Scandinavian Masters @ Betfair

Summary:
Gutted, left out Donald this week!


Pre-tournament picks:

Back Robert Karlsson 1 pt @ 90 at Betfair
Karlsson has finished 3rd and 5th in two of the last three events on this course and that is the basis for including him this week. He played OK last week on his return from a 7-week break, his putter letting him down more than anything, and I'm banking on him being refreshed and going out all guns blazing on Thursday in front of his home crowd. He kept threatening to get his form back before his break and if, which admittedly I've been thinking for a good while now, he does sometime soon, this course looks as likely as any to be the one he does it on. 100/1 at Stan James.

Back Graeme McDowell 1.5 pts @ 44 at Betfair
I was undecided whether to include him this week, in the country of his first-ever tour win in 2002, and something I read just now has finally persuaded me. It was these McDowell quotes, after his Irish Open finish yesterday: "I'm feeling great and can't wait for the next two weeks. I was really feeling on top of my game at Troon but it didn't work out. This week I hit the ball really well and I just can't wait to get out there and play again". Quite amazingly, four of his nine bogeys in Ireland came on par fives so you can see how well he must've played the rest of the course to secure a tied-11th finish.

Back Colin Montgomerie 1.5 pts @ 28 at Betfair
Don't really like supporting ol' grumpy but I'll make a rare allowance this week, with him looking like he is getting over his much-publicised marriage problems. He had three very good rounds out of four at Loch Lomond before doing really well at The Open, where he was in contention for most of the week and only dropping six shots in his last ten holes saw him finish as low as 25th; par for that stretch would've seen him in tied-7th. Add in his course and location form and he has to be included this week; he hasn't finished outside the top 25 in ten Swedish events spanning the last 10 years, and that includes four great efforts on this course: 8th, 2nd and two wins.

Back Raphaël Jacquelin 1 pt @ 60 at Betfair
Finally found some of his brilliant early-season form last week and I'm hoping, just like those January finishes of 5th, 2nd & 4th, he can immediately show that again. As usual, his iron play was superb in Ireland but at last he found some form on the greens, and if he can keep that going he is too good to be over 50/1 here. Doesn't on the face of it have the best course form, but back in 2001 his three best rounds were almost as good as any in the field; only a poor second round deprived him of a very high finish. 66/1 at Coral / Eurobet.