The opening day of the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay provided some exciting golf and some tense finishes as the 64 man field aimed to get a win under their belts which would at least secure them some wages for the week.
The 32 players who progressed will be able to relax a little more on Friday knowing they have a guaranteed cheque in their pocket but they will be eyeing up bigger and better things over the weekend as the tournament builds up to a fascinating climax.
From a betting point of view Thursday was a mixed day for me. The match betting went terribly with me being on the wrong end of three close matches but the flip side to that was that all four of my outrights won and won comfortably and a couple of them are looking very handy already so it was swings and roundabouts.
There weren’t many shocks on the opening day of the tournament although the pre-event favourite Richie Ramsay was in early trouble when he trailed Shiv Kapur by three holes but the Scot recovered and turned the match around to win comfortably enough in the end. He is now just 12/1 to win the tournament from here.
Chris Wood and Marc Warren were probably the best players to make it through in terms of scores on Thursday. Warren was involved in a great match with Richard Bland in which the Englishman shot six under and lost! Wood shot three under for his round and the pair are now 14/1 to win the tournament from this position.
Looking ahead to Friday and there are a few bets I like in the second round matches. A couple of fancies are stronger than two others but I will take them all in the hope of getting most of Thursday’s losses back and get myself in profit for the tournament.
The first bet is in the third match to go out and is actually one of my outrights in Gregory Havret. He loves playing in Scotland with two of his three wins in the country and he played some solid golf on Thursday. Havret won 5&4 against David Horsey and made three birdies in going round in one under par which wasn’t bad scoring for the morning session.
Benson saw off another Frenchman in the first round in Raphael Jacquelin but he wasn’t overly impressive. In fact he trailed early in that match after winning the opening hole with a birdie but a few bogeys from Jacquelin and Benson’s second birdie of the round at the 15th saw him to a 3up lead and he fell over the line 2&1.
I don’t see Havret making the amount of errors that Jacquelin did though and given where these two played the course from in the first round Havret looks a good bet to me here.
My next bet comes in the next match to tee off when Sweden’s Kristoffer Broberg takes on the Northern Irishman Michael Hoey for a place in the third round. Hoey came through the first round against Max Kieffer 2&1 but he never made a birdie after the fourth hole and played his 17 holes in one over par overall. Hoey has this reputation as a good player in the wind but I’m not totally convinced.
Broberg saw off Richard Finch comfortably enough in round one. He put together a run of pars when the conditions were at their toughest to forge into the lead and he never looked back. He has been playing some good stuff recently and if the conditions allow it I think he has the game to take care of this course so I’m happy to back him here.
Alex Levy must be wondering how he is still in this tournament. He was four over par for his 18 holes against Mark Foster in the opening round but amazingly won the match at the 18th hole. After Levy drove into a bunker Foster followed him in there and couldn’t get out going forward and Levy fell over the line.
The Frenchman will have to play better here though. Morten Orum Madsen made five birdies in an under par round which was too good for Alvaro Quiros on Thursday and he’ll be fine around here. He has the length to get at the drivable holes and he is competent in the wind if the conditions turn sour. At 6/4 I think he’s good value in this one.
My final bet is later in the session and sees the Thailand Classic winner Andrew Dodt getting support. Dodt had to go to 19 holes in the first round but he was three under for those holes and he has the length to get up towards these greens and the short game to prosper on them.
We know Aiken will be straight off the tee but you are taking a big leap of faith in his short game which is very much his weakness and although he beat Scott Jamieson 3&2 on Thursday he was only one under par for the 16 holes. I think Aiken matches up well for Dodt so I’ll go with the Aussie here.
Back G.Havret to beat S.Benson for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Stan James
Back K.Broberg to beat M.Hoey for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
Back M-O.Madsen to beat A.Levy for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with BetVictor
Back A.Dodt to beat T.Aiken for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Bet365
Blog Golf YTD: -10.49pts
