Portugal Masters

Portugal Masters September 21st thru 24th
Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, Vilamoura, Portugal

favorites Thomas Pieters 12-1 Shane Lowry 15-1 and Andy Sullivan 20-1 with Thorbjorn Olesen, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Alex Levy all 25-1

my "of interest" to win picks are:

Kiradech Aphibarnrat @ 25-1 "A Fat Barn Rat" BONED a 3rd round lead at the  KLM Open last week with TWO double bogies on par 5's his last 4 holes Sunday. I look for the Thai "round mound" to rebound.

Haotong Li @ 30-1 3rd British Open [-6] T-7th Open de France 3rd Sicily [-13] T-11th China Open [-11] T-5th Maybank [-15]. the ChiCom can shoot "wicked low" when he gets it going

Callum Shinkwin @ 50-1 sooner or later the young English long hitter is gonna break thru. almost did @ the Scottish Open BUT poor course management his final hole the final round cost him

Austin Connelly @ 60-1 the young Canadian who impressed at the British Open got 2nd last week @ KLM one shot back of the winner

Matt Wallace @ 75-1 Tied 9th [-12] @ KLM Tied 6th [-12] @ Denmark WON Open de Portugal  [-21] in late May

Justin Walters, Joel Stalter & Sebastian Heisele all @ 100-1. all three tied for 3rd [-13] @ KLM last week with Pepperell, Coetzee & Westwood

Rat

decided to "sprinkle" some on Ashun Wu 80-1 after your post, sacker17. T-31st last week in Holland [-6] T-9th European Masters [-8] and T-23rd Denmark. also got to the quarter finals of the Paul Lawrie Match Play

Haydn Porteous -120 vs David Lingmerth one of two tourney match plays I have chanced so far for this week along with Lee Slattery -110 over Richard Sterne. leaning  Eddie Pepperell -110 over Greorge Coetzee and BOTH Lucas Bjerregaard even and Callum Shinkwin +105 over Stephen "Geezer" Gallacher. also Haotong Li is even vs Ryan Fox BUT the "Kiwi" Fox has been "wicked close" some tourneys this season although was just T-60th [-1] last week in Holland

OK. Westgate just took Eddie Pepperell to even over George Coetzee so can't pass it up.

BOTH finished tied 3rd @ the KLM last week [-13] BUT Coetzee CUT at European Masters, Scottish Open, Irish Open and Open de France his previous four while Pepperell T-5th Czech Masters T-28th Denmark CUT European Open T-23rd open de France his last four

AND IF I'm gonna chance Haotong Li @ 30-1, I may as well pop Ryan Fox @ 30-1 too. the "Kiwi" long hitter has been playing like he is ready to make a "break through" all summer

AND, btw, I am VERY surprised young Julien Suri NOT in the field this week. the former Duke Blue Devil is currently "on the bubble" @ #60 in Race to Dubai points and needs to be playing

well GOD DAMMIT!!! freeking Joost Luiten!!! the Dutchman BLOWS UP last week on his HOME course at his HOME tourney in Holland when I had MONEY on him and NOW tied for the lead after the 1st round with George Coetzee @ [-7]

AND I'm in the garbage already in my tourney match plays with Pepperell two down to Coetzee [-5/-7], Slattery three down to Richard Sterne [-2/-5] and Porteous three down Lingmerth [-1/-4]. I KNEW I should have faded "Geezer" Gallacher [+3] vs Callum Shinkwin [-6] AND Lucas Bjerregaard [-5] BUT I didn't

Ashun Wu (WHO ???) and Callum Shinkwin both one behind the leaders @ [-6] with three others. BOTH need a good tourney because BOTH in danger of losing their Euro Tour card this season

and btw the weather was absolutely beautiful in Vilamoura yesterday and forecast for more of the same Friday with winds from the north @ 8 mph shifting to the south @ 10 mph around 12 noon with temperatures in the low 70's

 the only "detraction" I had watching last night on Golf Channel was the Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course greens looked "burnt out". they were more like "browns"

well behind the eight ball AGAIN this tourney. freeking Porteous a 2nd round [+1] for tourney [even] CUT vs Lingmerth [-2] for [-6]. Pepperell [-4] for [-9] tied with Coetzee [-2] for [-9] and Slattery [-2] for [-4] two behind Sterne [-1] for [-6]. AND "Gezzer" Gallacher a WD which would have been a "walk over" for BOTH Bjerregaard (who is tied for tourney 2nd @ [-11]) and Shinkwin

four of my "to win" bets were CUTS. "A Fat Barn Rat", Connelly, Fox and Walters. HOW in the HELL "Barn Rat" and Connelly can shoot SO well in Holland last week and completely BLOW UP on an easier course with better weather is beyond me

weather supposed to be beautiful yet again Saturday. forecast for partly cloudy skies and mild temperatures with winds W to SSW 6 mph in the am increasing to 11 MPH in the afternoon and evening

well congratulations to the "Great Dane" Lucas Bjerregaard as your [-20] WINNER to "break his maiden" on the Euro Tour. IF one of my picks could NOT win it is good to see Bjerregaard get there. he has been "wicked close" in a bunch of tourneys the last two seasons

at least I did NOT get "beat up" TOO bad with Eddie Pepperell [-3] final round for tourney [-15] over George Coetzee [even] for [-13] BUT Lee Slattery "blew up" on Saturday with a [+5] for [+1] and ended up tourney [-2] to Richard Sterne [-11] and (of course) Haydn Porteous (after WINNING the Czech Masters and generally playing well recently) a CUT. go 1-2 on the week

getting into the "meat" of the Euro Tour fall schedule. British Masters in England next week with the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship @ St. Andrews, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns in Scotland the week after. THEN the Italian Open which is a "money" Rolex Series tourney this season. I am sure the Brits and Euros that play on the US PGA tour will be coming over for some of these. I know Rory McIlroy is already listed for BOTH the first two listed and I am sure "The Mole" (Francesco Molinari) will defend his Italian Open title esp for "big bucks" this year. also Jon Rahm is committed to his country's Andalucia Valderrama Masters in Spain the week after the Italian Open

NO PGA action for the rest of the season ex for the PGA-Euro Tour co-sponsored WGC-HSBC Champions @ Shanghai, China late October and that Presidents Cup humbug SO may as well jump on the Euro Tour band wagon for your golf betting "fix"