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A golfer for the future is Trevor Immelman, a young (26)South African who plays mainly on the US PGA tour but is over here this weekend playing in the BMW at Wentworth. Not sure about this weekend (his first tournament of the season in Europe I believe) but this guy will definitely win a major or three before too long.
Won the Western Open in Chicago this weekend at around 60/1 on Betfair. Hope you were on!!
I think that you’re right about Immelman and he’s an improving player worth following in the next few years. Not convinced he’ll win a major though – unless he hits top form whilst Tiger has got the flu;)
(Edited by SwallowCottage at 10:25 pm on Sep. 8, 2006)
If Tiger Woods is to make the kind of difference that the Amercians would like, he and they will have to realise that the team format is absolutely inimical to Tiger’s modus operandi.
His father taught him that as a man of non-Caucasian racial inheritance, visibly African- American, and because of the endemic racism in the Caucasian world, he was going to be an outsider, however ostensibly successful he was as an individual. And the more successful he became, the more focused and concentrated on his own game he would need to be; and this, of course, is a notable feature of his game. He plays in a kind of bubble of concentration.
So, if the Americans want to get anything like the best out of him, they’ll have to persuade him not to think of himself as part of the team, but regain some of the protective contempt for many of his fellow golfers, his compatriots, the shell he has had to grow down the years, to inure himself from hostile envy, debased in particular, by racism. Obviously I mean "contempt" in a limited way that has little or nothing to do with the kind of negative emotion normally attached to the word.
I believe he’s been joining in the spirit of the affair and really enjoying himself. Predictably, I think, he has underperformed for that reason.
Actually, I think it’s a useful exercise for seminarians. I spent a few months in a seminary, and suggested that each of us in turn should be sent to Coventry by the others for a week; even sitting alone for meals. It wasn’t taken up though, which I think is a shame. The desire for social approval that we all have, can be inimical to our integrity, as an individual.
(Edited by Grimes at 7:21 pm on Sep. 23, 2006)
Profound stuff and you may be right about Tiger as he is single minded and often does not play well in the team events such as the Ryder Cup. He doesn’t do too good at matchplay either and seems to prefer the tournaments where he can concentrate solely on his own game and not worry about how his playing partners are doing. Sergio Garcia seems the opposite and plays brilliant golf in the Ryder cup but often wilts under pressure when leading in major tournaments when the focus is on him.<br>Oh, a player for the future = J J Henry. Going to win some decent tourn’ts in the future imo.
Adam Scott has just won the Tour Championship beating a lot of the best players in the world including Furyk ( only top players who did not play were Tiger and Phil Mickelson ). Adam really impressed me with his play and is now maturing into a top class golf player .
With Els, Singh, Goosen looking as if they are on the decline and Phil M only trying in the majors then I expect Adam to do really well next year and I’ll be betting on him regularly.
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Trevor Immelman looks to have a decent chance of winning the South African open this week. It’s not a strong event and his main rivals are
Ernie Els who is still struggling with the pain of his knee injury and has not won this year.<br>Retief Goosen who often plays well in SA but has been struggling this year. Would win easily if returning to his best form.<br>Lee Westwood who should like the course but has not won since 2003 and often plays badly on the 4th day.<br>Angel Cabrera who has been out of form recently.<br>Charl Schwartzel who may feel the effects of throwing away a 6 shot winning lead last week.
Trevor Immelman often plays well at this event in his home country and should go close if playing to form. ÂÂÂ
(Edited by SwallowCottage at 2:38 pm on Dec. 14, 2006)
Good call by Trackside to recommend Stenson as a player to follow as he’s already won 2 tournaments this year and has shown a better temperament ( possibly because his wife is pregnant! ) and become more consistent. <br>He won in Dubai earlier this month and last weekend he won the WGC Matchplay. I expect him to win more tournaments this year and he has a realistic chance of winning one of the majors.
First of all; I don’t think Tiger is necessarily a let-down in Ryder Cups because his father taught him to expect to be an outsider due to his ethnicity. I think it’s partly because since he was a toddler, his life has been dominated by a sport which basically involves the greatest amount of mental solitude I have ever come across. The golf course can be the lonliest place in the world at times, and someone raised as a ‘golf machine’ will naturally not take to team-based variations of the game all too well.
Immelman is a class act, and can beat the best of them. However, he’s the kind that has good spells just the one week long, and this makes him a bit unpredictable in the betting markets.
Henrik Stenson is the most sensible bet for next European Major winner; he’s just so damn consistent and all-round, he will suit all 4 equally. Looking at some others for example; Donald isn’t long enough for the Masters or USPGA, Casey isn’t straight enough for the US Open, Sergio can’t putt so rule out Augusta etc etc.
