Top Hat

Last updated: 9th June 2010

What a brilliant weekend. Workforce won the Derby in a record time, England beat Romania 13-7 in the Ryder Cup, Graeme McDowell and Justin Rose played exceptional final rounds to gain notable victories in Europe and America, the Wise One tipped two winners for a 30 point profit and the place part of my 560-1 Ryan Moore double came in.

Derby Day was superb. I didn't throw my top hat in the air when Workforce surged to victory as at £1500 it is my third most valuable asset but the Irish girl and I did celebrate by drinking champagne with the winning connections in the Trophy Room.

The topper almost came a cropper later that night when our Derby Dog (Broadway Chiefton) won the last race at Wimbledon by a short head at odds of 6-1 to complete another memorable sporting double.

On Friday I picked up two points to help England to victory against Romania at Lindrick Golf Club which was home to the 1957 Ryder Cup and lists Lee Westwood, Danny Willett and Chris Thomson among its members.

Lindrick has some of the fastest greens I have ever seen and the course will be a joy to play for those attending Open qualifying there in a few weeks time.

Two weeks ago we analysed the performance of the successful US Open qualifiers from Walton Heath in the following week's tournament noting that historically they performed best in the first round which threw up winner Rhys Davies at 55-1.

On Monday there was Open qualifying at Sunningdale and a similar analysis throws up some interesting results.

In 2005 Kenneth Ferrie qualified after a five man playoff on the Tuesday and went onto win the Smurfit European Open at the K Club. In 2006 Richard Green finished seventh in the Open de France and in 2007 Peter Hanson claimed third place at the K Club.

In 2008 Ross Fisher went onto win the European Open at the London Club. In 2009 there was no tournament the same week which leaves us with two winners from four events.

This week there are four successful qualifiers from Sunningdale playing at the Estoril Open de Portugal.

Andrew Coltart (150-1) must be on a massive high having secured a spot in his home Open at St Andrews and he must have a chance given he finished second last time the tournament was played at Penha Longa G.C. in 1999.

Tano Goya (now 66-1) is also the choice of our golf betting expert Dave John who has outlined Goya's chances in his must read tournament preview.

Ignacio Garrido (25-1) is in good form and has been knocking on the door recently with two top 10's in his last eight tournaments. He was also 12th at Penha in 1999 so likes the track and could go close.

Bradley Dredge (33-1) was a respectable 18th in Wales last week and with the pressure of his home event behind him this former Madeiran Open winner should go well in a country he likes and on a course that should suit.

In the hope that lightning can strike twice he could be a decent bet at 40-1 for first round leader as he often seems to play his best golf in the early rounds of tournaments. Last week he was second after round one.

After so much excitement I'm off to the South of France to relax for a few days but I'll be keeping one eye on Estoril Open de Portugal to see if one of the quartet can follow in Ferrie and Fisher's footsteps and provide us with some cash to play up at Royal Ascot and the US Open next week.