a play at in running betting over the course of the weekend and came out with a profit so in the future I may look more at that angle - thouh not this week. On Friday I move house and it may take a while to get settled and then we have half term so taking some time out to play with the kids. All this adds up to two weeks away - if I can't dedicate complete time to betting then there is no point in dipping in and out. I have my lists drawn up for Colonial, Madeira and the BMW Pro-Am so will do the usual this week but there will be no more posts from Firday onwards for two weeks. May 14th 21.59 Have had a bet in the Players Championship - with the weather delay - just reminds me of when Andres Romero won on the PGA tour before. In good form at the moment and was top 10 here last year - £20 e/w 80/1 - 100/1 at Stan James. Next week we see more or less every type of tournament – with two match play events, a standard 72 hole event, a co-sanctioned tournament and a Pro-Am!!! I will say straight away that I am not a lover of match play and I like betting on it even less so that knocks two tournaments out for next week. After many years of being played at the Santo de Serra golf course the Madeira Open moved in 2009 to Porto Santo so we now have two year’s worth of course form. Whether course form will be useful for this year’s event is open to debate, but it will be interesting to see if the obvious trend continues. The two winners so far – Tano Goya and James Morrison – were both Challenge tour graduates the year before. They then both played the South African swing before having an enforced break as they didn’t get in to the Middle East events and perhaps not being able afford to travel to the Far East. They were therefore pumped up and raring to go once the tour started, playing more in mainland Europe. Over in the USA the Crowne Plaza at Colonial is the longest running non-Major PGA tour event held at the same site, starting back in 1946 so there is plenty of history. These days the course is there for the taking as a short par 70 and the winner will need to shoot between 15 and 20 under par. Having said that, don’t expect the bombers to be to the fore – they have no advantage round Colonial so look out for the shorter, more accurate players May 14th 10.50 Sometimes I think there should be a stewards enquiry into golf events - yet again a heavily backed player shoots a woeful score as Ben Crane just scrapes into the weekend having traded as low as 14/1 in running on Thursday. Yesterday he shot eight shots worse in his second round - weirdly enough he did the same in 2009 but now he is too far back. I will be keeping my powder dry for another salvo next week but do keep an eye out for Sergio Garcia - desperate to get in the US Open he could well move through the field today. What I said the other day about books not pricing up small events has rung true again - Phillipine Open - Bet365 went 66/1 Jay Bayron and Skybet 200/1 - max bet £2 ew and he sits 2nd with a round to go all I can say is colemanballs! May 11th 12.53 No more proper bets from me before the off this week - such a shame that whilst books price up the LPGA and Champions they can't be bothered with the smaller tours. If you can get a bet on for Tuscany then Meitinger is worth considering - he won last time out and has twice won back-to-back on the EPD tour and also he was joint leader going into the final round here last year. Maybe Lloyd Kennedy likes Italy - 3rd last year - he was also 3rd in another Italian event before that. I managed to get small amaounts on at 40/1 and 150/1 so good luck if you try! May 10th 21.24 It wasn't rocket science tipping Ben Crane yesterday but I am very glad I got in early as his price has totally crashed as I expected - although I often don't like obvious picks this week I just had to go big on him. His course form is blatantly obvious with a wonderful improvement curve c/66/36/6/5/4 and he says he loves playing Sawgrass as it is such a good test of golf. He has never been a prolific winner with a win in 2003 and 2005 but then last year he won twice. His form this season is rock solid without setting the world alight but when you look in depth at his last couple of finishes they are better than they originally seem. His 6th placed finish at Harbour Town was his best in eight attempts and 20th at Louisiana was a vast improvement on his three previous missed cuts. All I can say is now I hope he lives up to the top billing! With so much staked on Crane I didn't want to invest heavilky on many others and to be honest no-one else really caught my eye at the prices except Francesco Molinari who I got 100/1 with 6 places though 80/90 is more than fair. He seems to have dropped quickly off the radar but it was only two months ago he was 3rd in the Cadillac in Florida and he was 9th on his Sawgrass debut last year - maybe the return to Florida will do him good. May 10th 14.09 The Iberdrola Open returns to the tricky Pula course on Mallorca and Cevaer is my main pick despite the fact he is a nightmare to call right. A past world junior champion he does have two European titles to his name - the prestigious European Open in 2009 and the Spanish Open when it was held in the Canaries on Fuerteventura. He is ia at his best on shorter trciky tracks and has a penchant for island courses - 11th and 4th here on his last two visits plus that win in the Canaries and a 4th in Madeira - maybe because he grew up on the island of New Caledonia himself. He is also