New Zealand Open

Outright plays (1.5 units):

Nick O'Hern to win 14/1 e.w. @ Stan James, UKBetting and Totalbet
With Michael Campbell recovering from an operation to his legs and unlikely to play had this not been his home Open, O'Hern certainly looks a good prospect to win his first event on this Tour since 1999. He finished the European Tour season in good form with top-20 finishes in seven of his last eight starts and has finished in the top-10 in two of his last three starts in this event. Not too many players in this field can compare with that.

Peter Fowler to win 20/1 e.w. @ Stan James
Fowler has shown similar form in Europe this year and brought to Australia better than O'Hern at the end of last year, finishing 8th and 4th in the Australian PGA Championship and Australian Open respectively. His form in this event has not been very impressive, but this is a weak field and there are few in the class of O'Hern and Fowler.

Wade Ormsby to finish in the top-four 16.5/1 @ Centrebet
Surprisingly large odds from a firm who should know all about Ormsby. He finished 2nd in the European Tour Q-School at the end of last year to secure his Tour Card for this season and finished 7th and 17 in the Australian PGA Championship and Australian Open respectively against very strong fields. He has yet to win in 14 starts on the pro Tours, but stands a much better chance of bettering his 5th place finish of last year than Centrebet give him credit.

Final update: 0-3; -4.50 units

O'Hern mc
Fowler 22nd
Ormsby 7th

No return on the stakes, but there were chances. Fowler had been 11th with one round to play, but struggling in the blustery conditions on Sunday, while the best chance lay with Ormsby. He led the event after the first round, fell out of contention on day two and then got back to 7th place after the 3rd round. Having started his final round with two birdies, he finally got back into the top-four only to struggle on the back nine and finish two shots out of a very profitable 4th place.