Dunhill Championship

FINAL RESULT: 4-3-0; -0.12pts

Clark/Siem LOST by 2
Kingston/Gronberg LOST by 11
McLardy/Gronberg TIED (Loss)
Otto/Gronberg WON by 1
Slattery/King WON by 3
Slattery/Tadini WON by 3
Moore/Vaughan WON (Vaughan wd)

Two steps forward, one step back. Had a huge stroke of luck when Gronberg got wet and closed with an eight to hand a one-shot victory to Otto, but then an hour later McLardy also failed to stay dry and took six shots on the last to turn a winning play into a losing one as ties lose at BlueSq. A five from McLardy would have brought the event into profit and that had never looked likely!

Matchup plays (1pt unless stated):

Tim Clark to beat Marcel Siem -154 @ Centrebet [2pts]
These two has played in the same event six times and Clark has won on every occasion. With the erratic Siem rusty and having no course form, this should be seven this week.

James Kingston to beat Mathias Gronberg -128 @ Centrebet [3pts]
Gronberg finished his PGA Tour season with ten straight missed cuts to fall from safety on the Money List to losing his Tour Card. He will be eligible to play in some events in 2005, but his confidence will have suffered greatly and he didn't even try to regain his Card at Q-School. Life back on the European Tour starts with this very minor event and it will be very easy for him to struggle. Easy to side with a player who finished in the top-5 in Hong Kong Open last week, in his last Southern Africa Tour event last month and in the top-10 in two starts on this course.

Andrew McLardy to beat Mathias Gronberg -110 @ BlueSq [2pts]
Similar story here. McLardy has won two of his last four starts in South Africa, including one on this course where he also finished 4th in 2002. A sizeable home advantage for McLardy who plays well in his home country and home will seem a very long way away for Gronberg at this time of the year.

Hennie Otto to beat Mathias Gronberg -111 @ Expekt [2pts]
Another one to side with in South Africa so he is included here as well as in the outrights. Great record on this course and in this country, Otto is the player to back in South Africa.

Lee Slattery to beat Matthew King -110 @ SkyBet [3pts]
Two graduates from the Challenge Tour, but they shouldn't be on an equal footing. Slattery finished 1st on the Challenge Tour rankings in 2004 and played only two-thirds as many event as King. Add in the fact that Slattery has travelled down to play on the Southern Africa Tour each year and as such as three top-30 finishes on this course and even if these two players were equal in ability, Slattery is the player with the home advantage.

Lee Slattery to beat Alessandro Tadini -110 @ Stan James [2pts]
Same in this match with Tadini who finished 2nd in the rankings behind Slattery in 2004. He has never even played in South Africa, so even though he is coming off a top-10 finish in Hong Kong, it is the Englishman who should prevail under South African conditions.

Titch Moore to beat Bradford Vaughan -118 @ Centrebet [2pts]
Moore has finished ahead of Vaughan in each of the last two events at Leopard Creek and is coming off a win in his last Southern Africa Tour event. Too much in his favour to be ignored in this match.