Foshan Open

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Antonio Hortal - 1.25 point each-way @ 40-1 (Skybet)

Byeong-Hun An - 1 point each-way @ 18-1 (Skybet)

Only the very accomodating Skybet have bothered to price this up so far, but of course, run like the wind if there are better offers out there tomorrow.  

The irony.

Having mentioned Ben Martin's thrashing by Byeong-Hun An at the US Amateur, the latter goes on to miss the cut from a promising position whilst Martin, of course, caused a shock (to some) when beating a fair field at the Shriners to break his PGA maiden. Still, it looks a decent formline now no matter how long ago and I have to be backing the Korean-born US college star again this week as I believe he should be disputing favouritism at around 14-1.

It seems churlish to repeat it all again just seven days later but An's current form and form in Asia require him to stay close to the top of the list. Recent finishes of 4th in Finland and 3rd in Kazakhstan read well in this field, whilst the win at the lucrative Rolex shows most pundits what he is capable of. 18th in the Jimenez Hong Kong Open in 2013 and 33rd in Rumford's victory in the China Open shows he can compete, at least in the slightly lesser grade main tour events, and with his card already safe he should be able to compete on a course on which he was 25th in 2013. Sitting in 10th after a second round 66, An opened up his two halves with a double-bogey at the first and a quad on the 10th but I can see him being far more relaxed now his card is assured. Last week's effort is just about forgivable given the stop-start nature of the event and his attacking style may have just been too aggressive given the shortened tournament. As said, I had him at 14-1 and just feel he has a tad more to offer.

Main bet however is Antonio Hortal. The Spaniard is improving all the time and whilst his top-45 place should be assured, thus giving him access to the Grand Final, he sits at 14th in the rankings and just inside the automatic cards. He will have been disappointed with last week's finish having led after round two before plummeting down the board with a third and final round 74, the worst round of the top-10. Given his maiden victory at home in Catalunya was over three rounds I would have expected better but, again, it was a badly interrupted event and that may have played with many of the players minds. Hortal commented after his win that he now knows how to win and his form has been very consistent with that 13th being preceded with a top-10 in Italy, 13th at the Rolex and a couple of top-25s and in a field in which half can be red-lined as pretty much useless he has to contend and at a much better price than he may have been had he kept his position in the top-5 just seven days ago.

The inaugral running of this event last year saw the likes of winner Nacho Elvira, Tyrrell Hatton and Shiv Kipur finish top-3 and it does look as though class may owt with the first two having excellent seasons on the main Tour and Kipur a proven main Tour player. Both the selections this week have the potential to do something next year and both should cement their places in the big league this week with extra points on offer for each finish.