Our golf guru reckons he's found a cracking each-way bet for the Top Seniors market.
With a multitude of offerings by the bookmakers across the land this is one of the weeks of the year where the casual punter can get involved in markets outside of the outrights. I always look to these markets to fund the inevitable drawdown periods when investing in the Outright market. At big odds we are destined to losing runs, so filling those gaps with a few side bets always helps keep things ticking over.
We'll start with an original one, but nevertheless a good one, Freddy Couples. It is no secret that this man could easily romp the Top Senior market with a host of golfers with nowhere near the credentials that he has for around Augusta. He has already been supported in this market but nevertheless I still think he is a bet at the prices. Stricker heads the market and age-wise he holds all the aces. Second and third in his last two Senior outings show he is in decent shape but his Masters form is very modest.
Couples made the cut here for 20+ years on the trot before succumbing to the odd weekend off in his 50s. He has five top 20 finishes posted here in his last six attempts and given he has a win and two top5s posted in his last three events on the Seniors tour I believe him to be a cracking each-way bet here. Langer, despite some heroics at Augusta in his latter years, has missed 7 of his last 10 cuts here. Singh is woefully out of form missing his last four cuts. The remainder is left to Woosnam, Olazabal, O'Meara, Mize and Lyle, who collectively all look likely to miss the halfway cut. We have to hope Couples is fit but judging by his recent performances this holds a solid chance. Shop around to get the 3 places.
Branden Grace looks a bet to me to miss the cut. His form over the past 12 months, ever since winning, has looked very shady and I'm not entirely sure what has gone wrong. He seems to be seriously out of sorts. A first round exit at the Match Play proceeded a missed cut and withdrawal from two of his previous three events. I've always considered him one for the tougher Open venues and if he is to win a major then the US and British Open Championships are surely strong fav. His low ball flight is perfect for those tests but a low ball flight fails to translate to decent scores around Augusta. That has been evident with three missed cuts here in the last three years. I see no reason as to why this will change given his current form and at 7/4 I see him as a small wager to help pay for the week. I will return tomorrow or early Thursday if there are any bets in the first round 3 balls once all firms have priced.
