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Open de France
This may be the oldest event in continental Europe, but it is in a horrible slot in the schedule. Next week it's the B&H International Open and that starts a stretch of important European events right up to the US Open in June. Not surprisingly, the field is poor and on a course that has not been used on Tour since 1994, it is difficult to get excited about this event which is a shame given is history.
As a result, only two outright picks are offered for this event. The first is one of the joint favourites, while the other is a crowd favorite only. Angel Cabrera secured his long-overdue maiden win on the European Tour in his home Open last month. He then flew straight to Augusta and finished in the top-10! He deserved his break and hopefully this will signal the raising of his game to the level that he has been threatening for almost two years. He leads the market with Olazabal who missed the cut in the Open de Espana and bar Olly, looks a different class to the rest of the field. A short price, but he will be a worthy winner.
The other pick is Costantino Rocca. Yes, his best years - including a Ryder Cup singles defeat of Tiger and epic attempt to win the British Open - are behind him, but he did finish 4th last month at the Open de Argentina, behind Cabrera, and this field is certainly no better than at the Jockey Club. He can also boast an excellent record in France in the last decade, having won this title and having won on this course in 1993. A return to the scene of former glories and heartened by a decent performance of late, the big Italian could surprise a few this week.
Outright plays:
Angel Cabrera to win 9/1 @ Surrey
Costantino Rocca to win 100/1 e.w. @ Surrey
72-hole plays:
Angel Cabrera to beat Jose Maria Olazabal -110 @ Surrey
Paul McGinley to beat Alex Cejka -125 @ Easybets
Patrik Sjoland to beat Alex Cejka -115 @ Intertops [2 units]
Maarten Lafeber to beat Darren Fichardt -111 @ Simon Bold
Patrik Sjoland to beat Massino Florioli -111 @ Simon Bold
Miguel Angel Martin to beat Paul Lawrie -111 @ Ladbrokes
Eduardo Romero to beat Brett Rumford +100 @ Victor Chandler
Update:
Farce of an event and at one stage it was not even clear that 36 holes would be completed over the four days. That has now been achieved, but as far as capping this event is concerned ..... c'est la vie! Four of the seven 72-hole plays are decided at the cut and only one is a winner: Lafeber beat Fichardt by four shots. Cabrera lost to Olazabal by eight, while Sjoland lost to Cejka by thirteen and to Florioli by ten.
None
of the remaining 72-hole plays are ahead, but at least they are close so let's
hope it doesn't rain again tomorrow. McGinley, Martin and Romero all trail by
two shots. In the outrights, Cabrera missed the cut, but Rocca looked like
making more than amends. He had a poor 15 holes on Saturday and fell to 22nd,
but in a very tightly-pack leaderboard he is only four shots out of the lead so
anything is possible tomorrow .... even sunshine 
Final update: 2-5-0 and -4.62 units for the week
An ugly tournament finally came to a conclusion and while the matchups were rather problematic, at least other concerns made the week a happy one! In the three remaining matchups, McGinley beat Cejka by a single shot, the same margin by which Romero lost to Rumford, while Martin finished eight shots behind Lawrie. Given the record in matchups on the European Tour this year, despite the profits on unit won, it will be a welcome sight when next week a full-strength field will tee it up in Britain for the B&H.
Update on the outrights: 1-1 and +11.00 units
So close! Rocco surged to the top of the leaderboard during the morning 18 holes and started the afternoon alongside Olazabal in 1st place. He had his chances, but his suspect nerves with the putter re-emerged under pressure and he finished 2nd behind Olly. At 100/1 that still means a profitable week despite the chaos of the weather and that's very pleasing. The pre-tournament favorite and other pick, Angel Cabrera, missed the cut and was probably glad to get out of Lyon!
