Ford Senior Players Championship

FINAL RESULT: 3-1; +4.17pts

Stadler 30th
Weibring 5th
Watson 3rd
McCord 5th

First, the good news ... Watson came back well from a very poor start to his final round to finish just three shots out of the lead and Weibring shot the low round of the day to earn a six-way share of 5th place - enough to only return half of the stake, but better than nothing when completely written off.

And the bad news ... I tip place-only plays only rarely, but had three this week and all three turned out to be extremely frustrating. The first two went on to win their events at the reduced odds and that leaves Gary McCord. In 3rd place and playing the easy par-five 17th hole, he lays up to 100 yards from the flag and hits his pitch into the water! No problem, still 5th and a par at the last should be enough. He pulls his drive into the rubbish and has to take a penalty drop, meaning that he shoot five and instead of a full 26pt profit, he is in a six-way share of 5th place and barely more than a tenth of the profit. It may be a long time before I tip a place-only play again!

Outright plays (total stake per play: 2pts)

Craig Stadler to win 14/1 e.w. @ GolfingGods
Two weeks ago at the Bank of America Championship, the Walrus had not played a competitive round of golf for a month since pulling a muscle after an abrupt sneeze in the Senior PGA Championship, but he recovered from a slow start to finish 12th. He said he was rusty that week and would be better prepared the following week and he was ... he finished 3rd and was in contention throughout the week. Now he returns to a course on which he won two years ago and fresh from the layoff, he should be fully back to his best this week and difficult to beat.

D.A. Weibring to win 20/1 e.w. @ BlueSq
In the recent absence of dominating players on this Tour, players such as Weibring have come to the fore with a win in May (Bruno's Memorial Classic) and finishes of 2nd, 6th, 4th and 6th in his last four starts. He finished in the top-15 on his debut here last year and should finish higher in his current form.

Tom Watson to win 22/1 e.w. @ GolfingGods
Watson is not a full-time player on this Tour, but he is generally very competitive when he does compete with the seniors. He has three top-3 finishes in six starts this year and was in contention for much of the Senior PGA Championship before falling away in the closing rounds. That should not be the case on this case where he has finished 18th, 8th and 2nd in three previous visits and he has been particularly close to victory on those last two occasions. In 2001, he held the lead after the 1st and 2nd rounds and in 2003, he held the lead after the 2nd and 3rd rounds before losing out to Stadler. He can still give Stadler a good match these days.

Gary McCord to finish in the top-five 13/1 @ Expekt
McCord is also a part-time player on this Tour who is very competitive when he does play. In his last five starts, he has had three top-6 finishes and he finished 5th last year, having held the lead at the halfway stage. That makes odds of 13/1 to finish in the top-five rather generous and while he can be backed at 66/1 each-way with BetInternet, it must also be remembered that despite reaching two playoffs, he has not won since winning the 1999 Senior Tour Championship.