Saint-Omer Open

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1-2; -2.00pts  (system plays: 4-0-2) 

Round 1 play (2pts):

Branden Grace to beat Benn Barham +105 @ Extrabet  LOST by 7
Backing the in-form player in this co-sanctioned event with the Challenge Tour. In that Tour he has managed three top-20 finishes since the start of last month, whereas Barham has just one and over the course of the past month, Barham is averaging over two shots more than Grace.

Round 2 play (4pts):

Jarmo Sandelin to beat Carlos Del Moral -105 @ Five Dimes  TIED
Sandelin has shown some form in the last three weeks: he was in contention throughout the Madrid Masters, in contention for three rounds of the Celtic Manor Wales Open and bounced back from an opening 75 to shoot 66 in the 2nd round of the Estoril Open de Portugal last week. He hasn't started as poorly this week - he lies 60th after the opening round - but he played in the afternoon when conditions were much tougher than for the morning groups and that included Del Moral who still shot a higher 1st round score. With the blustery conditions expected to be broadly similar tomorrow, Sandelin should be able to shoot a good score in the morning and watch the other half of the field struggle in the more difficult afternoon conditions in round 2.

[unofficial rd2 system plays: Gross tb Guerrier +100 (T); Quesne tb Zapata -105 (W); Feyrsinger tb Eales -125 (W)]

Round 3 play (2pts):

George Murray to beat Mark F. Haastrup +100 @ FiveDimes  LOST by 5
Two players who have had high finishes recently, but it is Murray who has been the far more consistent. Whereas Haastrup finished 3rd in Portugal last week, he had missed five of his previous six cuts, while Murray's worst finish throughout the whole of 2010 has been 36th and he is coming off a win in the Scottish Hydro Challenge last week. That may account for his poor first round, but he rebounded well with a 69 today to jump 56 places up the leaderboard and I would expect him to maintain his form tomorrow. With the weather forecast predicting another cold, blustery day, it should also help that he will complete his round 2 1/2 hours ahead of Haastrup.

Round 4 play (2pts):

Jan-Are Larsen to beat Fabien Marty -140 @ FiveDimes  WON by 8
Hard to see how Marty can bounce back from today's round. Twenty-four hours ago he was being lauded in the French golf press and websites as the leading home player in 6th place and just three shots off the lead. However, he followed this unexpected attention with a third round 82 and fell to second-last, while Raphael Jacquelin quickly dominated the home attention with a third round 66 that saw him jump to 2nd place. In truth, nothing else could have been expected as the Challenge Tour rookie has yet to make a single cut this year and he should be in a hurry to get out of this venue after today's trails.

[unofficial rd4 system plays: Dinwiddie tb Haastrup +100 (T); Nystrom tb Backstrom -130 (W); Feyrsinger tb Vanegas -125 (W)]