A quality field is amassing for this week's Scottish Open, which is taking place for the first time at the Castle Stuart Links in Inverness.
This being the final warm-up event before next week's Open Championship, there are some stellar names in the field including the top two ranked players in the world, Lee Westwood (the 9/1 general favourite) and Luke Donald (10/1 Victor Chandler), as well as some star names from across the Atlantic, chiefly Matt Kuchar and Phil Mickelson - both 22/1 with Stan James.
How many of them are there to win and how many are there just to hone their game is anyone's guess but we should at least see some low scoring this week as, while some wind and rain is forecast, the track only measures just over 7,000 yards and the fairways are fairly generous. Unfortunately for punters, there's no course form to go on but those players with a good links record and some local knowledge should come to the fore.
When placing your bets, you should check out Paddy Power, Boylesports and bet365's odds first as all three have each-way terms of a quarter the odds the first six places, rather than the more conventional a quarter the first five. If they are top or joint top price, it's a no-brainer where to place your bets.
My Three Against The Field:
Ross Fisher @ 33/1 bet365
I'm going to give the bigger names a swerve this week as I suspect many will be here to fine tune their games and, besides, you have to question how much they will want it the week before the Open, as a victory would bring added pressure both on and off the course.
Fisher will have one eye on next week of course but he will want to keep up the momentum gained by his second top-10 of the year in the BMW Championship last time out and he is more comfortable than most playing in these conditions. His last win came in last year's rain-soaked Irish Open and the wind was also gusting when he demolished a high class at the 2008 European Open. His links record is decent too as he contended in the Open at Turnberry, finished runner-up in the Dunhill Links Championship, played at St Andrews, and won the Dutch Open on a links style layout. It was only his putting that cost him any chance of victory in Munich and it's to be hoped he has been working on that side of the game. Certainly, any improvement should see him right up there this week and he's definitely worth considering for Sandwich too at a top-priced 60/1 (again with bet365) as those odds will shorten dramatically if he's in contention.
Richie Ramsay @ 80/1 bet365 (1/4 odds, six places)
I was getting quite excited about the Scot last week having put him up each-way at 125/1 as he played beautifully for three rounds and still had very chance going into the back nine on Sunday. It wasn't to be in the end but he still finished in a tie for fifth and is clearly playing well enough to contend again this week on a course close to where he grew up. You can be certain that he's played plenty of links golf (including round here no doubt) and he did finish fourth in the 2009 Dunhill Links, while he's already won three times in his relatively short four-year professional career. A win in this company might be too big an ask but 20/1 a place has a nice ring to it.
Paul Lawrie @ 100/1 bet365 (1/4 odds, six places)
The Aberdonian is another who should be acquainted with the course and tends to play his best golf in Scotland; he won the Open at Carnoustie and the 2001 Dunhill Links. I'd almost given up on him winning again on Tour but he did just that at this season's Andalucian Open, which has been accompanied by a brace of fifth place finishes in Spain and Majorca. Perhaps he now prefers the sun on his back at the ripe old age of 42 but there's no doubting that 100/1 (66/1 in a place) is way too big a price this week.
Recommended Bets:-
Ross Fisher 2pts each-way @ 33/1 bet365
Richie Ramsay 1pt each-way @ 80/1 bet365
Paul Lawrie 1pt each-way @ 100/1 bet365
(All 1/4 odds, 1.2.3.4.5.6)
