Last Chance Saloon..
Had a very mixed bag of results so far with my Major Golf predictions so far...a few nice returns, some very close calls and good runs for my money, and some absolutely atrocious performances - heres hoping the last Major will see a much better return.
My three mainstays on the US Tour, whom I have followed religiously, Villegas, Mahan and Weekley, all have possibles against their names, but IMO have not yet shown the consistency you really need to be a Major winner - that said, I will however be keeping a vested interest in Hunter Mahan, purely because he needs to let some action back up his words recently about the Ryder Cup, and also in US Tours he has played very well. Its also worth noting his second round at Birkdale was level par, and his style of play could very well suit the Oakland Hills course.
Bally's inadvertent bet on Lee Westwood may yet pay dividends, but im gonna leave him alone and my main European pick will be Robert Karlsson . Karlsson has been awesomely consistent this season, has performed very well in the Majors to date, and shows no signs of slowing down. Very straight, high in the list of GIR's and at 66/1 looks great value.
My next selection is Stephen Ames. Ames has been fairly quiet this season but has made the cut in all Majors so far, and played very well at the recent WGC event, though never threatened the leaders. Hopeful of a very big week.
4th up is a bit out there, as he has no real form to point to, other than a succession of made cuts. But he is a past USPGA winner, has experience round this course having been part of the US Ryder Cup team that played there, and also needs a big finish to give himself a shot of being part of this years Ryder Cup. That man is David Toms. Toms is usually arrow straight and excellent from tee to green. A cold putter normally is Toms weakness that means he posts consistent scores around par, -1, which so easily could be mid 60's rounds. I just have a snakey one for Toms, under the "good run for your money" umbrella.
My last pick is Bart Bryant. Again, another relative unknown, but he is sixth in accuracy off the tees and high up in the GIR's category. This will stand him in fine stead around Oakland Hills, and its also worth noting Bryant has performed very well in his last three Majors. Definitely worth a shout against bigger names.
My bets therefore will be :
2pts e/w Hunter Mahan 40/1
2pts e/w Robert Karlsson 66/1
2pts e/w Stephen Ames 80/1
1pt e/w David Toms 125/1
1pt e/w Bart Bryant 200/1
Good luck all, should be a great finale to the golfing season - until the Ryder Cup anyway!
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