European Masters

FINAL RESULT: 0-3; -4.50pts

Dredge 15th
Jacquelin mc
Romero mc

Another show of form from Dredge, but a poor first round always left him struggling to get back into contention.

Outright plays (total stake per play: 1.5pts)

Bradley Dredge to win 22/1 e.w. @ Victor Chandler
Backing Dredge once again as his form of three top-5 finishes and then a top-10 finish last week is hard to ignore. His 9th place finish last week was also on a course on which he had previously struggled and that is not the case this week: last year he finished 20th and his highest finish before that had been four months previously and two years ago e finished 4th. Not high enough odds to back place-only again, but has a much better chance of victory this week.

Raphael Jacquelin to win 40/1 e.w. @ Victor Chandler
Another player in good form, both of late and on this course. He has finished in the top-15 in two of his last three visits to Crans-sur-Sierre and was also in the top-15 in 1998. He had played in the penultimate group on the Sunday of his last visit, but a poor back nine saw him drop out of contention. Ernie Els was dominant that week and in his absence, he is surely better than a 40/1 shot.

Eduardo Romero to finish in the top-five 10/1 @ Expekt and IASbet
On that occasion (2003), Romero had actually started the final round with a two-shot lead over his playing partner, Els, but the South African opened with four straight birdies and he struggled under the pressure. Last year he also finished 3rd and it extended a his record at Crans-sur-Sierre to five top-10 finishes in his last six visits, including one win (2000). Such course form cannot be ignored and even though he missed the cut last week in Germany, he had missed the last two European Tour cuts before this event last year and he did beat of the strongest European Senior Tour fields of the year in his previous start by eight shots.