Ryder Cup - Special Market v Special Market

16 July 2009

Preview By Tipster rdeacon (England)

The 138th open championship gets underway on Thursday at Turnberry in Scotland, and it is only the 4th time it has ever been played there.

The last time was back in 1994 when Zimbabwean Nick Price won. Previously it has been won there by Greg Norman and Tom Watson, and all 3 were world number 1 at the time of their victories.

All bodes well for Tiger then as he aims to burgle his 4th claret jug, and I must admit to have backed him at 5/2 as I beleive he is really back in the zone at present and is capable of demolishing this field if he gets the right side of the draw if there is to be any bad weather over the week.

He came 6th in the recent US open won by Lucas Glover when he had the worst of the draw, so just imagine what he can do if he gets a decent start time on Thursday and Friday ?

However, if he doesn't get a decent rub of the green in the draw who is going to win ?

Well I have drawn up a shortlist of a dozen golfers who I beleive have the current form and links form to go very close.

Obviously 15 years ago there weren't many guys playing then who are still on the right side of 50 now, but one of those who came 24th that year is Ernie Els.

The likeable South African has had a very humdrum few years recently and he has been very much concentrating his efforts away from the golf courses in developing his own businesses and course designing ( a bit like Greg Norman did ). He has admitted in several interviews that he knows full well that he has lost the mojo that is needed to compete week in week out in major competitions and he is trying everything he can to revive it.

He had a very good scottish open last week where he posted one of his best finishes of the season, and that would have teed him up prefectly for his assualt of the claret jug for a 2nd time.

Els record in the only major to be played outside of the USA is second to none. In the last 9 years his finishing positions read 2,3,1,18,2,34,3,4,7 in fact that 34th place finish in 2005 was his worst ever finish in his last 17 opens.

This guy likes links golf !!

The bet to have here is obviously an each way bet and the best concession this week is with Paddy Power who are paying out on the first 7 places at 1/4 the odds. Now because of this I am omitting the best price in the village which is currently 40/1, but i think this place concession is worth it.

I may well come back and put some more tips up here later in the week as there is bound to be some amazing bets to be had this week.

3 points EACH WAY (6 points in total) on Ernie Els to win the open at 36.0 with PaddyPower 1/4 odds a place 1,2,3,4,5,6,7