Mathias Gronberg has withdrawn
72-hole plays:
Fredrik Andersson to beat Peter Hanson -110 @
Surrey
Apart from a 15th place in a Challenge Tour event, Hanson's best finish since the Scottish PGA Championship has been 49th. Complete loss of form after a career stretch in July/August. Very easy to side with Andersson who has finished no worse than 38th in his last five events
Roger Winchester to beat Peter Hanson -111 @
Simon Bold [2 units] - I'm sure Ian will agree
Even easier to side with Winchester who, barring the weather-affected Dunhill Links Championship, has had a stellar month and in this form could yet secure that top-117 position on the Order of Merit with a decent show this week - he needs to finish in the top-4
Paul Eales to beat Marcello Santi -111 @
Simon Bold [2 units]
Surprising matchup. Santi has made just five cuts from 18 starts on the European Tour this season with a best finish of 25th. He may have finished 4th in the Is Molas Challenge in 1998, but is in a totally different class to Eales who ranks 114 places above him in the Order of Merit and finished 12th in the Italian Open on this course last year
Jonathan Lomas to beat Dennis Edlund -111 @
Simon Bold
Case of boom or bust from Edlund at the moment. Two top-15 finishes and five missed cuts in his last seven events, but with all but one of these being Challenge Tour events, he is not playing to the standard required for the main Tour. Lomas is certainly doing so with just one missed cut in seven and should win this matchup by the weekend
David Park to Massimo Florioli -111 @
Bet365
Both are struggling to retain their cards for next year, but at least Park has an outside chance of making the grade. Since the Tour reached the European mainland, Florioli has made the cut just twice from fourteen starts and has a best of 71st position. Park has not had a good season, but at least he has made the cut more times than not in this period and that is too good for Florioli
Lucas Parsons to beat Simon Hurd -111 @
Simon Bold
It will be a tense week for Parsons as he sits in 113th place on the Order of Merit, just 8,000 euros ahead of Graeme Storm in 118th position. But there is still a huge gulf in class between these two players. Hurd ranks only 70th on the Challenge Tour Order of Merit and won't be able to compete with Parsons who has at least made the cut in each of the last four week to duck under that top-117 barrier
Doonhamer, I would be interested to hear more about any payout problems with Bet365. You can't be too careful in this business. Have had no problems getting paid by them myself, but they have setup the Bet365USA.com arm to try and attract a North American customer base so this could be a testing time for them financially.
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