Wow! A star is born.

4 wins, 3 losses, 1 tie: +2.28pts

round 4 2ball:

Back J.J. Henry to beat John B. Holmes to win 1pt @2.05 at Five Dimes - lost

Holmes has been very impressive this week and looks like he could be a real star, however it is now his turn to feel the pressure of having slept on the lead in a PGA event for the first time. Henry was clearly affected by it yesterday, and frankly there are very few players who aren't - and they are mainly the experienced ones who have done it all many times before. Holmes could be the sort to feed on the pressure and storm to victory in this event, but it wouldn't be a surprise to me to see him stuggle badly and fall down the leaderboard today. The pins will be harder, the greens will be less receptive and if things start going badly the large beer-fuelled Arizona crowds getting on your back isn't really what you need. Of course much of the above could apply to Henry, but I think he had his 'wobble' yesterday and after birdie on the last should be in a positive frame of mind here, with far less pressure as he is in the chasing pack rather than leading.

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round 3 2balls:

Back Scott Verplank to beat Phil Mickelson to win 1.5pts @2.62 at Pinnacle-won

Take two in this matchup. A tie yesterday and the price on Verplank goes up?! - doesn't seem right to me.

Back Charles Howell to beat Robert Allenby to win 1pt @2.22 at Pinnacle-won

I'm not Howell's biggest fan and often think he is over-rated, but I still don't see him as the outsider in this fairly even looking match up.

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round 2 3balls:

Back Greg Owen against Arron Oberholser and Ryan Moore to win 2pts @4.0 at Coral - lost

Back Jason Bohn against Mark Calcavecchia and Chris Dimarco to win 2pts @4.33 at Coral, William Hill - lost

Backing two players who were soundly beaten in the 3 ball yesterday to bounce back at inflated prices. Both are still capable of making the cut and I don't see either of them as the type to throw in the towel.

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round 2 2ball:

Back Scott Verplank to beat Phil Mickelson to win 1pt @2.55 at Expekt - tie (void)

Verplank got the job done for us yesterday, although he may well need to shoot better today to see off Mickelson (particularly if he plays anything like how he played in round 2 last year!). Mickelson is of course a strong favourite here, but Verplank is more than capable of beating him and I think the price is just too big over 18 holes.

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Round 1 3ball:

Back Jonathan Byrd against Kaye and Daly to win 2pts @3.75 at William Hill - 2 way tie with Kaye

Daly is prime opposing material in match bets due to his inconsistency. Kaye is fancied by many for a good week due to his previous win here and strong finish last week, however this has been factored in to the prices on him and in the case of this one I think it has been over-played. Kaye isn't the most consistent of players either and if you take the win out of the picture his record here isn't particularly good. Byrd's record here isn't good either but he is a solid player who rarely shoots very high scores. A solid round may well be enough to take this 3 ball.

Round1 2ball:

Back Scott Verplank to beat Robert Allenby to win 1pt @1.79 at Five Dimes -won

Verplank's record in this event is very good and he also comes in to it in excellent form: his 2nd place at the Bob Hope picked up where he left off with his 3rd in the Tour Championship at the end of last season. Allenby had an unbelievable journey back home to Australia in Decemeber where he picked up three straight wins. He hasn't played for the best part of two months now though and may well be a bit rusty here. It also remains to be seen whether he can convert his good form in Australia in to good form in America.