Geoff Ogilvy is the man to watch for me. Unfortunately, you lost some value with him winning the US Open, but you still get a good price. He’s long, pretty straight (you have to be to win a US Open) and has great touch, not to mention one of my favourite current swings on tour. He also tends to get good spells of a few weeks, so you can bank on a good performance on the week following a strong finish.
(Edited by Friggo at 3:31 am on Mar. 20, 2007)
Hi Friggo – I feel like I’ve been talking to myself on this part of the forum so your comments are most welcome. Do you bet a lot on golf and are you any good ? I’ve been betting on it for about 4 years and did excellently in 2005 but have made a loss in the last 14 months. My horse racing profits are subsidising my golf bets at the moment which isn’t too clever really.
Some of my previous comments on here are looking a bit daft now. So much for Singh being on the decline – won twice this year and played great stuff last weekend. Goosen has also won as well. I’ve changed my mind about J J Henry – lost confidence in him. I still think Scott will come good sometime though.
I agree with your comments on Stenson. I think Immelman’s putting needs improvement for him to win.<br>I can see Geoff Ogilvy winning this year – just need to work out when it will be!
Oh, I see you live at St Andrews – is this the one near the golf course? ÂÂÂ
Hello to you too, SwallowCottage.
Quote: from SwallowCottage on 12:21 pm on Mar. 22, 2007[br]<br>Oh, I see you live at St Andrews – is this the one near the golf course?
Lol, yes it would be. In fact, if you gave me 30 seconds I could be on the first tee at the Old Course!
I’ve been a golf punter since about the same time I became a horse punter, in fact before. I remember having a bet at the 2000 Open when I was just 13!
I used to be a semi-decent golf punter, back when I had Sky and they had the PGA Tour. Nowadays I’m not as up-to-date as I was, but I’m more of a ‘horses for courses’ man in terms of golf betting, so form was never my concrete guide anyway. Now I mostly just bet in the bigger events. I’ve been doing not too shabby either: my last two bets were Cabrera e/w @ 66s for the Open (beaten a shot for a place) and Garcia e/w @ 33s for the USPGA (T-3rd I think). The later was based mostly on the memory of the previous USPGA held at Medina.
The Player’s will be coming up soon, probly next week, so what are your thoughts? It’s usually my first golf bet of the season, after I’ve had time to establish who’s playing decent golf.
Well, you couldn’t get much closer to the golf course without actually living on it:) ÂÂÂ
You mentioned Henrik Stenson previously and I’ve backed him this week to win the WGC Championship which is on Sky. He’s doing good so far but there’s another 3 days to go yet and Tiger’s playing.
The next big tournament is the Masters in a fortnight which is on BBC. I’ve never picked the winner – nearest I got was when Els finished runner up to big Phil about 3 years ago.  I’ll post my selections nearer to the off so you’ll know which players to ignore! ÂÂÂ
I’ve just been on the PGA schedule, and lordy me am I behind! They’ve moved Doral to March and made it a WGC, and the Players is now in May! I suppose it’s the compromise for not making it a Major, give it big billing in that gap between the Masters and US Open.
Funny you should mention Els as you’re closest. I can’t remember if he’s my only winner, but Phil that year was certainly the last Masters winner I backed. One of my favourite finishes to a tournament, that one.
Early indications would suggest Singh is a solid bet for the Masters. Since Woods is now ‘untouchable’ again, you get great prices all the other guys, so there will definitely be some each-way looting to be done.
Quick inspection of Blue Sq. gave Singh at 16s! Value there. Another eye-catcher was Di Marco at 50s – not done much this season but loves Augusta, and Majors in general. The bookies are obviously scared of Stenson; 20s does not give comparative value.
Do you Golf fans think Luke Donald or Paul Casey are worth betting on to win the masters.
Casey has previous at Augusta (6th in ’03 or ’04), and if he’s hitting straight can reduce any course to a pitch and putt. His form, however, has been totally and utterly diabolical since he won a two-bit event in Dubai in I think January, punctuated only by a decent run in World Matchplay.
Luke Donald is a good player, and was 3rd in The Masters two years ago. My concern with him would be his length. The only short player I can remember winning at Augusta in my lifetime was Ollie.
They’re both looking like being about 40s. I’m not going to tell you whether or not to back them, Danny, but I’ll just say that if one of them does win, you know that I won’t be celebrating!;)
I agree with Friggo that Casey hits the ball long enough for the Augusta course but my doubt with him is the strength of character needed to win a major. He has won a few tournaments but has a reputation of playing badly as soon as he goes into the lead. He did this last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. During the 3rd day, he took the lead and went odds on in-running to win it. His game then collapsed and his odds at the end of the day were 40/1:o
I think that Donald is a more skillful player than Casey but probably does not have the length to win. He’s also not played well recently.
OK now I’ve said that I don’t fancy their chances then one of them will probably win and if this happens then I won’t be celebrating either.
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