**I am running a Betfair account which is used exclusively for plays mentioned here on US Tour events. Every single play I put up here will go immediately on my Betfair account. The account with £1000 and my rate will be £20 per Point. The account is being used solely for Tour-Tips and will therefore tell us exactly what the profit/loss record is, including commission costs. If you wish to take these plays as recommendations, please do so but be aware that I can only manage the bets that I have actually struck and cannot give updates for other bets you may have had (or not had) - prices do fluctuate.** 

U.S. Bank Championship @ Betfair

FINAL RESULT:

Loss = 16 pts

Bank is now £764.73 after 15 weeks (Down 11.76 pts overall).

Summary:
A disaster and it rarely looked like it was going to be any different. A grim week.



Page Update #3 (prior to final round):
(Winner market)
Back Kenny Perry 2 pts @ 4
Lay Carlos Franco 2.5 pts @ 6.4
Lay Brett Quigley 2 pts @ 8.4
Lay Patrick Sheehan 1.75 pts @ 9.2
Lay Scott Verplank 1.75 pts @ 9.4
The four lays at the given stakes virtually equate to a lay of 8 pts at Evens the four combined. Quigley is the only addition to the team I didn't fancy in yesterday's update, and I won't hesitate to take him on too, especially having to follow a 64.
Perry looks by far the most likely winner to me now although the real possibility of someone streaking from -6 or -7 to win stops me from just backing him and doing nothing else. This way Perry equals an acceptable profit, Hoch equals a good profit (very disappointing yesterday but still in the hunt given the names above him), and anyone else bar the four lays sees this week end up level. I think the risk of a fairly substantial loss if one of the four lays takes the title is worth taking. All bets matched, click image below to see the book going into the final round.






Page Update #2:
(Winner market)
Back Scott Hoch 3 pts @ 8.4
Seen 7/1 with one of the early-pricing-up bookmakers, and that would be easily enough for me. He was one of my selections last time he played, at the John Deere where he secured his second successive 11th place, and he is obviously continuing his fine form on recovering from his wrist problems. He is a two-time winner here, has the accurate iron game to stay out of all the new greenside rough they now have here, and is surrounded by players who either haven't won or players who win far less than they should. Franco, the leader, is not good at securing the deal and Beem, the only other in front of Hoch at the moment, has shown a very worrying tendency recently to completely collapse when the pressure comes. Van Pelt and Sheehan are level with Hoch and are promising players but we don't know if they can handle it, and the rest within two shots of Hoch are some of the least frightening names you'll ever see on a leaderboard. Even the established two of that group, Verplank & Triplett, are well known for being more proficient in giving away titles they should be winning than actually taking them. I would be very surprised indeed to see the in-form Hoch under-perform on the weekend against this bunch on one of his favourite courses.


Page Update #1:
(Winner market)
Back Hidemichi Tanaka 1.5 pts @ 70
Back Jonathan Byrd 1.5 pts @ 50
Going for a couple of the younger brigade despite the popular belief that older, more experienced players are the key to punting success at Brown Deer Park. After all, Charles Howell had just turned 22 when, on his first tournament here, he made the playoff for the 2001 event, and Steve Allan nearly won last year despite being under 30 and having no form here.
Tanaka is a player whose first win is probably now a little overdue, but he is coming off his best ever Tour finish, 3rd last week at the BC Open, and he has a consistent, accurate game which results in very few missed cuts. He has eight career top tens in the US although his two this year are the first he's had before August, and with the run he had when hitting form last season (4 finishes of T-6 or better in 6 events starting late August) it appears he can be followed when showing up in the second half of the season; his five top-15s of 2002 all came from late June onwards also. For those who think Par 3 Performance is important here, with unusually 5 par threes on the course, his 14th this year, and 11th last year, in the Par 3 Performance rankings is very encouraging.
Byrd won last week and presumably everyone has discarded him for that reason. It wasn't the strongest event in terms of quality of the field but those kind of tournaments are still desperately difficult to claim, and it was a welcome return to form for him after the hip surgery of earlier this season; it had left him struggling for anything like the golf he is capable of, as no top-15s and 8 missed cuts in 15 events testify. But now he has re-discovered it I feel he could go on and progress again and the near-50/1 is very appealing; after all, late last season, when everyone agreed what a promising young prospect he was, he was going off 66/1 at Disney in a field containing Woods, Singh, Furyk, Choi, Love, Goosen & Mickelson. Five finishes between 2nd and 16th in his final 7 events of '03, plus excellent earlier showings in the Masters and US Open, had suggested this was going to be a season where he joined the fringes of the very best. Maybe he still can surpass last year's efforts and do just that; he can certainly secure victories, a handy quality in a field full of infrequent winners.

Oberholser is a NR for those who may have seen the earlier version of this page.