18-Hole Match Picks - European Tour |
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1-2; -2.00pts Round 1 play (2pts): Johan Edfors to beat Richie Ramsay +100 @ Extrabet LOST by 9 Ramsay may have won the South African Open last month, but he missed the cut the week before that and missed the cut on his return to the Tour last week. He is clearly a great prospect, but has yet to achieve a consistent level on this Tour and that should be hard to attain this week on his course debut. Not so for Edfors who has finished 27th, 4th and 16th in the last three years here and beat Ramsay by six shots over 36 holes last week. Round 2 play (2pts): Paul Casey to beat Lee Westwood +110 @ Paddy Power TIED Can't see why Casey should be such a clear underdog in this matchup, starting the 2nd round in 15th place he would tend to outperform a player starting the 2nd round in 3rd place. And it is not as though there was any notable difference in their stats today to show that Casey was playing poorly. So, with their h2h records showing that Westwood has shot the lower 2nd round score just three times since the start of 2009, I'll back the underdog in this match. Round 3 play (2pts): Retief Goosen to beat Louis Oosthuizen -110 @ SkyBet WON by 5 Oosthuizen has been very poor so far: he ranks 62nd in driving distance, 51st in driving accuracy and 99th in greens in regulation. Surely his putter can't save him for a third day. But even if it does, he hardly ever beats Goosen on the third day: they played in 11 common events last year and Oosthuizen didn't shoot the lower 3rd round once. Round 4 play (2pts): Sergio Garcia to beat Charl Schwartzel +100 @ Pinnacle [also available @ Five Dimes and Bet365] LOST by 2 Schwartzel started the 3rd round in 7th place, but having won his last two starts on the European Tour it should be no surprise that he shot an over-par round today, there must be some mental fatigue after those wins. And it has shown in his game: he ranks 50th in greens in regulation so is clearly not playing well enough to make up the six shot deficit to the leaders. No such problems for Garcia who is striking the ball much better and may still win this event if his putting improves.
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