Martin Kaymer

As expected, Germany’s Martin Kaymer has made a big move towards winning the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship for a third time. After a solid first round, Kaymer pushed onwards during the second round, and was helped by Padraig Harrison being disqualified. Harrington, who sitting in second place at the time, was called out for supposedly nudging his ball forward just a fraction of inch, when replacing it on the green ahead of  putt. Harrington was kicked out of the tournament, in what seems a bit harsh of a fashion, because the infringement didn’t come to light after he had already signed his score card for the first round. But, his dismissal should really not take anything away from the efforts of Kaymer, who blitzed the course with a fantastic round of 65 on Friday. His round has big implications in the world of golf, because if the defending Champion in Abu Dhabi retains his trophy, then he will replace Tiger Woods as the world number two. Kaymer did exactly what he needed to do in the second round, and that was go out strong and put pressure on leader Charl Schwartzel. Kaymer hit five birdies in the first seven holes of his second round effort, to finish at 65 to back up his first round of 67.

That superb second round put him three shots clear of South Africa’s Schwartzel, who really blew the script a little bit, firing in a round of 71, which really let down his sparkling first round lead of 64. But, he is still not out of the running, it will just be about how he now deals with his relatively poor second round. Could stay in the running with a solid performance in the third. But Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell is breathing down his neck now, as the US Open winners is just one shot back in second place. McDowell also let his standards slip a little bit from his first round score. McDowell hit a round of 70 in the second, pairing up with his better first round effort of 70. However, he is looking in good form, and his confident and cool demeanour will probably ensure that he is close to the top of the leader board at the end of the tournament. There has been some delays at the tournament to bad light, and Kaymer even battled on well through the wins and rain, not dropping a single shot all round. There were a couple of surprise performances though, with both Louis Oosthuizen and Ian Poulter missing the cut. World number one Lee Westwood found going much trickier than expected and ended up on level par, just enough to avoid missing the cut. Will be out of the running though, with too much ground to make up on the leaders. Rory McIlroy is in the hunt though, six shots back on 138, and put in a much improved round of 67 following his opening 71. A late charge by him maybe?

Martin Kaymer: 11/17 at Bwin
Graeme McDowell: 7/1 at Totesport
Charl Schwartzel: 8/1 at Paddy Power
Rory McIlroy: 16/1 at Bet365

Online bookmaker BetFred are great for your golf betting. For this tournament the offer of a lost stake refund was on the table, if the player you backed came in second to Martin Kaymer, Phil Mickelson, Graeme McDowell or Louis Oosthuizen. The popular online bookmaker are great for their golf betting promotions and are always worth checking out when a big tournament comes around. With the offer of a £50 free bet for new customers opening an account with them, there is even more incentive to join the recommended bookie, who really tee up the sports betting promotions very well.

Millions of pounds will be staked on the 2010 Ryder Cup, with this golf event capturing the imagination like no other competition throughout the year. There might only be two teams involved, although there are twelve players on each side doing battle for the ultimate bragging rights in the sport.

Europe have been favourite pretty much from the start and it is Boylesports that are currently offering a best price 8/11 that Colin Montgomerie’s team regain the trophy. Paddy Power had been favourites with their 7/10 quote for much of the week, although they have currently been usurped by their Irish counterparts.

Nevertheless, Paddy Power have already achieved a major PR coup by paying out on Europe winning the Ryder Cup on Monday. It’s unclear as to how many bets they took on the home side, although it’s possible that a six-figure amount was shelled out to customers.

Paddy also unsuccessfully managed to get a giant sign erected opposite Celtic Manor this week, although they will be popular with customers due to their great odds and special bets.

The USA are the 7/4 outsiders with bet365 to win the 2010 Ryder Cup, although they have some amazingly talented golfers within the side and are probably the value bet to regain the trophy that they won easily at Valhalla.

Providing Tiger Woods is firing on all cylinders, the Americans have the potential to cause an upset and the last four underdogs have won this competition. The world number one is a best price 5/1 with Sporting Bet to be top points scorer for the USA and he is set to feature heavily throughout the three days.

If Woods does well, then so too will Steve Stricker as the pair are expected to contest the fourball and foursome matches together. That’s why Stricker is also among the favourites to be Top American at odds of 6/1 with bet365. However, Phil Mickelson could be the best each-way value at odds of 13/2, also with bet365.

As for Top European, there are so many possible winners of this market and it’s a highly competitive heat. There has been money for Ian Poulter in the past few hours, although he could still be worth a bet at bet365’s 9/1, especially as the Englishman has the sort of tenacious personality which will help his team enormously. Poulter has bags of confidence and has to be the pick.

Martin Kaymer has gone favourite at odds of 11/2 with Sporting Bet, despite the fact that the German goes into this tournament as a rookie. He is likely to be paired with Lee Westwood and the Englishman is 7/1 with bet365 to be the top dog for Europe. However, Graeme McDowell is on offer at 7/1 with Paddy Power and that could be a popular bet when you take into account that he and Rory McIlroy should form a strong unit.

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.