Golf Betting Update; Mercedes-Benz Championship with the bookmakers making Goosen their 15/1 favouri

Added: (Tue Sep 09 2008)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Veteran golfer Bernhard Langer has been the driving force behind the Mercedes-Benz Championship, which gets under way on Thursday, and when the tournament was the German Masters he steered it towards being one of the most popular events on the schedule. Thanks to his exploits and marketing power he managed to attract a top quality field to Gut Larchenhof in Cologne and the list of past winners include Darren Clarke, Sergio Garcia, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie.

Langer himself has taken home the first prize on four occasions (1989, 1991, 1997 and 2001) and a fifth victory is not beyond the realms of possibility.

Langer looking good

He will arrive in Cologne in good shape having landed his first European Seniors title with a three-shot victory over Ian Woosnam in the Casa Serena Open in Prague, while prior to that he had posted a sixth in the US Senior Open, a fourth in the British version and was runner-up in the Seniors USPGA.

So backing Germany's favourite golfing son at around the 40-1 mark wouldn't be the worse bet of the year. Goosen and Miguel Angel Jimenez are vying for favouritism with the latter just preferred following his third in the European Masters last week when he finished strongly with a final round of 67. Before that performance the Spanish golfer had been in pretty good nick, grinding out the results with six other top-10s, two of which were in the US Open and Masters.

Lucquin for another win?

Jean-Francois Lucquin took home the winner's cheque in Crans-sur-Sierre on Sunday when he snatched the title from under Rory McIllroy's nose with a birdie at the second play-off hole.

That was the Frenchman's first win after 175 attempts and the champagne certainly flowed around the 18th green in Switzerland. It's always difficult to win back-to-back tournaments on whatever tour, so Lucquin looks in for a tough week. However, it could be foolish to dismiss McIlroy as he played so well.

The other eyecatcher from last week was Christian Cevaer who finished alongside Gary Orr in third spot. If he were to be successful he would create a unique sequence on the European tour as he would be the third successive French golfer to win a title following on from Gregory Havret and Lucquin.

Cevaer showed a liking for the putting surfaces at Gut Larchenhof three years ago when he was top for putts per greens in regulation and rounded off his campaign that year with a 66 on the final day.

Soren Hansen was the first Scandinavian winner of the Mercedes-Benz for 12 years when he came home four shots in front of Phillip Archer 12 months ago and with seven top-10s this term he has strong claims for making a successful defence.

Hot Hanson

However, it could be Sweden's Peter Hanson who takes the honours this week. After landing the second tour win of his career in the SAS Masters in Stockholm he failed to trouble the scorers in Zandvoort the following week. But he returned to form with a third at Gleneagles in the Johnnie Walker Championship and could be worth a small wager at a best-priced 40-1 (Ladbrokes). David Howell has had a torrid time of things over the last 18 months as he has been plagued by back and wrist injuries and it's easy to forget that it wasn't that long ago he was ranked at ninth in the world, now he sits at a lowly 163rd.

However, there have been some good signs this season that he could have turned the corner, especially his seventh in the Open at Royal Birkdale, while his last-time-out third at Gleneagles offered plenty of encouragement as well.

The Swindon-born player has some fond memories of Gut Larchenhof as well, as he was eighth there in 2003 after four rounds in the 60s, while two years later his final three rounds of 66 were the best in the tournament as he came home in sixth spot. It could be the right time to hope for a Howelling success.

Storm brewing

The Johnnie Walker Championship also saw Graeme Storm back among the contenders where he finished a shot adrift of Gregory Havret. That was a vastly improved performance as, although he had posted top-20s in Stockholm and Austria, he had failed to capitalise on his superb showing when sixth in the very competitive WGC-CA Championship in Florida earlier in the year. American Fred Couples and Aussie Stuart Appleby make rare forays across the Atlantic to take part this week and their chances should not be underestimated as they are world-class players on their day.

Make it Martin

But they could be upstaged by a rising German star who may well follow in the footsteps of Bernhard Langer and gain worldwide success.

Martin Kaymer made the most of home advantage when picking up the BMW International in Munich in June to record his second tour victory of 2008 (he won the Abu Dhabi Championship in January) and he will be keen to show Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo what he will be missing in Valhalla in a couple of weeks. The Düsseldorf-born golfer just missed out on an automatic place in that biennial battle with the US and was not chosen as a wild card pick. So he has plenty to prove.


Benz Bankers: Peter Hanson and Martin Kaymer
Mercedes Masters: David Howell and Graeme Storm


• All prices correct at time of writing.

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