Peugeot Challenge

FINAL RESULT: 0-3; -3.00pts

Vancsik mc
Carriles 20th
Kent mc

Spent a lot of time researching this event and thought I had found a nugget in Kent. What a waste of effort ... he finished 2nd last!

Outright plays (total stake per play: 1pt)

Daniel Vancsik to win 33/1 e.w. @ SkyBet
Already a winner of a European Challenge Tour title last year with the Guatemala Open, Vancsik could record a 3rd round 75 and still win the Kenya Open last month. With a top-3 finish in the previous Challenge Tour event, the Guatemala Open, he already looked well placed to earn a European Tour Card for next season and he has shown in his performances on that Tour that he could make the grade. He finished in the top-20 in the TCL Classic last month and looked set for an even higher finish the following week in Indonesia until a poor final round. No course form, but the Argentinean should be well-suited to Spanish conditions and is playing well enough to win again.

Jose Manuel Carriles to win 66/1 e.w. @ SkyBet
Carriles had a torrid time on his return to the European Tour last year, finishing 144th on the Order of Merit and losing his Card. However, it was noticeable that his two biggest cheques of the year came in Spanish events - the Open de Sevilla and the Open de Espana - and he ended his run of eight missed cuts with cheques in the Mallorca Classic and the Open de Madrid. So clearly he is a player who performs much better at home and with his last Tour victory being the 2003 Challenge Tour Grand Final in the season that he finished 3rd on the Challenge Tour Rankings, he could be a player to side with when in Spain and on this Tour.

Matthew Kent to win 150/1 e.w. @ SkyBet
Here is a player who will make headlines! The 17-year-old only turned professional in January, but he has been a member of the Ernie Els Foundation since 1999 (like Louis Oosthuizen) and it is notable that he was immediately signed up by Chubby Chandler's ISM management stable and there really is no better spotter on young talent outside the U.S. He has been the top-ranked amateur in South Africa for the last two years, playing all over the world and caught a great deal of attention with his performance in the Junior World Cup in Japan last November. While the South African team finished 2nd, Kent won the individual honours by seven shots with his mark of 18-under-mark creating a Junior World Cup record. As a professional, he has made every cut this year and that includes two European Tour events, the Dubai Desert Classic and the Qatar Masters. If he can hold his own in those fields at the age of 17, he can certainly impress this week in Spain.