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Chris Wood (+45 points) Lay 12 points @ 3.0 added to previous bets advised below Use the 45 points we have in the bank to exploit any early move from the Bristolian. Oliver Wilson may say he is worried only by Rory McIlroy and whilst he has every right to be given the way the world number one destroyed the course for 14 holes today, a benign St.Andrews is open to a thrashing by anyone at -10 and better. Expect the winning score to be around -19/-20 and nine-time runner-up Wilson is going to have a lot more to concern him than just the brilliant Irishman. It is tempting to get with a group of players at -10/-12 but the presence of McIlroy means they will need to do something special to go low enough to trade. That could happen but given Wood's liking for Links and his ability to chase top-class fields he still looks overpriced at bigger than 20-1 and would have been a bet now had we not been on already. The field will run through the scoring holes before the leader and I'd certainly expect at least a couple to be on Wilson's tail before the turn- hopefully one of those is Wood but with the top-10 bet looking huge value at the 2-1, this is a worry- free trade Chris Wood - back 3 points @ 38 (Betfair) Chris Wood - lay 6 points @ 12 (Betfair) Chris Wood - 3 points Top-10 @ 2-1 (General) If the Bristolian is ever
going to back up his maiden victory, most pundits would opt for a Links course as the destination. Shooting to fame with a top-5 at the British Open at Birkdale, he followed that up with 3rd at Turnberry a year later. A closing 65 at Liverpool to finish 23rd in this year's Major keeps him high on the list of potential winners of this specialist Links event each year and he sits handily at 5-under, just 4 off a dodgy front-runner. As for actual form here, 7/15 finish in the last two years indicate he is comfortable with this pro-am format and after a very soild first half to the season, it makes perfect sense to believe he can leave a moderate period behind him with favourable conditions here. He is 40-1 on the book but anything can happen here, and especially at a benign St Andrews on a Sunday, so trade his price expecting a move/reaction from the front-runners and have the top-10 as a profit-maker. At the suggested prices, we are betting even-money he reaches 12, should that occur that leaves a healthy green to play with on Sunday.
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