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Irish Open
The week after the shortest-priced winner on the European Tour for some time and we move to a new course that has not been used before on Tour! With the likes of Monty, Clarke, Harrington, Bjorn and co. on view, a long-odds winner is unlikely, but they have all been defeated by long-shots this year already. In line with Murphy's policy on sponsoring the Irish Open, the venue is rotated each year and this year it is the turn of Fota Island, a links course near Cork which has been completely overhauled over the past two years. It is a short course with wide fairways and undulating greens with run-off areas. Good experience of links golf and a very deft touch around the greens should be characteristics of those that will play well this week.
The three selections are Jose Maria Olazabal, Phillip Price and Peter O'Malley. The open fairways should suit Olly's game as should the reliance on shots around the green, but he also brings a hugely impressive history in the Irish Open. He has played in the event seven times and finished in the top-10 on every occasion, including victory back in 1990. Already a winner this year at the French Open, he could certainly add another national title this week.
Phillip Price did not make the trip to the US Open as so many of this week's field did and he may be he fresher for the rest. He was however in excellent form, having won the Algarve Portuguese Open two months ago and finished 4th in the Volvo PGA Championship last month. Generally regarded as one of the best putters on Tour, he should have the game to feature this week.
Finally, O'Malley was a 50/1 winner at the English Open three weeks ago and he has had a deserved rest since. The Australian contingent has an excellent record on the European links courses and O'Malley is no different, he is a winner of the Scottish Open around Gleneagles. He has yet to finish in the top-5 in this event, but has the game to prosper on this course and comes into the event in great form.
Outright plays:
Jose Maria Olazabal to win 20/1 e.w. @ Stanley
Phillip Price to win 33/1 e.w. @ Victor Chandler or Stanley
Peter O'Malley to win 40/1 e.w. @ Victor Chandler, Stanley and others
72-hole plays:
Paul
Casey to beat Ian Poulter -118 @ Easybets
Poulter seems to have rediscovered
his form with top-10 finishes in his last two events, but these two have played
in five events in common and Casey has finished higher than Poulter in all but
one of them. With his card assured after last week's 2nd place, Casey could
prove to be quite a revelation this season
Andrew
Coltart to beat Ian Poulter -107 @ Camelot
No doubt that Coltart has
rediscovered his form with his gutsy win last week, so this matchup should go
the distance. In line with above, since the Tour reaches Europe, they have
played eight events in common and Coltart has finished higher than Poulter in
all but one of them
David Howell to
beat Daren Lee -115 @ Intertops
Lee was a very nervous finisher last
week and he could suffer a reaction from last week's missed opportunity to
secure his card. He had missed the cut in five of his previous seven events and
a return to type is expected this week. Howell has finished in the top-10 in
three of his last six events and should be a strong favorite
Dean
Robertson to beat Brett Rumford -111 @ Paddy Power
or Simon Bold
Rumford broke his run of missed cuts with a 20th place finish last week, but
Robertson continued his much superior form with an 8th place finish. Rumford has
yet to achieve some consistency and so Robertson gets the nod here
1st round plays:
Paul Casey to beat Nick O'Hern -115 @ Five Dimes [2 units]
Justin Rose to beat Ian Poulter -115 @ Five Dimes
1st round update: 1-1-0 and +0.85 units
Split the plays, but won the more important one for a profitable day. O'Hern continued to struggle and Casey's 69 was enough for a four-shot victory. Rose though was edged by one shot to Poulter's birdie at the last. The situation in the 72-hole plays looks good, though all are close. They stand: Casey/Poulter all square; Coltart/Poulter 2 up; Howell/Lee 2 up; Robertson/Rumford 3 up. They might need to win to make up for the outrights. Price will struggle to make the cut and the other two have daylight between them and Monty who set a new course record today.
2nd round plays:
Padraig Harrington to beat Colin Montgomerie -103 @ Five Dimes
Jose Maria Olazabal to beat Thomas Bjorn -113 @ Five Dimes
2nd round update: 0-2-0 and -2.16 units
The winds blew yesterday and they blew yesterday's picks off course. Quite literally for Olly as his 75 saw him not only lose to Bjorn by six, but also miss the cut. Harrington battled hard but fell three shorts short of Monty's score. Should have looked the weather forecast more closely when pitting two afternoon players against two morning players!
Two 72-hole plays were decided at the cut. Casey was another blown off the course in the afternoon. He followed his 69 with 78 to lose to Poulter by nine. At least Robertson beat Rumford by seven. In the rest, the standings are: Coltart/Poulter all square and Howell/Lee 2 up. In the outrights, Olly missed the cut, O'Malley shot level par to jump up to 42nd, while Price recorded the round of the day (65) to jump over 100 places to 27th.
3rd round plays:
Andrew Coltart to beat Ian Poulter -115 @ Intertops
Padraig Harrington to beat Christophe Pottier -154 @ Centrebet [2 units]
Thomas Levet to beat Fredrik Henge -155 @ Intertops
Colin Montgomerie to beat Anthony Wall -139 @ Centrebet
3rd round update: 3-1-0 and +2.45 units
That make up for yesterday! The only loss was Levet by two shots to Henge. Elsewhere, Coltart beat Poulter by two, Harrington beat Pottier by four and Monty beat Wall by three. Both the remaining 72-hole plays also lead: Coltart by two over Poulter and Howell by four over Lee. Should make up for the outrights - Price had a bounce-back day after yesterday's 65. Both he and O'Malley are out of the running for a place finish.
Nothing from Five Dimes' lines, will look at the offering on the two-ball matches in the morning.
4th round play:
Phillip Price to beat Daren Lee -125 @ Eurobet
Will add more later
Adding:
Patrik Sjoland to beat Marco Bernardini -130 @ Centrebet
Raymond Russell to beat Christophe Pottier +100 @ Centrebet
Final update: 1-2-0 and -1.30 units for the day; 7-7-1 and +0.66 units for the week
Should
have stuck with my first offerings! Price beat Lee by six shots, but it was not
so good from there onwards. Russell lost out by one shot to Pottier and the
Sjoland-Bernardini matchup beggared belief. Was right to go against Bernardini
who shot 78, couldn't believe Sjoland would shoot 80 
In the remaining plays, Howell beat Lee by ten shots, but Coltart failed to
birdie the last hole for the first time this week and it meant he finished in a
tie with Poulter.
Update on outright plays: 0-3 and -3.00 units
O'Malley was never on the pace and finished 44th, while Price was great for two days and poor for the other two. He deserved better than the 30th place he gained, while Olazabal had already missed the cut
