Dougal
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Posts posted by Dougal
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This is the second women's major of the year, the first was won by 18 yr old Morgan Pressell after a collective loss of nerve by most of the leaders rather handed it to her on a plate. World number one Lorena Ochoa is yet to win a major and comes fresh off blowing a 3 shot lead in the final round of the Ginn Tribute last week, Annika Sorenstam has just come back after three months out and admitted in an interview last week that playing four rounds is a struggle for her at the moment so I'm ignoring the two market leaders this week. Paula Creamer e/w @ 16-1 Stan James 20 year old Creamer is most famous for her all american girl next door looks and for playing with pink balls (oo-er) but that shouldn't obscure what a fine and consistent player she has become. Ten appearances this season have resulted in one win and five top ten finishes and in her last three tournaments she's finished T4, T2, T4. Rookie of the year in 2005 when she finished T3 in this tournament she's got a great chance of picking up her first major here. Se Ri Pak e/w @ 40-1 Sporting Odds Pak is to be inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame after this tournament and with 23 career victories and 5 majors it's well deserved, she's also the defending champion having won the title on this course a year ago. Although she's yet to win on the tour this year she's still had four top ten finishes in ten starts and represents great each way value. Mi Hyun Kim e/w @ 25-1 Bet365 T7 in 2005 and T3 in 2006 in this tournament at the Bulle Rock GC she comes into this event in excellent form after finishing T2 and T7 in her last two events, a winner on the LPGA Tour a month ago she looks a player who is ready to win her first major and can take advantage of the frailities being shown by the favourites.
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Re: Golf - Celtic Manor Wales Open
Cheers, it was certainly a good weekend for both Richardmcfc and myself thanks to Sterne. A nice 2nd for Dredge and Ilonen just one shot off placing in T6 made it as good a tournament as I could have hoped for, now on to Austria!good shootin' dougal - nice spots :ok -
Re: Golf - Memorial Tournament According to BBC Sport Zach Johnson withdrew with 'a sore throat' !!!
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Re: Golf - Celtic Manor Wales Open Bradley Dredge e/w @ 20-1 Dredge played some wonderful golf in Ireland two weeks ago and was unlucky to lose out to Harrington in a play off, although he didn't perform at Wentworth last week I'm sure that's because he'd have had at least one eye on his home open this week. It's not a particularly strong field this week and Dredge is a proven winner and has good course form after finishing 7th last year. Richard Sterne e/w @ 25-1 Sterne's form is there for all to see with a consistent run of top ten finishes, I do have a few doubts about his ability to handle the pressure and close out a tournament but I'm hoping that he can finally do it this week, a place win would cover the other bets anyway. Mikko Ilonen e/w @ 100-1 Ilonen is a streak player, either excellent or completely awful with little in between. I'm taking a punt on him as he's done well on some of the shorter courses this year at the Malaysian Open (7th) and in Indonesia (1st) so Celtic Manor could suit him. He showed a bit of form last week with T12 at the PGA and could, just maybe, be about to hit one of his purple patches.
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Re: Golf - Irish Open Martin Kaymer ew 50/1 @ Boylesports Kaymer finished fourth on the Challenge Tour last season despite only playing in seven events, two of which he won. He's handled the move up to the big tour pretty well and his last four appearances have been 15, 3, 14, 14, he hits the ball a long way which will be important on a course that clocks in at just under 7500 yards and is 17th in the driving distance stats and 22nd in accuracy. I think it's a matter of time before he gets his first win and in a field that isn't particularly strong it could be this week. Raphael Jacquelin ew 25/1 (general) Jacquelin is clearly in the form of his life at the moment and looks completely comfortable and confident in his game, his last four starts have resulted in finishes of 2, 6, 1, 7 and after a couple of weeks off he should be nice and fresh. Jacquelin has both class and form and in this kind of field should be in the mix come Sunday afternoon. Richard Sterne ew 50/1 @ VCBet In seven events this season Sterne has only once finished outside the top 20, his last three finishes have been 2, 5, 5. The slight concern is that he hasn't played since the BMW Asian Open nearly four weeks ago but hopefully this will mean he's fresh and raring to go. Although he's quite a small chap he still averages nearly 290 off the tee and is in the top 10 in the stats for stroke average, putts per round and sand saves.
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Re: Golf - Players Championship John Senden e/w @125-1, Ladbrokes As Hornet said the GIR stats are important here and Senden is top of that list, he also is top 20 in the scrambling stats and comes into the Players after his second top ten finish of the year at the Wachovia. Although Senden's putting isn't his strong point it was still good enough to give him a tour win last year and if he can keep hitting the greens as he has been then I'm hopeful he can be in the mix come Sunday. Fredrik Jacobson - Top European e/w @ 25-1, Bet365 Hornet has already given an excellent summation of Freddie's chances so I don't need to add anything, however I'm backing him in the top european market instead.
