Belgacom Open

This event takes place on the links course of Royal Zoute. After weeks of parkland courses, the wind and peculiarities of links golf will be to the fore and there may be some reversal of recent form. For the defending champion, Robert Karlsson, who was also 3rd in 1998, this is a necessity; he currently stands outside the top-100 in the Order of Merit. As with any links course, length and accuracy are not the primary factors, but a good short game. In this respect, Karlsson was 3rd in the putting stats last year and won this event; Jamie Spence was 2nd in those putting stats and was 2nd in this event; Lee Westwood's stats for 1998 are not reported, but he is currently ranked #1 this year and he won this event in 1998. The course compatibility table shows a very clear relationship between putting ability and finishing position in this event.

It is therefore no surprise that Lee Westwood is the top-ranked player. A winner in 1998, he finished 14th last year and leads the putting stats by quite a margin. Putting to one side his hated St Andrews, he has shown he is just as capable on links as on parkland courses and looks very good to win with two of his main rivals, Colin Montgomerie and Thomas Bjorn, suffering faltering form coming into this event. He is available at 7/1 at Victor Chandler, DAS and Intertops to win outright.

His main challenge should come from close friend, Darren Clarke. He has won on this course before - the Alfred Dunhill Open in 1993 - and currently holds a narrow lead over Westwood at the top of the Order of Merit. There will be no shortage of commitment from them this week. He is sparkling form and will welcome a return to his native links format. At 9/1 with Intertops and DAS he is the 2nd outright win-only play.

Remaining with the theme of native links golfers who also tend to be good putters, the 3rd outright play is Padraig Harrington. His form in the last two months has not been as spectacular as before then, but the change of course format could cause some large changes in form. He was a creditable 21st two years and ranked 6th in both greens in regulation and putting average in this field, he should be ideally suited to the course as well as the windy conditions. At 33/1 with Ladbrokes he represents excellent value as an e/w play.

72-hole plays:

Angel Cabrera to beat Jose Coceres +100 @ Sportfanatik and the starnet books
In great form and though he has no course experience, Cabrera's low ball flight should be ideal for the links course and he should continue his run of top-20 finishes

Anders Hansen to beat Tony Johnstone -118 @ Sportingbet  [same odds with Easybets]
Both may have finished 12th at the Lancome last week, but was just part of a run of good form for Hansen, quite a surprise for Johnstone

Bernhard Langer to beat Jose Maria Olazabal -105 @ Sportfanatik and the starnet books
The starnet books are the only ones to make Olly the favorite in this matchup. Langer has been 2nd twice in his last four events and his last three visits to Royal Zoute have yielded finishes of 3rd, 4th and 14th

Miguel Angel Martin to beat Jarrod Moseley -111 @ DAS
Martin has had two top-10 finishes in last three events whereas Moseley withdrew last after the 1st round, plus Martin was a creditable 22nd last year

Eduardo Romero to beat Nick O'Hern -118 @ DAS
O'Hern may be the better putter, but there can be no doubting Romero's form at the moment and like Cabrera, his low ball flight will be ideal this week

2nd round plays:

Paul Eales to beat Gary Evans -111 @ DAS [2 units]

Fabrice Tarnaud to beat Tom Gillis -105 @ DAS

Richard Green to beat Stephen Scahill -115 @ DAS [3 units]

Dean Robertson to beat Padraig Harrington +110 @ DAS  

Anthony Wall to beat Hennie Otto -118 @ DAS

2nd round update: 2-2-1 and +0.78 units

Almost a good week! Have opposed Olazabal and Moseley and they finish on level par and the projected cut is one-under all afternoon until the very end. Top-70 and ties make it through to the weekend and level par is good enough for 70th   Just two plays decided at the cut: Cabrera loses by nine to Coceres, but Hansen beats Johnstone by two. In the remaining plays, Langer leads Olazabal by one, Martin leads Moseley by one and Romero leads O'Hern by one. Extremely close and looked all afternoon as if lady luck was going to be on my side

Split the 2nd round plays: Green beat Scahill by three in the three-unit play, but Eales lost by four to Evans in the two-unit play. Elsewhere, Tarnaud lost by nine to the new tournament leader Gillis, Wall beat Otto by three and Robertson tied with Harrington for a small win under DAS' dead heat rules.

Of the outright plays, a disinterested Darren Clarke missed the cut, but Harrington and Westwood are 2nd and 3rd respectively. Good enough for now!

Because so many qualified for the weekend - that damn level-par cut! - they're playing in three-balls, so again only DAS will have head-to-head matchup lines at the weekend

3rd round plays:

Paulo Quirici to beat Rodger Davis -143 @ DAS

Ian Poulter to beat Stephen Field -118 @ DAS

Paul McGinley to beat Olle Karlsson -133 @ DAS

3rd round update: 2-1-0 and +0.82 units

A good day   A profit on the 18-hole plays as Quirici beats Davis by six and McGinley beat Karlsson by two. The loser is a spectacular one: Poulter shoots 79 to lose by eight to Field. Am left the rue yesterday's cut line misery as Moseley surges to take a three-shot lead over the selection, Martin. The other two look much more healthy though: Langer leads Olazabal by six and Romero leads O'Hern by the same margin.

Best performance of the day lies with the outright plays. Harrington is now 1st and Westwood 2nd. Would be very happy if they shared those two positions tomorrow

Final update: 8-4-1 and +4.60 units for the week

No 4th round plays as DAS did not offer lines and the Euro books only offered 3-ball matchups, but the remaining 72-hole plays all romped home in style. Langer finished eight shots ahead of Olazabal, Martin three ahead of Moseley and Romero nine ahead of O'Hern. A nice profit from just thirteen plays this week.

Update on the outright plays: 2-1 and +10.13 units

Westwood turned on the style in the final round to win by three shots from Romero, while Harrington had a difficult ball-striking day with his putter not able to save as much today. He still finished 3rd though and made it a place winner @ 33/1. The third pick, Clarke missed the cut, but the other two more than made up for it