29. THE SCANDANAVIAN MASTERS ARLANDASTAD GC STOCKHOLM 16-19 AUGUST 07

No time for an in depth preview this week, grapple fans, as I'm just back from Kephalonia and am writing up that elsewhere.
This is a new course anyway, so no course form to go on, and disappointingly enough, a lot of big names have pulled out after last week's USPGA - people like Stenson, Fasth, Petersson, Bjorn and Anders Hansen - although the huge purse for the Greensboro in the states probably had something to do with that.

So.... just the selections then.

Opening balance: £404.96p

Selections:

PELLE EDBERG £1.50p e/w 28-1
PETER HANSON £1 e/w 20-1
PARNEVIK £1 e/w 25-1
DALY £1 e/w 50-1
LEVET £1 e/w 40-1

Stake: £11
Balance after stake: £393.96p

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Result:

Edberg m/c
Hanson =12th
Parnevik =43rd
Daly m/c
Levet m/c

Winnings: £0
Profit/loss: -£11

Closing balance: £393.96p

Comment: A very disappointing return to the fray for "Twenty-Six". Pelle Edberg, who has had his best season to date, (by MILES), may well be feeling knackered I suppose by now, and missed the cut, as did John "The Wild thang" Daly, as did the scary-eyed Thomas Levet.
Jesper Parnevik (who I saw from about 6' away at the Open Qualification tournament at Sunningdale a few years ago, hit a miraculous shot from heavy heather, approximately 200yards to the centre of a tight green - a shot that I'll remember forever), struggled on home turf - maybe suffering from a wee bit of jetlag, after playing almost ALL of his golf on the US tour these days. The highest place "Twenty-Six" got was 12th, with a player who SHOULD be knocking on the door week in, week out - Peter Hanson.

So, all in all, very poor.
Miko Ilonen won his second tournament of the season (he won at Jakarta earlier in the year remember), which has given his Ryder Cup chances a big boost, and no mistake.
NB. I saw Ilonen CERTAINLY cheat at Wentworth a few years back in a bunker on the first par 5 - he improved his lie with no-one looking (it was only me and a couple of mates at that hole at that time, standing over the bunker), so its fair to say that Ilonen is not one of my favourite players on tour. We should have reported it, but we didn't really know how, and we were there to have a laugh anyway, not go around "curtain twitching" and taking notes...

We are certainly in the back end of the season now. There are ELEVEN tournaments left if I finsh on the Volvo masters at Valderrama, or twelve if I finish on the World Cup at Mission Hills in November, and that will be that.
I need a miracle now to make an overall profit - a handful of big outsider wins, but you never know...

NB. For your information, last week the Racing Post's GOLF GENIUS tournament finished. A sort-of Fantasy Golf competition for the season if you like. A very good last tournament from me (The US Open) where I picked the winner (Woods) AND second (Woody Austin) made me finish in a very respectah-boww-lll 85th position out of 7,500 entrants - thats in the top 1% by my reckoning....
Not bad eh?!