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Re: Golf - EDS Nelson Byron Championships I haven't had time to look at this one yet but I see that Boylesports are offering an extra place this week in the outright betting, each way 1/4 for the first six places. I've not noticed them offering this before but it applies to both this tournament and the Open De Espana.
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Re: The 2007 Masters Golf Tournament Justin Rose - Top GB & Ire - e/w 15/2 @ Boylesports Rose has a great game for Augusta and he's played well here before, his putter has been on fire so far this year and he seems to be full of confidence in his game. With most of the other guys in this section looking a little bit out of sorts this year I'm confident Rose will see this bet home. Angel Cabrera - Outright - e/w 125/1 @ Bluesq Cabrera comes into the Masters after closing rounds of 69 & 67 at Houston which should fill him full of confidence as should his 8th place last year. Cabrera is 2nd in driving distance and 6th in GIR which bodes well, obviously there's concerns about whether his putting will hold up to the trials of Augusta but then I guess that's why he's 125-1! I reckon he makes a lively outside bet who should give me a good run for my money. Bernhard Langer - Top ten finish 11/1 @ Bet365 Ok so Langer is 49 but he's still got that steely glint in his eye and his short game and in particular his putting remain excellent, he's had two top ten finishes on the PGA tour this year including last weekend. Obviously the lengthening of the course is against him but then course knowledge, a knock out short game and the ability to play smart count for a hell of a lot at Augusta and I reckon Langer is in good enough shape to roll back the years and take a top ten place. Darren Clarke v Michael Campbell - 72 hole match bet - Clarke @ 8/11 @ Sporting Odds Clarke has barely played this year and when he has he's not played particularly well but he visited Augusta last week for a couple of days and declared the course to be 'brilliant' he's normally good for a couple of decent rounds at Augusta and can win this bet easily. Poor old Michael Campbell is playing awful golf at the moment, he went to Houston at the weekend to try and get a confidence boost and shot 80 & 75, in addition he's missed the cut 6 times in a row at Augusta.
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Re: Cricket: 2007 World Cup - Betting Thread West Indies v Australia 5pts - Player performance - Nathan Bracken - 40 points or more - 5/6 @Bet365 Two wickets will cover this and Bracken has picked up a couple of wickets in each of the last two games, in addition he's got two or more wickets in four of the last five ODIs against the West Indies. The weather forecast isn't great which worries me slightly as it may mean fewer overs for each of the bowlers but I'm hoping if that's the case there'll be the kind of movement we saw yesterday to compensate.
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Re: Cricket: 2007 World Cup - Betting Thread 10 pts A C Botha player performance 35 pts and over, 5/6 Boylesports In the recent warm up match against S Africa Botha took two wickets, scored 40 and also took a catch. He topped the Irish bowling averages in the 2006/7 World Cricket League with 13 wickets and although he was out of form with the bat in that tournament he looks to have found his feet again recently. His first class average of 37 is useful enough to convince me that he can easily garner the 35 points and he's also a useful fielder who snaffles a fair few catches.
Golf - BA-CA Open
in Other Sports & Novelty Predictions
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Re: Golf - BA-CA Open Like last week this is another of the shorter courses clocking in at just over 7000 yards, although this course is pretty flat the greens are similar to last week in that they're quite undulating so I expect (and hope) that some of those who did well last week will perform again this week. Mads Vibe-Hastrup e/w @ 70-1 Stan James Vibe-Hastrup seems to relish playing on the shorter courses on tour and the Fontana GC should be another that suits him, T4 in the Madeira Island Open and T2 last week in Wales suggests a liking for the shorter yardages. He's not a big hitter but his putting average is in the top 20 which should helping on the large undulating greens at Fontana and his T2 last week should give him a big confidence boost as well. Gary Murphy e/w @ 50-1 (various) Another player who had a good week in Wales, Murphy finished in T6 last week which came shortly after T12 in the Irish Open. He has course form after finishing 5th in this event last year and is a player in form who should give a good run for the money in a weak field. Markus Brier @ 10-1 Various As much as I'd like to ignore Brier at those slightly stingy odds I can't, twice winner on this course in Challenge Tour events he's also the defending champion of his home open and the touring pro for Fontana. It's fair to say that Brier has improved greatly from last year when he was something of a suprise winner, he's kicked on from that and easily won the China Open earlier this year before losing out in a playoff for the Italian Open. Brier has stated that he now wants to move to the next level and become a regular tour winner and I think he's got a great chance of bagging his second win of the year here