Geoff Ogilvy

With the high pressure stakes of the Dubai World Championship over, with yet another strong finish to a tournament by World Number One Luke Donald, the Englishman can relax a little bit as he heads down under for the JBWere Australian Masters. With his third place finish in Dubai, Donald sealed the European Money List title, putting it in his bag along with his US PGA Money List title honours for this season. It is with little surprise then, that Donald goes as favourite in Australian Masters golf betting this week, as he looks to pick up yet more honours this year. Donald has landed 19 top ten finishes this season from just 25 starts, a remarkable run of consistency, which just goes to prove that there is a lot more to golf than just hitting the ball hard. It is off to the Victoria Golf Club this week, and is the headline act in what is an interesting field. Donald is the star attraction without a shadow of a doubt and will attract a lot of betting. What makes having a punt on him interesting, is whether the level of intensity will now be dropping off for the tournament, as he can play his first stress free weekend of golf for a long time. No doubt, the rush of challenging for the honours in the Race To Dubai on the European Tour will have taken something out of him. It is inevitable, but you just put together all of his stats and you just can’t ignore him at the same time. A win down under for Donald would give him his fifth title of the year, and would you back against him? He is usually prevalent when the fields are packed with the superstars of golf, and so by that logic, because the field in Victoria isn’t the strongest, then you would assume that Donald would walk it. Donald should be helped because the Victoria course is pretty short and there is not going to be any emphasis on long driving taking an advantage. It should play into Donald’s hands with his superb short game.

But if he is having an off weekend, who is likely to fill in and take the title? Well, naturally you are going to look to one of the Aussies in the pack, and then you are going to have a toss up between Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby. Will be interesting to follow this bickering duo, as they had heated words after Team International’s failure in the Presidents Cup against Team USA. The bitterness continued after the Australian PGA Championship, and it would just be awesome to see these two paired together this weekend. However, that would probably spell distractions for these two, who you would pencil in as having a genuine chance in your JBWere Australian Masters Golf betting this week. Want to take a pick out of these two, then would go with Ogilvy without hesitation. Why? Well, this is home course, and listening to him this week, he is very, very motivated and hungry. He is going to have home support, knows the golf club like the back of his hand and will naturally make a very strong golf betting option for you to take. As for Allenby, he reached the play offs in the Australian PGA, and usually shows up in tournaments in Australia, whereas he goes missing on American tracks. Has never finished outside of the top ten in an Australian tournament, and is a two times winner of this event. Had a horrible Presidents Cup though, but is generally a home soil player.

Aussie Greg Chalmers can’t be overlooked in your JBWere Australian Masters Golf betting either, because he has just been in outrageous form. He has just won the Australian Open and the Australian PGA Championship back to back so you simply can’t argue with that form, and the question you have to ask yourself, is whether he can make it three from three. John Senden, another Aussie, is trading pretty well too. Again, taking length out of the equation for a moment, and Senden has a very good approach game to the green. Something which is going to be important this week on fast greens. If his short game is firing then he could have an advantage over the likes of even Luke Donald, because Senden does have the distance to drive the longer par fives on the course, whereas Donald won’t. We are going to make Senden our top Australian Masters Golf betting tip for the week. There should be some good value in him, even to place.

A couple of other names worth noting for your golf betting this week, is Ian Poulter and Matteo Manaserro. Englishman Poulter has been far more notable over the past month or so than he has for most of the season. Is not in too bad form at all, and while he could need a bit of adjustment to the course conditions, certainly needs his approach work to be tighter, then he could go well. He is looking for his first stroke play win of the year. As for young Italian Manaserro, this is his first taste of golf in Australia, and will be tough to see him adapt and challenge immediately.

So all in all, it will be worth looking at the strong Aussie contingent really, simply because of the fast greens and tricky bunker positioning. The home grown talent usually shows up well here because the rest of the world’s players don’t get enough action to be fully familiar with the conditions down under. Therefore, pick an Aussie this week behind Luke Donald, and narrowing down the strong contingent of Aussies, would look for John Senden to go well.

