DownThe18th were left relieved by a Ryan Moore meltdown as they stayed in touch in the betting challenge. Read all the details in this golf betting blog
Golf Betting Blog: Moore or Less
It was a week where the first nail could have been firmly driven into the coffin of DownThe18th as Ryan Moore (30/1) hit the turn on Sunday of the Valspar Championship with a 2-shot advantage.
And with it what looked like another profitable week for the Golf Monthly betting guru. Meanwhile our guys, Messrs Donald, Knox and English only helped dig deeper into an unrewarding rut.
But as we all experience so often, Moore declined during the final holes and slumped to a solo 5th place finish, bogeying the last. And while Moore was busy losing Golf Monthly's spare change, there were a few putts being holed elsewhere on the course...
They left us with an intriguing play-off – Jordan Spieth (14/1), Patrick Reed (28/1), and Sean O'Hair (200/1), the latter looking to do a 'Harrington' and win against all the odds.
The disparity between them didn't just finish with their odds either – Sean O'Hair ranked 401 in the world heading to Innisbrook, a relative chasm away from the respective 10th and 16th positions of his younger rivals.
After some proper golf and entertainment, 21-year-old Spieth prevailed – another signal that suggests he could be the real challenger to Rory in this new generation. And that's just for the cover of EA Sports' new computer game...
The top 6 was rounded out by the contrasting pair of Troy Merritt (500/1) and Henrik Stenson (18/1). The Swede's ball striking looked unerring and the 25/1 still available on him for the Masters is a price we're going to be ploughing into.
Over on the European Tour we saw part two of the South African swing finally come to an end. George Coetzee (20/1) made it 3 South African winners from the 6 events in their back yard.
As a result, it meant only the likes of Andrew Dodt and Trevor Fisher Jnr have provided anyone with 'value winners' throughout 2015. No excuses mind – we're just glad to be heading back to Europe!
As is often the case with South African events it was a very Sunshine Tour-heavy leaderboard. Jacques Blaauw (125/1), Dean Burmester (100/1) and Tjaart Van Der Walt (66/1) made it a native but value-packed top 5. Craig Lee (150/1) was the other man to grab punters some each way money.
Head over to http://downthe18th.wordpress.com for this week’s preview and picks.
Current Standings after 9 weeks
Golf Monthly European Tour £-36 PGA Tour £71.75 Total £35.75
DownThe18th European Tour £-16.60 PGA Tour £-27.28 Total £-43.88
Golf Monthly leads by £79.63
