Abu Dhabi Golf Championship

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1-2; -0.56pts 

Round 1 play (4pts):

Andrew McLardy to beat Chris Wood -105 @ Five Dimes  WON by 1
Backing McLardy in the first round again. He played well for the opening two rounds last week (67-67) and certainly looked to have maintained the form that earned him a PGA Tour Card via the Q-School; he was certainly in better form than Wood who missed the cut by four shots. In terms of the Middle East Swing, McLardy has been a regular in recent seasons and with some success: he has finished in the top-50 in seven of eight starts in this region in the last three years and has finished in the top-50 in all of his previous four visits to Abu Dhabi. That compares very favourably in comparison to Wood who is making his course debut and in his two starts in this region has missed the cut once and finished 42nd of 58 in Dubai two months ago.

Round 2 play (2pts):

Ian Poulter to beat Soren Hansen -115 @ Extrabet [also available @ Unibet]  LOST by 3
Poulter has certainly started this season in the same form as he finished 2009 - including the non-Tour events, he ended last year with five top-10 finishes - and in the same form as in previous years on this course - he has finished in the top-10 in both his previous starts at Abu Dhabi. Now he ends day one in 1st place and that is a very good position in which to back him. In the last five occasions that he has been first round leader, he has gone on to win wire-to-wire on four of those occasions; on the other occasion, he fell only to 2nd place after the second round.

Round 3 play (2pts):

Peter Hanson to beat Chris Wood -128 @ Pinnacle  TIED
Opposing Wood for two reasons: he shot 64 today so there would typically be a bounceback the following day and he is not proven in this situation: he has started the weekend in the top-10 only twice on Tour, shooting 73 and 79 on those two occasions.

Round 4 play (2pts):

Rory McIlroy to beat Martin Kaymer -113 @ Pinnacle [available generally]  LOST by 1
Perfect situation for this match. Kaymer holds a one-shot lead over his playing partners, Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter. with one round to play. Kaymer may have won four of the eight times that he has held the lead with one round to play, but his best round in this situation is 71 and he averages 73.5 ... that won't be good enough to beat either McIlroy or Poulter.