Willett however did not wish to oblige, instead deciding to crash and burn through the final round and shoot a god-awful five over par. Willett obviously understands that humility is important as a world class sportsman, but every wry smile and laugh at a bad shot for him was a knife in the belly for me. I felt as though I'd been stitched up worse than Jon Snow. The reason for this was not abundantly clear to me, and judging by the way in which he is cruising through Wentworth as I type, it seems I am suffering from a fatal case of backing a week too early. Rory cruised to victory on 18 with a simply sublime 3 wood, from 254 or something yards, which he stuck to two foot, enabling a tap in eagle. Knox unfortunately was not up to the task, and Rory finally took home his national Open trophy.
Willett flashed through the leader-board barely holding on for a T23 finish, when he had looked so promising, and so plumply priced at 6s. In fact, only two people had worse rounds than him on Sunday, which is not something that should be expected from the Masters champion. Willett ruined my hopes of nailing the double, and the chaps at whichever bookies I used were probably laughing their heads off at me.
Rory winning was not really all that crushing. It was a bit because I'd backed him well the week before, only to be disappointed, It wasn't as though he'd squeezed my chaps out just before the line, so I wasn't too bothered. I was however, hungry, so I went for a curry and some beers, I had a long evening of watching golf in store, and I would need all the energy possible.
Kuchar was in top position. As I had already stated, I only rated him as being one off the lead, meaning that he wouldn't have to do too much to get himself up there. My prophetic telling of the lead at -14 held eerily true. -15 was the score required to get in to the play off, meaning Matty would only need to shoot -2 for the day to have a serious chance of reviving his winning ways. Obviously he did not know this at the time. Those of you who know me will know that he was not able to do this, which has provided much disappointment. I was delighted to be joined in my usual solitary viewing of the golfery by Mrs Golfing Greg.
She wasted no timed in telling me, in no uncertain terms, how stupid I was to let the golf affect me like it did. Every time Kuchar had a putt for birdie, of which there were 13 separate occasions. Unfortunately for me, only 3 of these were holed, which after cancelling out the two bogies, meant my chap, Kuch, could only do one under for the day. If I shot one under for the day somewhere, I'd promptly go mental and proclaim myself the next Tiger Woods, whilst tweeting Jason Day and telling him to retire now, lest I embarrass him on the links. For Kuchar however, it meant a third place outright, and for me it meant no better than money back. Nearly. I had decided to reload with a further £20 on Kuchar at 9/2, and with that and the £5 double, with returns of (only) £45 on Kuchar, with £45 laid out on the AT&T, £20 laid on the Irish Open, meant a poor weekend of -£45. It is however said that dorm is temporary, and class permanent. This means that id I am indeed classy then it'll come back to me, and that if I am in bad form that will have to end so that'll come back too.
Sergio cruised through in to the play off which he easily won. I am going to suggest that bookies give you a free bet if you get let down by one selection in your double. Getting to the halfway house and then failing miserably is awful. It's worse though when the second one lets you down. Then you've been given a modicum of hope by the first and you start dreaming.
Kuchar had me writhing around in agony all evening. So many opportunities to post a solid score, yet it was not to be. I couldn't get comfortable wherever I sat, changing from sofa to floor with such fluidity and frequency as to raise an eyebrow from Mrs Greg. I am not one of those people who incessantly shake their legs, causing sufficient disturbance as to register on the Richter scale, (you know who you are.(Rocco)), neither am I one of those people who sits calmly in one position for hour on end, like a corpse. I move around from time to time, and am occasionally confronted with scorn for this, to which my standard response is to apologise for being alive. This sentiment usually drips with as much sarcasm as can be mustered, in an effort to satirise the situation. My witty response is usually met with further scorn. Such is life.
In spite of all of this, I could not bring myself to wish harm on to Kuchar. I am usually the first to wish harm on people who are denying me winnings, quick to curse and threaten but not this week. Kuch is just so obviously a top bloke and is so nice I couldn't wish harm to him. I did have some fleeting dark thoughts about wiping the natural smile from his face but those were quickly banished because he looked so happy. So even on 18 when I finally slumped down on to the floor dejected, I had little negative to say about him. Perhaps he had lost a little of his killer instinct. Kuch's form now reads 3-T3 making him immensely backable. So I have backed him again.
The iron is hot. It is time to strike. Snedeker won early this year with form of 3-2, Adam Scott finished T2 before winning the following two weeks. Jason Day finished T5 before winning the Players, and Bubba posted a 3rd place before winning the Hero Open. Rory, Spieth and Fowler have all posted low numbers before cranking out a win, and I have no reason to think that Kuchar won't win this week.
Solid tee to green action will be required at the Dean & Deluca this week, as well as solid putting, which Kuch has in abundance. Kuch boasts a 2nd finish at Colonial, and a missed cut the year after is easily forgiven after a serious dip in confidence. That and a small tipple on Boo Weekley, hugely priced at 80s, a former winner here, in a little bit of form, should set up well. Now for a quick hop back over the pond to home.
The BMW PGA is supposed to be the flagship of the European Tour. Excellently run and attended, it used to draw huge status in fields, with many of the worlds top players attending. These days is an excellently run and attended European Tour event. Mcilroy and Rose not playing has a huge effect, and Poulter doesn't want to play either. This meant that the strength of the field is not significant. I considered Willett for a while, but decided to go another way with Molinari, Francesco that is. Molinari is is good nick at the moment, coming in to the BMW with 5 made cuts on the PGA tour, and brings three top tens in three years at Wentworth. That's enough for me to back him.
Each way action on Molinari and Kuchar as well as an each way double is my real interest this week.
On Wednesday, this was incredibly sound thinking. Today it is not. Kuch shot +3 yesterday and Molinari is currently +1 thanks to a so far one over par second round and a fairly lacklustre first round. Edit, make that two -2. Willett was going obscenely well earlier, and his card for today shows eight birdies, six pars and four bogies, which makes it somewhat eventful.
Safe to say things are going along all that well. I now also learn that the Colonial tournament is delayed by at least three hours, which means that the coverage will be shocking.
One final note. Those who play golf will know that the player furthest from the hole takes his or her shot first. There are very few exceptions to this. Sky Sports (perhaps at the mercy of CBS/The Golf Channel) have recently decided it prudent to show some shots, putting especially, out of sequence, which more often than not, means that you already know where the second golfist's ball is going, because you saw his marker when they showed the first golfist's putt out of sequence. Sky Sports, sort your lives out.
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