Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Sports World |
- Watney victorious in Florida
- Gerrard's injury provides an opportunity for Lucas
- Somersby can outstay the big two to grab glory
- The Willie Mullins festival team
| Posted: 15 Mar 2011 09:01 AM PDT Nick Watney went one better than his runner up place in 2009, by finishing two shots ahead of the rest of the field this weekend at the WGC Cadillac Championship in Florida. The American saw off the challenge of compatriot Dustin Johnson who had lead overnight, managing to birdie the 18th which saw Watney finish five-under 67 and 16-under for the tournament. Despite surrendering his lead, Johnson managed to finish second on 14-under, with Anders Hansen and Francesco Molinari closely behind on 13-under. Recent Match-play champion Luke Donald went from tied second down to 11-under after a disappointing par-72 on the final day. Tiger Woods showed glimpses of his best form on the way to his eight-under, finishing a decent 10th. Johnson had looked on course to lift the trophy after leading for the majority of weekend but the big-hitting American was chased down by Watney after the two went into the final few holes tied for the lead. Johnson's bogey on the 16th was the beginning of the end for him though and Watney made no mistake when handed the advantage. Anyone who had bet on golf would have been impressed by the way he closed it out. The victory will have got rid of the demons this tournament holds for Watney after his dismal 2009 campaign, where he blew a three-shot lead on the final day, Phil Mickelson resigning the 29-year old to second place. Sacramento born Watney was delighted to taste success at Doral and admitted his relief at winning at the tournament after the pain of 2009. "I'm not sure about it owing me one, but I felt I had something for this course and I think I settled the score. It worked out great and I couldn't ask for a better ending," he said. With the Masters less than two weeks away, Watney will take plenty of confidence from his performance here and could be one of the dark horses at Augusta and the Masters betting 2011 reflects this. Watney has a very decent record at the Masters, three top-20 finishes in his three appearances. The highlight in this tournament for Watney came last year, where a seventh place finish showed the rest of the field that he has the game to succeed on this course.  |
| Gerrard's injury provides an opportunity for Lucas Posted: 15 Mar 2011 06:15 AM PDT The news Liverpool fans will have been dreading – that captain and talisman Steven Gerard will be out for around a month following an operation on a troublesome groin injury – has been met with vast disappointment by their fans. Liverpool's supporters have had a mixed season with highs such as last week's 3-1 victory over rivals Manchester United being diluted by some poor results such as away defeats at Blackpool and Newcastle – and a contributing factor to this inconsistent showing has been Gerrard's availability for selection. This is not the first spell on the sidelines for the England midfielder this term, and following a groin injury earlier this season as well as suspension following his straight red card in their FA Cup third round tie exit, and in his absence, the Reds tend to look a far less imposing prospect. But one man who tends to sit in Gerrard's shadow is fellow midfielder Lucas, so often restrained to playing in a withdrawn holding midfield role when alongside him despite some promising shows in the past when deployed in a more attacking role. With the lack of natural width in the Liverpool side at the moment, creativity in midfield is absolutely essential if they want to break sides down, and although Carroll and Suarez are already showing promising signs of being able to keep a defence occupied all on their own, someone is needed to pull the strings behind them and to take advantage of any space created by the movement of the strikers and the Betfair specialists will have realised this. Lucas has already shown with his thunderbolt strike against Steaua Bucharest that he is capable of filling that role given the chance, and Kenny Dalglish may well be tempted to play him alongside Poulsen with the Dane providing him cover to rampage forward without the fear of what might be happening behind. The UEFA Europa League betting certainly suggests he will need to step up if they are to go all the way. Whilst Gerrard is nearly impossible to replace, having Lucas just behind him in the pecking order may mean that rather than losing their way for the three Premiership matches the England vice-captain is expected to miss, the Reds can continue their march up the table and keep pressure on the top five sides.  |
| Somersby can outstay the big two to grab glory Posted: 15 Mar 2011 02:37 AM PDT The Queen Mother Champion Chase of 2011 features one the strongest line-ups for many years. If you were to list the top five two-mile chasers in training, it is highly unlikely that any horse you listed was not in the field. The champions of the previous two years Master Minded and Big Zeb are both in the field and unsurprisingly this duo head the market. Master Minded had a rather interrupted campaign last year and he was unable to repeat his brilliant efforts of the previous two seasons. This year though things have clicked right back into place though and he will arrive at the Festival unbeaten. Big Zeb had some jumping problems in the early part of his career, but he has ironed those out as he has gained experience and his win last year was a really smart effort. He has though shown a tendency to idle when hitting the front this season though and he is becoming a difficult ride. In a race like this though it will not be easy to place him in front at the right time and he could be susceptible to a strong finisher and anyone looking at the Cheltenham betting offers should remember this. Somersby is the one who rates the value. He has improved throughout the season and ran a career best at Ascot last time, where he ran Master Minded to a short-head. He was flying at the finish that day, and the likely fast gallop and stiffer test of stamina he gets today should be right up his street and those looking to bet on Cheltenham 2011 should bear this in mind. At the prices on offer there is no doubt that Somersby is the best value on offer here.  |
| The Willie Mullins festival team Posted: 15 Mar 2011 08:48 AM PDT There is no doubt that the largest Festival team from Ireland will be arriving in the shape of the Willie Mullins team, over the past 10 Festivals, Mullins has 12 individual winners from 144 runners, only drawing a blank in 2003 and 2006. The last three years have seen scores of 2-3-2, and you would expect Mullins to equal or better that score this year especially with the strength of his team and runners in all of the Championship events. He has chances on all four days of the Festival but here's one for each day that we think will give Mullins a sporting chance of landing a success on each day of the Festival, although horses like Paul Nicholls Big Buck's will provide major obstacles. One of the best chances that he has all week is with Quevega in the David Nicholson Mares Hurdle and she will be going for her third win in a row in the race. Best at this time of year, all of her races have been in the spring and she clearly thrives at this time of year. She'll start one of the shortest prices of the week but Quevega gives the Mullins team a solid chance of getting off the mark for the week. Wednesday won't see him with such a short price runner but in the opening race of the day Some Target will provide an interesting opportunity in the 4M. Some Target stayed 3 1/2M when winning the National Trial at Punchestown at the end of January and the extra half a mile here will see him in even better light. He'll be ridden by the owner's son – Patrick and that will give him every assistance from the saddle. Moving onto Thursday, the Ryanair looks a Grade 1 lacking in depth this year and that could well offer an opportunity for J'y Vole who finished third in the race last year to gain some compensation for an unlucky run in that race where she ran into trouble in running before finishing strongly up the Cheltenham hill. The final day of the Festival offers plenty of opportunities for the Mullins yard but in the Gold Cup, Kempes has been the one horse that will have gone under plenty of radars. He won in testing conditions at Leopardstown but has always looked to be a horse suited by better ground and with plenty of doubts about some of the principals the market may well have underestimated his chance and at a double figure price he has the ability to surprise. Paul Nicholls Kauto Star could be the one to beat though. The Mullins team is a large and strong one for Cheltenham, and one which unlikely to be firing blanks.  |
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