Sporting Selections

Last updated Sunday, October 29, 2007 5:10 PM

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2007 Eurpoean Order of Merit

"Team Casey" has had its problems this season after his ill-advised comments about Americans earlier this year. This however should act in our favour as we believe he will play mainly in Europe in order to retain his Ryder Cup place, he easily has the talent to become one of the top players in Europe.

The last time the favourites Westlife went for Christmas no 1 they were beaten to it by Bob the Builder and haven't tried since! This record has an "unusual" feel to it and we believe will have the backing of a lot of Radio 2 airplay. It also will have a large internet following and we believe internet sales will be counting this year so is worth an investment at 20/1+.

Womens World Cup Overall

The new winter sports season starts this weekend and we have one initial long term bet - Paerson has won the title for the last 2 seasons and some of those closer to her have injuries which should hamper their seasons, she should really be odds-on.

Jaime Murray & Monica Belluci

Hot on the heels of our success in the actual Bond market we will have a crack at this one. Murray comes from the same source that gave us Craig and Belucci ticks all the right boxes to take the lead Bond girl role of Vesper Lynd. Whilst Jolie might be favourite we cannot see her playing opposite Craig - a role she has already fulfilled in Tomb Raider.

Southern Farm Bureau

The Texans' good finishes here are well documented with a 6th and a 3rd in the last 4 years - in fact he seems to just play certain courses well - the other 2 being LaCantera and Montreux where ha has 2 top 5's this year - this price is quite simply double what we reckon it should be.

A truly odd book his price is simply way out of line

CJ Nine Bridges Classic

Ahn has excellent event credentials - she won whilst a player on the Korean ladies tour 2 years ago and then was 4th as defending champion. She has ended the LPGA season in solid form going 10/13/5 and now back home should perform well again.

Volvo Masters 1st round leader

An interesting market and one where the outright prices do not always carry over if you can find a man who is fast out of the gates. O'Hern certainly fits the bill - in his last 100 starts around the world he has led after rd1 6 times and finished in the top 4 a further 8! He was 4th here in 2003 after an opening 70 so these odds do look on the generous side.

European Q school - Emporada

We cannot believe the price of the Scot in this (would be a bigger bet - limits etc!).He won the 2nd stage last year here at Emporada, and in 2002 when he played the final stage here his 4 rounds were 66/64/68/69 bringing his 8 rounds to an average of just over 66! Add in the fact his first win on the Challenge Tour was also in Spain and we have a cracking bet.

European Q school - Golf de Catalunya

We cannot understand why the Portuguese player is over 4x the price of the favourite Nilsson. They both played in the same stage 1 event with our man finishing 1 shot behind Nilsson who was the winner. The Swede has won a couple of Nordic League events recently but on a par Sobrinho won a Europro Tour event in his homeland.He also often plays well in these early stages of the Q school, finishing 3rd at stage 2 in 2003 and winning a stage 1 event in 2002.

Chrysler Championship

A bet on course form really - with 2 top 5's in 3 visits to this course so far. It is well documented that he plays his best in his native Florida and although he did not finish well up the order last week on his return to the State he did actually finish 3rd in the All-round ranking, We will risk more on the top 5 finish than the win as he hasn't won for a while but does have numerous top 5 finishes.

Hanson was impressive on his debut at Valderrama last year when he finished 4th - especially as it came on the back of 3 missed cuts. His best performances this season have been at Wentworth,the K Club and San Roque (where he won) so we seem to have a theme developing - he is clearly at his best on the harder courses - so there would be no surprise if he were in contention again this week.

The 50th anniversiary show takes place tonight and over the last few days there has been a wholesale gamble on the Turkissh winner from 2003. We thought Abba would be nailed on but with voting patterns unpredictable maybe the money is right.

Mens Giant Slalom - Solden

Another skier who seems overpriced to us - he won the last Giant Slalom of last season and will be more than keen to start on a positive note in his home country

Mens Giant Slalom - Solden

The men also ski at Soelden but a day later on Sunday.Although Grandi has never set the world alight at this venue before he did win 2 world cup giant slaloms last year.

We have never picked out Spence before as he has tended to be very much an in and out player but he has just completed a run of 5 straight cuts and fiinished in the top 12 in his last 2 events. When you add in his 3rd on his debut here and the fact that he has actually won twice on tour before then these odds do look a little on the generous side.

