Betting TPC of Europe: Well, Padraig Harrington almost brought this column its first win of the year but succumbed to the bogey blues on the final day. This week it's the Deutsche Bank and a showdown between the number one and two players in the world, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els. That was until the South African pulled out.
The event returns to the Guthaden course in Hamburg for the first time since 2000, and the winner of the tournament when it was last held there was Lee Westwood (66 to 1). He is slowly rediscovering part of his game after a two-year slump, but maybe not sufficiently to cobble together four successive rounds.
Darren Clarke has a good record at this course and at 20 to 1 offers decent value. Forget about his showing at the Belfry at the weekend as his first round ensured he wouldn't be competitive for the tournament. Paul McGinley (50 to 1) also has a reasonable record here, a links-type course, albeit with the suggestion that the greens are less than perfect.
Harrington's mental strength won't have him dwelling too much on last weekend's woes, but whether he can find a quick fix for his putting and driving that deteriorated over the weekend is another matter. We suggest taking Australian Adam Scott (33 to 1).
13/8 T Woods
12/1 P Harrington
20/1 D Clarke, R Goosen
25/1 P Casey
28/1 C Montgomerie
33/1 A Scott
40/1 T Immelman, Paul Lawrie, A Cabrera, J Rose, B Davis
50/1 P McGinley
66/1 B Dredge, L Westwood
Selected others 125/1 G McDowell, 150/1 Peter Lawrie, 300/1 D McGrane, 1,000/1 R Rafferty
(Odds courtesy of Paddy Power)
