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Dunhill Links Championship
"A celebration of Links Golf" ... an audacious subtitle for this inaugural event. Yes, this event is played over three of the finest links courses in the world, but wait, isn't it held in Scotland in October? Let's hope the organizers are lucky with the weather, if they are, then this will be an excellent event. The forecast is, thankfully, for little rain, but it will be chilly!
The Alfred Dunhill Cup is replaced with a pro-am format in which the three courses - St Andrews (Old Course), Carnoustie and the Kingsbarns Golf Links - are played in rotation on the first three days, with the top 60 professionals returning to St Andrews to play the final round on Sunday. The field is international with players from most of the Tours and even a few from the PGA Tour despite the current terrorist concerns. They play for the richest event on the European Tour with the winner taking home $800,000, one-third more than the winner of this week's National Car Rental Golf Classic.
The three selections this week have had their fair amount of injury concerns, but are currently though to be back to full health. They are Ernie Els, Thomas Bjorn and Steve Elkington. Els has had back problems this year, but bounced back in great style to finish 3rd in the Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. He has since finished no worse than 16th in any event and has a great laid-back approach which makes him ideal for pro-ams and links golf. In fact, his record on links courses is exemplary - no worse than 28th in the Open Championship in the last ten years and his form in the Alfred Dunhill Cup has been just as impressive. With a number of the leading contenders sure to be tired from last week's Cisco World Matchplay event, he looks a justifiable short-price selection.
Bjorn played only two rounds last week, but it was enough to signal that his form and his health were back to normal. There was no shame in losing to Westwood in the quarter-finals, he had never been behind until the last hole and shot 65-67 to lose by that solitary hole. He also has an excellent record on links courses - 2nd to Tiger Woods last year at St. Andrews - and should feature this week.
The final selection, Steve Elkington, is a player who has suffered more than almost anyone else from injury. It is therefore very noticeable when he posted back-to-back top-10 finishes - the last time he did so was in 1998. With plenty of experience of playing St. Andrews in October in the Dunhill Cup and a fine record on that course - 6th in 1995 - he should perform much better than Paddy Power predict!
Outright plays:
Ernie Els to win 12/1 e.w. @ Surrey or Sporting Odds
Thomas Bjorn to win 28/1 e.w. @ Surrey
Steve Elkington to win 66/1 e.w. @ Paddy Power [5 places option]
72-hole plays:
Steve Elkington to beat Angel Cabrera -110 @ Surrey
Cabrera
has been playing only occasionally since mid-summer, but when he has, he has not
played to the same level as in the past two years. He has yet to finish in the
top-25 of any event since the US Open in June. With Elkington coming into form,
the outright pick can win this one
Steve
Elkington to beat Jose Maria Olazabal -111 @ Sporting Odds
Olazabal has had as light a schedule
as Cabrera and they share the distinction of having won on the European Tour
this year - the French Open for Olazabal - but also of being in poor form since
mid-summer. No top-10 finishes since that win on French soil in May for Olazabal
and he is unlikely to improve on that in the chilly conditions this week
Steve
Elkington to beat Lee Westwood -115 @ Intertops
[2 units]
It has been a year since Westwood last won and he showed last week how
frustrating his game has become. He can produce some excellent rounds, but his
confidence is still too shaky to transfer those into excellent weeks. He has not
excelled in the Dunhill Cup or in the British Open, has publicly said that he
dislikes St. Andrews and is another to be opposed
Pierre
Fulke to beat Justin Rose -111 @ Paddy Power
Taking a player with good links
credentials against one who fails to convert contention chances. Fulke was 30th
at Carnoustie in 1999, 7th at St. Andrews last year and played well on the
Australian links last winter. Has showed signs of improving form and if the wind
blows, as it surely will, his swing will be far better suited to the buffering
it will endure
Steven O'Hara to beat Nathan
Green -111 @ Simon Bold
[3 units]
No contest. The young Scot has secured top-20 finishes in his last three events
and was one of the stars of the Walker Cup victory; the young Australian has
struggled on the Canadian Tour and will find conditions in Scotland not to his
liking
Jean van de Velde to beat Raphael
Jacquelin -110 @ Victor
Chandler
Jacquelin has been in good form recently with top-20 finishes in four of his
last five events, but this is a more a leap of faith with van de Velde. In much
better form that he has scored, he finally got the finish he deserved last week
to secure his Tour card for next year. With that monkey off his back, he can
show that he is a good links player and should be comfortable with the pro-am
format. Will be interesting to see how he plays the last hole at Carnoustie
though!
Final update: 1-5-0 and -3.72 units
Great event, but let's hope it's brought forward to an earlier slot on next year's Tour schedule! The event finished a day late with every day spoiled by the weather, but it was still looking to be a good week until Elkington gave up trying in the worst of the weather on Saturday/Sunday. His final round 79 reversed healthy leads in all his matches and he lost to Cabrera by three, Olazabal by two and Westwood by two. Fulke missed the cut by one and lost to Rose by five, while van de Velde missed the cut by two and lost to Jacquelin by three. The only win was the 3-unit play: O'Hara beat Green by six shots.
Update on outright plays: 1-2 and -1.00 units
Have
to hand it to Lawrie, he deserved to win. Very cool on the back nine even though
he couldn't buy a putt and to birdie the last hole to deny Els was class. That
it was a 35-foot putt that Lawrie holed and Els took two shots to get out of the
Road Bunker only rubbed in the salt. But having capped three events this week
and picked the runner-up in all three, what else did I expect 
For the rest, Elkington missed the cut and had Bjorn not dropped three shots in
opening six holes he would have secured a place finish, not 13th. But that was
the week that was 