2011 JBWere Australian Masters Golf Betting Odds
Luke Donald: 4/1 at SkyBet (Place Market 4/6 at William Hill)
Geoff Ogilvy: 10/1 at Skybet (Place Market 9/5 at William Hill)
John Senden: 12/1 at Stan James (Place Market 12/5 at William Hill)
Robert Allenby: 12/1 at SportingBet (Place Market 11/5 at William Hill)
Greg Chalmers: 14/1 at Bwin (Place Market 12/5 at William Hill)
Ian Poulter: 14/1 at SportingBet (Place Market 14/5 at William Hill)
Matteo Manaserro: 30/1 at Totesport (Place Market 6/1 at William Hill)

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Mathematically. Wow, that’s a big word with which to start an article. I suspect it’s a personal best. Sorry, where was I? Oh,yes! Mathematically, only three men can prevent Rory McIlroy from winning the European Order Of Merit on the new Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai this week. The 20-year-old is in pole position to win the Race To Dubai, as the Order Of Merit has been re-branded, following a second to Frenchman Gregory Bourdy at the Hong Kong Open in Fanling, overtaking Lee Westwood, who had a bit of a nightmare in the former colony. Also suffering disappointment last week was Geoff Ogilvy, who failed to make an impact at the JBWere Masters in his native Australia so, with Paul Casey ruled out with injury, that leaves only Westwood, Germany’s Martin Kaymer and Ross Fisher (who did us a massive favour in the World Matchplay) as potential challengers to McIlroy‘s claims to be European number one. The young Ulsterman, in only his second season on the European Tour, is a general 1-2 to collect enough prize money to ensure he finishes ahead of the bunch and a general 9-1 to end the year on a high by winning the Dubai World Championship itself. But nerves are surely going to play a part here. Westwood (a general 16-1) is vastly more experienced and, though his form has tailed off a little in recent weeks, he’ll be trying to exert maximum pressure on McIlroy with the big four, in the opening rounds at least, set to be out on the course at the same time. Kaymer must be cursing the fact (I nearly wrote kicking himself) that he missed two months of the season having broken toes in a karting accident but a win in Dubai, for which he is a general 14-1 chance, would still guarantee him top spot and his fate is still in his own hands, unlike Fisher (a general 20-1) who could still miss out if McIlroy or Westwood were to finish in the frame. And of course, there are almost 60 of the world’s best players out to spoil the party. Ernie Els has a fantastic record in Dubai and is back in form. At a general 16-1 he might be worth a saver, while Padraig Harrington is reported to have been thoroughly refreshed by a family holiday and will have some takers at a general 18-1. Trying to end the year with a bang, though, this columnist will be relying on Justin Rose. The Englishman has had a bit of an up and down season, dividing his time between Europe and America, but has been in a rich vein of form over the last eight weeks, recording under par 72-hole scores in every tournament he’s contested in that time, including a 17 under to tie for fourth place in last week’s Children’s Miracle Network Classic in Florida. Rose is another who likes the desert (he was second in the Dubai Desert Classic back in February) so I’ll be having an interest at 30-1 with boylesports.

The mere fact that Phil Mickelson is back on a golf course speaks volume about the character of the world’s best left-hander. Wife Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer last month and Mickelson immediately suspended his participation on the US PGA Tour to be by her side. Amy faces major surgery next month followed by a lengthy programme of treatment but she’s insisting that her husband try to carry on as normal in the interim, which is why Mickelson did his best to get rid of any ring-rustiness in last week’s St Jude Classic and why he’ll be lining up in this week’s US Open at Bethpage. The two-time winner freely admits that his putting still isn’t finely tuned, so it’s something of a surprise that he’s the one punters have been getting stuck into over the last 24 hours. A market drifter last week Mickelson, who turns 39 this week, is now as low as 10-1 in places but still be backed at 16-1 with Skybet to be what would surely be one of the most popular winners of a major since, well since Tiger Woods won last year’s US Open despite being in chronic pain with a knee injury. Woods, of course, is the man to beat on a course that always plays long but extrabet and betfair‘s 2-1 is the biggest quote you are going to get about the defending champion which, as always with Tiger, will either be outstanding value or a criminally short price. Geoff Ogilvy is third choice in the betting at a general 20-1 but I’m of the opinion that Ernie Els is just too big at a general 50-1 for someone with his class. The ‘Big Easy’ looked in good order on his last outing in the Memorial, hitting the fairways and the greens and, though failing to make the most of his birdie chances, that will have given him confidence he can be among the leaders on Long Island. Els goes out with compatriot Retief Goosen (a general 40-1) and Mickelson in the first two rounds and if that doesn’t inspire him, nothing will!