Womens Giant Slalom - Solden

The first event of the new season is on Saturday and we suggest you open a new account with Admiral for the coming season. The young American performed well on her first real season in the big time and even managed 2 bronze medals at the World Championships. The Giant Slalom is undoubtedly her best event but we would suggest just a podium finish is within her grasp at present - although the 29/1 is tempting for the win.

The man we wanted to bet was Khan but at the prices available he is no bet. Instead we will go for the young Spaniard who played fairly well in Madrid at the weekend, has already won this season and finished 7th here last year.

We tipped him a few weeks back and he played a shocker - he then came out the following week and led after 2 rounds before collapsing over the weekend. His results show to us he is on the verge of putting 4 good rounds together - and why not here! He has won this event twice and put in numerous other high finishes, and in recent years all his best weeks seem to have come in October.

We were hoping that one bookmaker would stretch to 40/1 but cannot see that happening so it is probably best to split the bet win and place as he still hasn't won on the US Tour.His course form is exceptional with finishes of 6/10/6 and interestingly in the 2 pro-ams earlier this year he finished 2nd and 4th so is clearly at home with the format.

Challenge Tour Grand Final

This would actually be a much stronger bet but we doubt you will get much on.Dixon has not won on the Challenge Tour this year but interestingly only 1 of the last 6 winners had won that year. Dixon is a very good links player - some might remember his exploits at Lytham a few years back and he won the Lytham Trophy as an amateur.This year sees a new venue - an Italian seaside links as opposed to the inland links at Medoc where Dixon finished 3rd in his only other Challenge Tour Grand Final. He is in fairly good form having finished 2nd in Toulouse on his penultimate start - interestingly as did Drysdale before winning last year!

Samsung World Championships

OK - she did us a favour in the British Open but since then her form has been fairly poor. but she has a habit of playing well quite suddenly and why not here in an event where she was 4th on the course last year and won the year before (albeit on a different course). In a limited field of 20 the price just seems a bit on the high side

The Argentinian went off as favourite in the weak Canaries Open but finished down the field on a course which clearly didn't suit. We expect him to bounce back to form on a course which clearly does suit (he has won here) and in a country he obviously feels at home in - one of his other wins was also in Spain.

Michelin Championship

The South African simply has to be backed here purely on the basis of his course form - 2/5/9 in his 3 appearances.Whilst he has not set the world alight last year he has been fairly solid and has made his last 5 cuts, if he was in exceptional form we certainly would not be getting these odds!

All the previous winners of this event were making their debut so course form is not a pre-requisite, one key factor seems the ability to shoot low and Ellis certainly showed that lto shooting 19 under and finishing 2nd.That was his 3rd top 3 finish in 9 starts on the Nationwide Tour this season!

WGC American Express

After his improved showings in recent weeks and an upturn in his stats (especially driving accuracy) the Japanese player has to be a selection on a par 70 course which should bring all the quality parts of his game into play. We thought after last weeks 2nd place finsih 50/1 would be the top price available.

We believe the young Englishman is on the verge of a victory to add to the one he gained on the Challenge Tour in October last year.He has certainly improved in his last 7 starts on the lower tour c/52/49/16/9/2 and certainly has the talent to win one of these co-sanctioned events - he did come close earlier this year when 5th in Madeira.

We have one more pick to put up - and it wasn't going to be Walker but this price is hard to resist. Although not really a winner he does regularly turn in top 5 finishes and his last 3 finishes on the Challenge Tour have been 11/12/6.

A new course in the Canaries this week so why not pick the only man who actually lives on the islands and plays the tour!! Admittedly it should not be used as a sole reason for backing him but a 2nd place in his last outing in Kazakhstan + top 10's in both Challenge Tour events in Spain this season,+ he has finished 6th and 4th in the co-sanctioned St Omer event in the last 2 years - make him a sound pick at this price.

The Swede had a superb year on the Challenge tour last year finishing 6th on the money list with some consistently high finishes and a win. He has struggled a bit this year on the main tour but in recent weeks he has turned in top 30 finishes at Crans and the Dunhill - form which reads well in this class of field, he simply should not be bigger than about 50/1.

WGC American Express

Surprised to see a man such as Olazabal at such a big price this week - he has numerous top 10s this season and a 3rd at the British Open + he was 2nd last time out in Germany. The course may not suit his wayward driving but you never know with Olly and the price more than compensates.