My preview:
The first event of the 2001 European Tour season is tri-sanctioned between the European Tour, the Davidoff Tour and the PGA Tour of Australasia. As such there are players starting off their season on the Australasian Tour and players ending their seasons on the other two Tours. With many players relatively unknown outside of their own Tours and the fact that this event is played on a different course each year makes this a rather confusing event. Late withdrawals of Ernie Els and Lee Westwood have not helped either and outside Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, the defending champion Michael Campbell and the injured Jesper Parnevik there is little to duplicate the high-class fields of previous years. The previous winners have been Michael Campbell, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Ian Woosnam, Fred Couples, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Ian Palmer. This may just be the week for a local player to surprise many.
The course is only four years old and there have been no significant tournaments held there so there is some degree of uncertainty associated with picking the winner, but the hole descriptions certainly suggest that accuracy off the tee is of paramount importance. Many of the fairways are intruded by water or bunkers that make the landing area very small. The 13th has, rather poignantly, a series of fairway bunkers called 'Tiger Eyes'! The course is not long at just over 700 yards and the four par-fives are reachable only if the fairway is successively hit. It sounds a good test with a quite dramatic environmental backdrop.
With Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Michael Campbell having competed in Europe last week and Tiger in the US the week before, this may well be a week in which acclimatization (it will be hot & humid) will be too demanding for these players. Tiger should win, but his winless streak is growing and this is no formality. The conditions will also do little to ease the pain in Jesper's hip.
The best play by far is Alex Cejka @ 66/1. He played in the Star Alliance Open in Hong Kong last week so acclimatization and jet-lag will not be factor; indeed he even finished 3rd in this event. He regularly plays in this part of the world, having finished 6th in the Thailand Open last year and already agreed to play in that event in two weeks time. He didn't play in this event last year, but was 4th behind Tiger two years ago so his credentials for competing in South-East Asia are excellent. He is also one of the most accurate European players from tee to green, so he really should fancy his chances this week.
The 2nd outright play is on Thailand's leading golfer, Prayad Marksaeng, available at a fantastic 125/1 with William Hill. He also played in Hong Kong last week and finished with a disappointing 77 to fall to 12th place. He has been the leading Asian player in this event for the past two seasons, finishing 12th and 8th and has already won on the Davidoff Tour this year. Not one to be daunted by the specter of Tiger - he outscored him by three shots on the one occasion they played together - he could certainly lead the Asian contingent to a much higher finish than in previous years.
Finally, the Tour-Tips ratings threw up Brett Ogle as the 2nd ranked player. A good example of small sample bias! But he finished the Australasian Tour earlier this year with three consecutive top-20 finishes and has a 2nd place finish in this event to his name. Basically, he showed that when he returned to Tour golf after a two-year layoff that he could be competitive and now that he combines commentating for Fox Sports with Tour golf on the Australasian Tour, there is no reason why he cannot challenge again. If Bobby Clampett could do it at the US Open, why not Brett Ogle at the Johnnie Walker Classic. Definitely more of a speculative play!
Outright plays:
Alex Cejka 66/1 @
Victor Chandler
Prayad Marksaeng 125/1 @
William Hill
Brett Ogle 125/1 @
Surrey
Will have matchups plays available later today.
Looks like we agree on the plays Ian, apart from Brett Ogle of course. Saw a special report on Jaidee Thongchai on the Asian PGA programme on Sky Sports. Did consider him as 3rd choice, but thought I'd already committed myself to Brett Ogle and quite frankly I was very unimpressed with his swing! Still, it's results that matter.
Welcome aboard jetman. Looks like you know your golf and your golf outlets
