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Betfair Picks - European Tour |
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8-1; -13.10pts Pre-tournament plays: LAY 20pts liability Thomas Pieters 32 40th
Thorbjorn Olesen 85 19th
Scott Hend 170 40th
Opposing Pieters again. He is still without a top-10 finish since he qualified for the Ryder Cup and was over-par in three of four rounds last week, so even though he has the capacity to be in the top-10 in the World Rankings, he is not currently playing anywhere near that level.
Olesen won the Turkish Airlines Open two weeks ago, but he has finished better than 50th just one other time in his last 12 starts. Without a top-10 finish in the last five years here, he is another to oppose at double-digit odds.
Hend finished ahead of only three players last week and his form in his last five European Tour events suggests that he is unlikely to improve on that performance signficantly this year. Pre-rd3 plays: LAY 20pts liability Andy Sullivan 130 40th
Alex Noren 28 23rd
Rory McIlroy 36 9th
Matthew Fitzpatrick 30 1st
Outside the top-20 and seven shots behind Garcia and Molinari, Sullivan will need to career rounds over the weekend to win this, so I like the odds on that not happening
Noren is a couple of shots closer, but he still down in 14th place and even in his current form, this looks a much taller proposition than this odds suggest - he has also not recorded a top-30 finish in this event since the inaugural one in 2009
McIlroy does have a great record here and he did shoot 68 today, but after yesterday's opening 75, he is still ahead of only 18 players in this 60-man field - he has the ability to get himself back into contention tomorrow, but these odds still do not reflect a player so far down the leaderboard and eight shots off the pace, no matter his ability
Fitzpatrick is at least inside the top-10, but six of the seven players ahead of him are ranked higher in the World Rankings so it will not be easy for him to close the gap on the leaders Pre-rd4 plays: LAY 20pts liability Francesco Molinari 10.5 4th
Rafa Cabrera-Bello 9.6 23rd
After being the joint leader at the start of the day, Molinari finished it in 5th place and previous history suggests that he will not bounce back tomorrow - he has dropped out of the post-rd2 lead three times on the European, failed to bounce back and win on all three occasions and failed to even improve on his leaderboard position in rd4 on all three occasions
Cabrera-Bello has been in very good form this year, recording even top-5 finishes but he continues to play well and not look like winning - he last won a European Tour event in 2012 - so this looks like being another typical impressive, but trophy-less, week for the Spaniard
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