TCL Classic

FINAL RESULT: 3-4-0; -0.45pts

Montgomerie/Casey LOST by 2
Randhawa/Casey LOST by 11
McGinley/Casey TIED (Lost via playoff)
McGinley/Jacquelin WON by 9
McGinley/Kingston WON by 11
Zhang/Kirk WON by 1
Liang/Pilkadaris LOST by 7

Got the call on Casey badly wrong! I thought that he would struggle on the greens in a low-scoring contest, but he was able to overpower the course and the opposition. Randhawa was poor, but at least the other two were close and it would have made quite a difference had it been McGinley winning the playoff.

Matchup plays (1pt unless stated):

Colin Montgomerie to beat Paul Casey -125 @ William Hill and Easybets
Casey may have played much better at the Ford Championship two weeks ago, but there is plenty of reason to oppose him this week, particularly as he has never played in Asia until now. So very easy to side with Monty who is showing great form - he finished 13 shots ahead of Casey after two rounds in the Nissan Open in their only common events this year - and has won his last two events in China.
(also available at Carib)

Jyoti Randhawa to beat Paul Casey +118 @ Expekt
Great odds on a player in very good form and with a long history on playing in China. Casey will take some time to adjust his game to the relatively substandard courses in this region, particularly on the greens.
(also available at Stan James and Five Dimes)

Paul McGinley to beat Paul Casey +120 @ Pinnacle
A proven player in this region, McGinley has finished 11th and 5th in his last two starts in China and finished 4th in Malaysia last month. Good odds against a player who will also have to adjust to the climate for the first time.

Paul McGinley to beat Raphael Jacquelin -114 @ Expekt
Apart from a 4th place finish in the Johnnie Walker Classic last February, Jacquelin has never finished in the top-40 in nine events in Asia. In their last common event in this region, McGinley finished 16 shots ahead of Jacquelin and even though the Frenchman played well in Qatar, golf in China is a very different proposition.
(also available at William Hill, BlueSq and Easybets)

Paul McGinley to beat James Kingston -111 @ Centrebet and SuperOdds
Backing McGinley again to play well in this region. Kingston did finish 5th in Qatar last week, but McGinley will be better-prepared this week for having flown out of there much earlier. With the Irishman also beating Kingston in each of their last two common events in this region, I would make him a clear favourite in this match.
(also available at Stan James, Five Dimes and BetInternet)

Lian-Wei Zhang to beat Michael Kirk -125 @ Sportingbet and Sporting Odds [2pts]
Don't really understand the reasoning behind this pairing. If this event was being played in Africa, Kirk would be a marginal favourite, but not in China. In this country, Zhang has finished in the top-10 in five of his last ten starts (since October 2002) and in this country, he has won five Tour events in the last ten years. This will be Challenge Tour graduate, Kirk's first event outside Africa this season and in this region he has finished 53rd and missed the cut in his two starts. Both times he finished behind Zhang and it should happen again this week.

Wen-Chong Liang to beat Terry Pilkadaris -120 @ SkyBet and Easybets
Liang finished in 3rd place and one shot behind Pilkadaris in the Sanya Open on this course in October last year, but the Australian's form has been poor since. He has a best finish of 19th and has missed two of his six cuts this year, while Liang has finished 5th and 8th in his 2005 starts. Also having an advantage by not playing in Qatar last week, Liang will be the far stronger candidate to win this event the week before he gets married.
(also available at William Hill)