Outright plays (1.5 units):
Bradley Dredge to win 25/1 e.w. @ Bet365, Stan James, Victor Chandler and UKBetting
Certainly the best Welsh prospect at the moment and had this tournament been hold a month ago, then he would have been a much shorter price. He has missed his last two cuts, but given that this is his seventh straight week of competitive golf - he missed the Italian Open but won a Euro Pro Tour event in Wales that week - it is just as well that he has had the last two weekends off. Top-10 finish last year and unless the burden of expectation becomes too much, he should at least match that performance.
Michael Campbell to win 66/1 e.w. @ Bet365
Having failed to reach the weekend in his last seven events, Campbell was never going to be considered for last week's event, but all those events had been in the United States. His decision to concentrate more on the PGA Tour has certainly backfired and he may well return more to the European Tour. He had been playing well before his PGA Tour season began and did look good at times last week on his first 2003 European start, finishing inside the top-20 for greens in regulation which will be important this week. No course form, but these look big odds for a player who has finished in the top-5 in a third of his events in Europe in the past three years. Just a question of confidence.
Steen Tinning to win 125/1 e.w. @ SkyBet
Another leap of faith, I suppose. He has missed the cut in this event for the past two years, but he did win the inaugural event in 2000. Similar story ever since ... he misses a lot of cuts, but he won the Open de Madrid in October last year and opened with a top-10 finish in the opening event of 2003 (the Dunhill Championship). He then struggled, but has shown much better form this month with a top-20 finish in the Italian Open and has made the cut against very strong fields in the last two events. Just a very large price for someone who has won on this course recently and has won again since.
Others that made the short-list: Hansen, S (66/1), Gonzalez (40/1) and Bickerton (66/1).
Bradley Dredge to win 25/1 e.w. @ Bet365, Stan James, Victor Chandler and UKBetting
Certainly the best Welsh prospect at the moment and had this tournament been hold a month ago, then he would have been a much shorter price. He has missed his last two cuts, but given that this is his seventh straight week of competitive golf - he missed the Italian Open but won a Euro Pro Tour event in Wales that week - it is just as well that he has had the last two weekends off. Top-10 finish last year and unless the burden of expectation becomes too much, he should at least match that performance.
Michael Campbell to win 66/1 e.w. @ Bet365
Having failed to reach the weekend in his last seven events, Campbell was never going to be considered for last week's event, but all those events had been in the United States. His decision to concentrate more on the PGA Tour has certainly backfired and he may well return more to the European Tour. He had been playing well before his PGA Tour season began and did look good at times last week on his first 2003 European start, finishing inside the top-20 for greens in regulation which will be important this week. No course form, but these look big odds for a player who has finished in the top-5 in a third of his events in Europe in the past three years. Just a question of confidence.
Steen Tinning to win 125/1 e.w. @ SkyBet
Another leap of faith, I suppose. He has missed the cut in this event for the past two years, but he did win the inaugural event in 2000. Similar story ever since ... he misses a lot of cuts, but he won the Open de Madrid in October last year and opened with a top-10 finish in the opening event of 2003 (the Dunhill Championship). He then struggled, but has shown much better form this month with a top-20 finish in the Italian Open and has made the cut against very strong fields in the last two events. Just a very large price for someone who has won on this course recently and has won again since.
Others that made the short-list: Hansen, S (66/1), Gonzalez (40/1) and Bickerton (66/1).