well known as one of the best putters in Europe and in those last two starts here he has led the putting stats each time so is clearly at home on the course. His current form doesn't look fantastic - he withdrew from China and Korea with food poisoning but his 15th last week shows him to be in good shape - especially with the flat stick. My other two picks are in the round one leader market and are pretty simple - how often can you back golfers with this relevant form at these prices - Fasth has played here twice and led or joint led both times - 66/1 , and Gary Murphy who I backed last year who in his last four visits has first round form of 2/1/2/3 - odds of 150/1 seems like a no-brainer to me! May 9th 15.51 Sometimes when you think a price is wrong you just have to go for it as it doesn't happen that often - main bet in The Players Championship = Ben Crane - have had £250 e/w at odds between 45/1 and 50/1. In Mallorca I like the look of Christian Cevaer and have had £30 e/w at 100/1. I also had a cheeky little e/w double on the pair - back later with thoughts and reasonings behind the bets. May 8th 22.26 There hasn't been a lot to get excited about over the last few days so I have had my head buried in the computer researching. Yet again my favourite tour comes to the rescue with Wil Wilcox getting tied third on the Nationwide but it is a little bitter sweet as Henley who I mentioned below won on his college course at 100/1 as an amateur DOH!! Next week looks like being a fairly quiet week on the golf front with just the two main events, but with the Players Championship at Sawgrass there will be plenty of entertainment and drama. International players have dominated the event over the last five years with only Mickelson winning in 2007, whilst Tim Clark, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia and Stephen Ames have all been successful. I do think the key to finding the winner is not necessarily where they originate but rather that they have good previous form on the course. I have a very strong bet lined up so check out the blog on Monday/Tuesday. At last in Europe they play a course with plenty of history as Pula in Mallorca was used from 2003-2007 and then again last year. In the early days the event was a benefit for the top class Spanish golfers with the winners being Jimenez, Garcia, and Olazabal. You could say that Olazabal had a distinct advantage and his win wasn’t a huge surprise as he redesigned the course. It is with great irony and tinged with a huge amount of sadness following the death of Seve that golf in Europe is being played on Spanish soil for these two weeks. He probably contributed more to golf in Europe than anyone else and will be sorely missed. May 4th 16.03 I have had a look through the other events that take place this week and have had a couple of bets. The Champions tour has its first Major of the year in Alabama at the Shoal Creek course and I am going to give hometown player Steve Lowery another chance. I tipped him a few weeks ago the week after his father passed away but I had this earmarked for him. It is not often you get to play a Major at home and this will be one of Lowerys biggest occasions in his career. He is a past member here and has played the course plenty of times and providing the rough hasn't grown as high as it was when last used for the PGA Championship then his long hitting and home advantage could carry him to a top finish. I think that 80/1 is a very big price and have had £50 e/w. The Nationwide Tour play at the University of Georgia course and there are plenty of players who have ties with the couse who are Georgia Bulldogs but it is difficult to pick one above another. I guess Eric Compton could reward backers but at 28/1 he is plenty short enough whilst English and Henley who are still college players will probably lack the experience to contend over all four days. If you can bet at Stan James then Mark Anderson is big at 125/1 - he was 5th here last year and 5th last week, sadly I cannot avail myself of those odds and 66/1 is about right. I have had a small bet on history repeating itself very rapidly after Ted Potter won last week as a Monday qualifier. Like Potter Will Wilcox has also won twice this year on the Hooters Tour and last week lost in a play-off after calling a penalty on himself. He then travelled to Georgia and Monday qualified for this weeks event. Frustratingly not all books have him listed and I have only been able to get £20 e/w on at 66/1 - good luck in getting more on yourselves! This weeks mortgage payer is an e/w yankee on Compton, Lowery, Velasco and Mayfair. May 3rd 21.15 One of the keys to successful golf betting is finding a player who is about to hit form and still getting a decent price about said selection. In this weeks Wells Fargo event I like the way Billy Mayfair is shaping up as he finally seems to be able to putt! His form over the last month has improved every week culminating in his 8th place last week as his accurate game was finally rewarded with a good putting performance. His form at Quail Hollow is pretty good with 10th placed finishes in both 2005 and 2007 but last year is the most interesting. In 2010 he came to North Carolina on the Monday to qualify after playing a huge number of holes at Louisiana over the weekend. He arrived just in time and with his wife caddying he qualified for the main event and entered Sunday in the lead. By that time he was probably quite knackered and shot a 76 to drop to 14th. Since that