A second week of matchplay golf in Europe, though this week it is team medal matchplay. Basically 16 teams of three drawn into four round-robin groups with only the winner proceeding to the semi-finals. Each match is played over the full 18 holes with the player with the lowest score deemed the winner. Interesting variation on the team matchplay theme, but of late the event has been afflicted by a lack of top-class players willing to represent their country. The US team consists of Tom Lehman, John Daly and Larry Mize
That said, St Andrews in October is not for the faint-hearted! But this will be the last year that the current format will be used, though no plans have been announced for the future of the event. A change of month would be best!
The tournament has a history of shock results on individual matches - Zhang and Ghei has beaten Monty, McGinley has beaten Els and Luna has beaten Woods - though usually the best teams come to the fore, even if the individual matches are somewhat treacherous to predict. The team with the best recent history is South Africa whose team of Els, Goosen and Frost has been the same for years and they have installed as the favorites for this event, but having only been seeded 4th, they have a very difficult group [New Zealand, Ireland & France] and may struggle to qualify for the finals.
Instead, the best value team this week is Argentina. The triumvirate of Romero, Cabrera and Coceres may prefer warmer conditions, but are all particularly good wind players. All three are in very good form at the moment and look very good to make the semi-final against a weak USA team, a Japan team so weak it contains Isao Aoki and an Australian team of O'Hern, Leaney and O'Malley. Very much an Australian 'C' team, but they will present the greatest challenge to the Three Amigos though it would be greater on a parkland course for these players.
The markets for best individual concentrate on points won which is a bit of a lottery as progressing to the final would involve two more matches per player than if the team failed to qualify from the group stage. In a team format, the best individual player may be let down by his team members and so may not progress beyond the first round as a result. The best market is that offered by Sportingbet which is based on the 18-hole scores from the first three days of round-robin golf. For this market, Ernie Els looks the best play with decent odds given the small number of similarly world-class golfers this week.
Outright plays:
Argentina to win 7/1 @ Olympic
Ernie Els to have lowest 54-hole score 7/1 @ Sportingbet
The tournament has a history of shock results on individual matches - Zhang and Ghei has beaten Monty, McGinley has beaten Els and Luna has beaten Woods - though usually the best teams come to the fore, even if the individual matches are somewhat treacherous to predict. The team with the best recent history is South Africa whose team of Els, Goosen and Frost has been the same for years and they have installed as the favorites for this event, but having only been seeded 4th, they have a very difficult group [New Zealand, Ireland & France] and may struggle to qualify for the finals.
Instead, the best value team this week is Argentina. The triumvirate of Romero, Cabrera and Coceres may prefer warmer conditions, but are all particularly good wind players. All three are in very good form at the moment and look very good to make the semi-final against a weak USA team, a Japan team so weak it contains Isao Aoki and an Australian team of O'Hern, Leaney and O'Malley. Very much an Australian 'C' team, but they will present the greatest challenge to the Three Amigos though it would be greater on a parkland course for these players.
The markets for best individual concentrate on points won which is a bit of a lottery as progressing to the final would involve two more matches per player than if the team failed to qualify from the group stage. In a team format, the best individual player may be let down by his team members and so may not progress beyond the first round as a result. The best market is that offered by Sportingbet which is based on the 18-hole scores from the first three days of round-robin golf. For this market, Ernie Els looks the best play with decent odds given the small number of similarly world-class golfers this week.
Outright plays:
Argentina to win 7/1 @ Olympic
Ernie Els to have lowest 54-hole score 7/1 @ Sportingbet
