Victorian Open

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 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

Mid-point update:

One matchup is decided at the cut and it is not good news   Alker came home in three-over-par to miss the cut by two to hand victory to Gaunt who had failed to capitalize on a promising opening round. In the other play, Green and Rumford are both tied at 4-under-par.

Better news on the outrights though. Laycock is currently 3rd, Lonard is 11th and Green 21st, so plenty of chances to get at least one of them in the top-four.

3rd round plays:

Richard Green to beat David A. Armstrong -143 @ Centrebet [2 units]
Scott Gardiner to beat David Podlich +100 @ DAS  

3rd round update: 2-0 and +3.00 units

Straight-forward win opposing the overnight leader - Gardiner beat Podlich by two shots, while Green improved his position considerably with a 68 to beat Armstrong by five and open up a seven-shot lead over Rumford.

Extremely good position with the outright plays. Laycock is 2nd, Green is 5th and Lonard is 8th. Looking for at least two to secure a place finish and hoping for a winner out of these three. Maybe time to hedge...

4th round plays:

Scott Wearne to beat Andrew Buckle +130 @ Centrebet [2 units]

Gavin Coles to beat Richard Green +135 @ Centrebet [2 units]

Chris Gaunt to beat Kim Felton -120 @ Centrebet

Lucien Tinkler to beat Adam Henwood -111 @ DAS [2 units]

Alan Patterson to beat Richard Lee +130 @ Centrebet [2 units]

Final update: 1-4 and -4.82 units for the day; 4-5 and -2.88 units for the week

A very disappointing way to end a tournament that was otherwise very successful. Wearne was the only winner, by a single shot over Buckle, while in the others, Coles lost to Green by eight, Gaunt lost to Felton by one, Tinkler lost to Henwood by two and Patterson lost to Lee by two. Takes the gloss a little of the outrights!

Update on outright plays: 2-1 and +14.13 units

A winner and a 2nd-place, not a bad start to the ANZ Tour year Laycock won the event by two shots from Green, though Lonard's disappointing closing round prevented a sweep, he finished back in 17th place. Good enough for a nice profit overall.