time he showed he still retains something when he won the Q school back in November and I have backed him £40 win 340, £20 top 5 40/1 and £30 top 10 18/1. Coral 200/1 e/w is more than fair. Next up is Jason Bohn who was defending in Louisiana last week and he continued his fairly average season - making the cut but never really challenging. The reason he is a bet for me is his form in the state of North Carolina. He was 3rd here in 2008 but he has also been 3rd and 2nd at Forest Oaks and 2nd at Sedgefield in 2009. He often pops up out of the blue and at 200/1 I have had £20 e/w and £20 at 290. Last up I will continue with the Nationwide theme - even though Fabian Gomez came up short last week I have come up with someone a la Tommy Gainey and this week it is David Mathis' turn for a home game. This is his second chance on the big tour having disappointed in 2009 but instead of getting down in the dumps he had a great year on the Nationwide tour winning at the tough Jacksonville Open and this weeks course is just as tough. He seems keen to play his home event and comes here in great form with a top 20 in Houston and then 8th last week - his best ever PGA finish. Whilst a win is a huge step at 575/1 average I might get the chance to trade with £25 but I ilke the 30/1 top 10 odds and have had £40 on. May 3rd 14.36 Back after a day off and ready to go again - first up the Spanish Open. As I said on Sunday there is limited course from for El Prat but it led me to may main selection this week Alvaro Velasco. The local from Barcelona finished 4th here on the Challenge Tour back in 2006 in his first season as a professional. He had a great debut season and much was expected and he played on the main tour in 2008 and 2009 but I don't think he was ready. He returned to the lower tour last year and won twice and topped the money list from just sixteen starts. He has had a solid start to the season on the main tour including a 4th in the Dubai Desert Classic. He will be fresher than most having not travelled to the Far East, instead he warmed up in a small event in Spain last week finishing 2nd. I expect a strong performance in front of his home crowd and have invested £50 ew at an average of 75/1. My other two bets are small in nature - firstly for round one leader - Stuart Manley has a habit of playing well for a few rounds at the same courses year in year out before fading - was 4th here in 2006 after the first round and 3rd at the cut - worth £10 ew at 200/1. Last up is reigning Spanish amateur champion Laurie Canter who easily won here at El Prat in March (won 11 & 10). This wasn't a one off - he won the South African amateur last year and qualified for the Open in July. I have just had small bets for win, top 5, top 10 and round one leader at silly odds. Back later with the Wels Fargo. May 1st 22.37 Well the excitement didn't last long on the Gomez front as he managed to triple bogey the 4th for the second time this week and then lost the plot a little. As for Lexi - well she was doing fine in 2nd until back to back double bogeys at 14 and 15 derailed her. Perhaps I can let her off - after all she is only 16 but it really is a kick in the nuts after the last few weeks with Gainey and Chappell. Below is a quick preview of next weeks events but I might well take tomorrow off - it's my birthday and I would rather not look back at this weeks golf results!! Next week sees the European Tour back on the mainland - the headline event is the Spanish Open whilst the Challenge tour pitches up in Disneyland for some Mickey Mouse tournament (sorry couldn’t resist!). Be wary of what some might say about the Spanish Open returning to El Prat for the first time since 1999 as the course had to relocate to it’s present venue at the turn of the century as Barcelona Airport expanded. The present design was the first Greg Norman golf course to have opened in mainland Europe and has hosted mainly minor events but not the Spanish Open itself. The Wells Fargo Championship is the new name of the Wachovia Championship which has been played at Quail Hollow in North Carolina since 2003. The event is normally won by a top class performer but you can forget the 2007 champion Tiger Woods as he is out with injury. Rory McIlroy will be defending next week - not as common a statement as you would think given his starting price every week. He won last year by firing a fantastic 66 and 62 over the weekend but given his recent attempts at winning he is probably opposable, but it may be worth waiting until the final day if he is in contention before laying. The European Challenge tour is worthy of a quick mention - in 1993 a 23 year old American turned up at Disneyland to play a European Challenge Tour event and won. I would guess most players next week would love to emulate none other than Phil Mickelson May 1st 13.35 My apologies for the disruption to the website over the last couple of days - I am having server problems with the site host and to permanently solve the issue I will have to take the site offline for 24 hours which I don't want to do until all next weeks bets are up. Until I have a permanent fix I will put all bets up on Twitter as well - you can follow me here http://twitter.com/#!/SBIdotcom It's going to be quite an exciting day for me with Alexis Thompson being joint leader on the LPGA tour and massive outsider Fabian Gomez in a good position for a top 5/10 finish. I might need a few stiff drinks tonight as I also have them in a small e/w double at 66/1 and 400/1