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Senior British Open
Outright plays (2 units):
Rodger Davis to win 40/1 e.w. @
Sportingbet,
Sporting Odds
and BetDirect
Has yet to take the Champions Tour by storm, but he has posted a good
number of top-10 finishes and won his first Tour event at the Toshiba
Senior Classic. More than most, he should relish the Tour stop in Europe
as this is where he played the majority of his career, winning seven
times, and on a links course. He was 2nd by only a shot to Nick Faldo in
the 1987 British Open at Muirfield and held the lead on the final nine
at the 1979 Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes before fading to 5th. A
big price with the too favourites surely golfed out!
Carl Mason to win 50/1 e.w. @ Victor
Chandler
Rather a daunting grouping for the 1st round - Watson and Nicklaus -
particularly as the hype will be about their head-to-head in the 1977
British Open on this course. If he can keep his focus over the first two
days, he should have a very good chance. He has played only two European
Senior events since turning 50 and won one and finished 6th in the
other. He did finish 4th at Muirfield in the 1980 British Open and only
nine years he won twice in one year on the European Tour, with one of
those victories at Gleneagles in the Scottish Open.
D.A. Weibring to win 50/1 e.w. @
Sportingbet,
Sporting Odds
and
BetInternet
Weibring is another who is in decent form - he finished 11th on his last
(and only 3rd) Champions Tour start - and has played well in the British
Open - he finished 8th at Royal St. George's in 1985, finishing just
three shots behind Sandy Lyle, and made the cut on his last visit in
1996. He is another of the younger brigade who should be at lower odds
than this.
Matchup plays (2 units):
Isao Aoki to beat Guillermo Encina -111 @
BetandWin
Aoki had an excellent record in the British Open, finishing 7th three
times and in the top-20 in six of the nine times that he competed. There
can be no doubts about his ability to play links golf and while he only
finished 31st in his previous appearance (2001), he could certainly post
his 3rd top-10 of the 2003 season (11 starts). Encina has been
impressive on the European Senior Tour with a four 3rd place and one 4th
place finish this year, but none of these were in this company or on
links courses. He never played in the British Open and missed cut on his
debut in this event last year.
Isao Aoki to beat Don Pooley +108 @ Five
Dimes
Two top-20 finishes in the 1980s is not a bad return for Pooley in the
British Open, but he has not need to venture from the Champions or
Nationwide Tour for a good few years now and should struggle with the
very different demands of links golf. Aoki is at least as competitive as
Pooley on the Champions Tour, so should be the clear favourite on this
course.
Bob Gilder to beat Seiji Ebihara -111 @
BetandWin
The above could be used to counter this play, particularly as Ebihara
has two top-10 finishes in this event in four attempts. But he is so
out-of-form at the moment that I can't see a repeat performance this
year. In their Champions Tour events, Gilder holds a 11-2-0 h2h lead
this season. That should counter his lack of recent links experience.
1st round plays (2 units):
Tom Watson to beat Craig Stadler -119 @ Five
Dimes
Tom Kite to beat Fuzzy Zoeller -145 @ Five
Dimes
Jose Maria Canizares to beat John Jacobs -110 @ Five
Dimes
Isao Aoki to beat Don Pooley -103 @ Five
Dimes
1st round update: 3-1-0; +3.80 units
Watson/Stadler WON by 6
Kite/Zoeller WON by 1
Canizares/Jacobs LOST by 1
Aoki/Pooley WON by 3
2nd round plays (2 units unless stated):
Graham Marsh to beat Bob Charles -127 @ Five
Dimes [6 units]
James Mason to beat Jim Colbert -115 @ Five
Dimes
Stewart Ginn to beat Don Pooley -107 @ Five
Dimes
2nd round update: 1-1-1; -0.30 units
Marsh/Charles TIED (Push)
Mason/Colbert LOST by 11
Ginn/Pooley WON by 3
Mid-point update:
Aoki/Encina Trails by 1
Aoki/Pooley Leads by 3
Gilder/Ebihara LOST by 5
Davis 39th
Mason 1st
Weibring 2nd
Can claim the top-2 in two events heading into the
weekend ... it should be a long one! Just hoping that Charles' holed 3rd
shot from the greenside rough for an eagle on the 17th hole to deny the
big 18-hole win of the day is not a forerunner of things to come!
3rd round plays (2 units unless stated):
Tom Watson to beat Tom Kite -145 @ Five
Dimes
Fred Gibson to beat Gary Koch +115 @ Five
Dimes [6 units]
John Bland to beat Don Pooley -103 @ Five
Dimes [6 units]
3rd round update: 1-0-2; +6.90 units
Watson/Kite TIED (Push)
Gibson/Koch WON by 5
Bland/Pooley TIED (Push)
4th round plays (2 units):
Tom Watson to beat Tom Kite -148 @ Five
Dimes
Jay Sigel to beat David Eger -135 @ Five
Dimes
John Bland to beat Seiji Ebihara +100 @ Five
Dimes
4th round update: 2-1-0; +1.30 units
Watson/Kite WON by 3
Sigel/Eger LOST by 3
Bland/Ebihara WON by 1
Final update:
Matchups: 2-1-0; +1.94 units
Aoki/Encina WON by 13
Aoki/Pooley WON by 4
18-holes: 7-3-3; +5.47 units
Outrights: 2-1; +21.00 units
Davis 27th
Mason 2nd
Weibring 5th
Disappointing end from Mason. He had been hugely
impressive for 71 holes and needed only a bogey on the final hole to win
and didn't get it. Very unlucky to find his ball in a heel-mark when his
drive found the bunker, but really should never have been close to the
hazard. Jean Van de Velde could have told him that! Lost out after again
finding sand with his drive on the second playoff hole. Not quite a
jackpot event, but still very profitable.
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