first inaugural Oman Open

Oman Open @ the Al Moul Golf Club, Muscat, Oman a new tourney on the Euro Tour. pretty wide open field with NO Rory, Tommy, "The Metthew Mouse", Noren or "Salt" Pieters who are all playing PGA this week in LA

"to win" favorites are Alex Levy @ 15-1, Shubkankar Sharma and Andy Sullivan @ 20-1 with Jeunghun Wang, Joost Luiten and Thomas Detry @ 25-1

I chanced small "sprinkles" on the following

Jorge Campilllo @ 40-1. Jorge would have WON the Maybank two weeks ago IF Sharma had not gone NUTS the final round. he can be inconsistent BUT also played well @ both Abu Dhabi and the SA Open

Fabrizio Zanotti @ 50-1. about the time I do NOT bet on Fabrizio he shows up. recent tied 9th Abu Dhabi

Phachara Khongwatmai @ 100-1. "Little Kong" is a real "wild card". was in contention first two rounds @ Maybank before finishing tied 17th and also was solo 2nd @ Indonesian Masters [-21] where Justin Rose blew the field away with a [-29]

Chase Koepka @ 100-1. Brooks's brother played well @ SA Open with tied 7th [-13] and was "wicked close" last season in a number of Challenge Tour events

chanced these tourney match plays

Shubhankar Sharma +125 over Alex Levy. tough NOT to bet on a player that WON two of his last four tourneys and can shoot "wicked low" rounds

Thomas Detry +125 over Joost Luiten. Detry with the better recent record on desert courses

Jorge Campillo +110 over Pablo Larrazabal. I will chance Jorge off his near miss @ Maybank

I should warn you I got a 2-2 "splitski" @ Maybank two weeks ago and got a 0-4-1 "skunked" @ Dubai Desert Classic the week before that

really NOT believing THIS. just checked William-Hill and Sharma over Levy is now Sharma +150

OK Levy is the "to win" favorite this week and is 4th and 7th his last two desert tourneys @ the DDC and Abu Dhabi BUT tied 55th @ Maybank his last which Sharma WON going away. I fully expected the line to move the other way

Good luck R.R.  

well watched part of the tourney last night when the idiots at The Golf Channel FINALLY aired it after showing record-delayed "girlie golf" from Australia. I sure HOPE those fools get their sh!t straight the rest of the weekend

this course in Oman has a Prestwick links course feel to it with the wind, the sea side, the sand dunes and esp the air traffic taking off overhead. like trying to play golf in the middle of Chicago-O'Hare airport

ALL of my match plays are pretty "flat" after the 1st round with NO one really "shooting the course up". all three even or within one shot of each other

some "I haven't seen HIM for awhile" players up on the leaderboard. Matthew Southgate tied with Paul Waring for the lead @ [-7] with unknown Dutchman Daan Huizing (OWGR #451) solo 3rd @ [-6]. Callum Shinkwin, who completely boned his chance to WIN his first Euro Tour tourney at the Scottish Open last season, and Andy Sullivan both tied 4th @ [-5] so four Englishmen in the top five. five players back @ [-4] including one of my "to win" speculations this week, Fabrizio Zanotti, my ONLY "too win" in contention so far (BUT it's early)

well so much for may Oman Open plays. classic "links" type conditions with winds 12-18 mph bit my Indian boy Shubhankar Sharma 2nd round [even] for [+1] CUT. damn kid either WINS or "blows up". guess he just does NOT like the desert 

AND I just have to stay away from Dutchman Joost Luiten. another guy I just can NOT get on the right side of 2nd round [-6] for tourney [-6]. bet ON him he "blows up" bet AGAINST him and he shoots the fights out. now three up on Detry [-3] for [-3]

ONLY match even close ot working is Campillo [-1] for [-2] over Larrazabal [-1] for [even] BUT that will probably end in tears too

Frenchman Matthiew Pavon the 2nd round leader [-7] for tourney [-11] two ahead of Matthew Southgate [-2] for [-9] who doubled #18 to finish his round. Paul Waring hanging in with a [-1] for [-8] and another "I haven't seen HIM for awhile" player Chris Wood with a [-6] for [-8]. good to see 49 year old geezer Darren Clarke with his BEST tourney in a LONG time [-5] for [-5]. the former Euro Tour star has been pretty much "Mr Missed Cut" the last two seasons. Zanotti and "Little Kong" both "lurking" @ [-5]

will see what happens over the weekend BUT looks like another "wash out" for "Papa Ratte" this weekend

watched the early 3rd round coverage on Golf Channel who finally sobered up and had coverage @ 1:00am pacific time. they were saying winds 8-12 mph BUT looked much lighter than that to me with hardly any flag movement on the greens and the scores reflected it

well sure as hell Joost Luiten [-6] for tourney [-12] tied with French rookie Julien Guerrier (who won on this course on the Challenge Tour) and Matt Southgate for the lead going into Sunday. Chris Wood, who had all kinds of physical problems last season, one behind @ [-11] with Spaniard Adrian Otaegui @ [-10] and tourney favorite Alex Levy @ [-9]. my man "The Beef" Johnston @ [-8] with Frenchman Matthiew Pavon while my two remaining "to win" plays Campillo and Zanotti @ [-7]. at least Campillo is seven up on Larrazabal so I might get SOME money back this weekend

Boy OH I can really pick em. take Detry over Luiten in tourney match play and the damn Dutchman WINS the TOURNEY with a final round [-4] for tourney [-16] at least Jorge Campillo beat Pablo Larrazabal for my ONLY match play win

I just may duck Qatar next week. I am completely confused right now. when you have players that have been "serial cuts" like Chris Wood suddenly shooting the lights out you just can NOT handicap that.  damn guy was 2nd this week [-14] AND with former Challenge Tour rookies like Guerrier getting a 3rd [-13] then the golf world is off it's axis