Scottish Open

Pre-tournament picks:

Back Fredrik Jacobson 2 pts @ 27 at Betfair
Am doing my best not to be stubborn here ... it's hard to put up a player at 26/1 when he has already been matched at all rates up to 33/1 on Betfair. 25/1 is available almost across the board where traditional bookmakers are concerned, so we should be able to manage a point higher with the exchange layers.
Squeezed out here two years ago in a tight playoff, he is a far more accomplished player now and has a short game that almost any player in the world would die for. As well as proving he belongs with the very best with some fine performances in the US, even on some courses that seem too tough for his sometimes wayward driving, he is now a multiple winner on this tour, and a good run looks very much on the cards with there being little pressure on the accuracy of the driver here.

Back Lee Westwood 3 pts @ 40/1 at Ladbrokes or Coral / Eurobet
Apologies for not being able to use Betfair here, but the backers on there are, at the time of writing, taking 35/1 so we can't ignore the 5 points higher.
A super second place last week succeeded a very decent US Open for Westwood and finally he really does look like becoming a force again. His quote this week of "I am hitting the ball as well as perhaps I ever have" is a fine indication of his golf at the moment as he is not a player to mix his words; he would certainly say if he was struggling.
He just needs to get the putts dropping and if that happens he looks almost assured of a high finish; he says he will be working hard on the short game this week. He is back in Scotland for the first time since his fabulous Dunhill Links win last year and everything points firmly towards an exciting week for him - he also has some decent form here. Imagine if he was indeed back to his best ... he'd be correctly priced at somewhere under 20/1 even in this field.

Summary:
Little to cheer about in Europe for the second successive week. Loss 5 pts.