Geez, I get to start a thread
A very late preview - really should have done those site design changes over Christmas
After the gold on offer at Melbourne last week, this week is just a regular week on the Australasian Tour with the Victorian Open which had twice been left off the Tour calendar in the 1990s because of a lack of sponsorship. Prize money is up on last year, but the event has been hit by a a couple of late withdrawals in particular: defending champion Brad Lamb and last week's runner-up Pierre Fulke. The players with experience of other Tours and of winning tournaments - Lonard, Leaney and Rumford - look to be a class above most of the field, or at least the layers think so.
The course is the Cranbourne in Melbourne, which was used for the first time for this event last year. I have little information about this course, but the course compatibility stats [on website] suggest a rather strange combination of long driving and good putting were the salient features of the leading players last year. Accuracy was not at a premium and comments that this is a very good driving course by Stephen Leaney seem to confirm this.
The three outright plays are Peter Lonard, Richard Green and Scott Laycock. Lonard won the Ford Open by six shots in the last Tour event, having earlier finished in the top-20 in the Australian Open and PGA Championship. Although he didn't play in this event last year on this course, he had been 8th the year before at the Victoria golf club and looks set for another high finish in this weakened field.
Richard Green also skipped this course last year, as had done in previous years at Victoria, but he was a very impressive 3rd in his last event, the Australian Open, and has built up experience on the European Tour to be able to compete at a much higher level than this. He shouldn't be too far from the leaderboard. The same should also be the case for the 3rd choice, Scott Laycock. He at least has played this course, finishing 3rd last year and had finished 6th in 1998 on the other course, plus he finished one place behind Green at the Australian Open. He followed that with some consistent performance before Christmas and should press hard for a place finish at least.
Outright plays:
Peter Lonard to win e/w 12/1 @ Surrey
Richard Green to win e/w 25/1 @ Surrey
Scott Laycock to win e/w 20/1 @ Surrey
72-hole plays:
Steve Alker to beat Chris Gaunt -103 @ DAS [2 units]
Two missed cuts in his last three events and a mid-table finish last year in an even weaker field, this is a play against Gaunt with the experienced Alker who has at least finish in the top-half of the leaderboard in those three events
Richard Green to beat Brett Rumford -118 @ Centrebet
Much-touted to win this event, but I don't see it myself. Rumford performances have been erratic this season and the steadier Green is tipped to take this one
After the gold on offer at Melbourne last week, this week is just a regular week on the Australasian Tour with the Victorian Open which had twice been left off the Tour calendar in the 1990s because of a lack of sponsorship. Prize money is up on last year, but the event has been hit by a a couple of late withdrawals in particular: defending champion Brad Lamb and last week's runner-up Pierre Fulke. The players with experience of other Tours and of winning tournaments - Lonard, Leaney and Rumford - look to be a class above most of the field, or at least the layers think so.
The course is the Cranbourne in Melbourne, which was used for the first time for this event last year. I have little information about this course, but the course compatibility stats [on website] suggest a rather strange combination of long driving and good putting were the salient features of the leading players last year. Accuracy was not at a premium and comments that this is a very good driving course by Stephen Leaney seem to confirm this.
The three outright plays are Peter Lonard, Richard Green and Scott Laycock. Lonard won the Ford Open by six shots in the last Tour event, having earlier finished in the top-20 in the Australian Open and PGA Championship. Although he didn't play in this event last year on this course, he had been 8th the year before at the Victoria golf club and looks set for another high finish in this weakened field.
Richard Green also skipped this course last year, as had done in previous years at Victoria, but he was a very impressive 3rd in his last event, the Australian Open, and has built up experience on the European Tour to be able to compete at a much higher level than this. He shouldn't be too far from the leaderboard. The same should also be the case for the 3rd choice, Scott Laycock. He at least has played this course, finishing 3rd last year and had finished 6th in 1998 on the other course, plus he finished one place behind Green at the Australian Open. He followed that with some consistent performance before Christmas and should press hard for a place finish at least.
Outright plays:
Peter Lonard to win e/w 12/1 @ Surrey
Richard Green to win e/w 25/1 @ Surrey
Scott Laycock to win e/w 20/1 @ Surrey
72-hole plays:
Steve Alker to beat Chris Gaunt -103 @ DAS [2 units]
Two missed cuts in his last three events and a mid-table finish last year in an even weaker field, this is a play against Gaunt with the experienced Alker who has at least finish in the top-half of the leaderboard in those three events
Richard Green to beat Brett Rumford -118 @ Centrebet
Much-touted to win this event, but I don't see it myself. Rumford performances have been erratic this season and the steadier Green is tipped to take this one
