My sporting weekend

I have been “off the air” these past weeks largely because I have been unsuccessful in my golf wagers.

However this weekend I backed the Italian Francesco Laporta (50-1), who finished third in the Dubai championship won by Dane Joachim Hansen, and also had an each way tickle on Carmen Tringale (40-1) in the Houston Open won by Jason Kokrak, both of which came home to roost.

The big news in golf is the DP Tour will replace the European Tour.

As so much of the European Tour took place in South Africa and the Gulf it was always a misnomer.

The Sky experts enthused but never mentioned the threat from Greg Norman’s Premier Golf project backed by the Saudis.

The final round of Hansen, Laporta and Antoine Rozner took over 5 hours and, whoever the name or sponsor, there must be a greater grip over slow play.

Players must be told that the TV public and spectators don’t want to watch this tedium.

Betting-wise I swerved the T20 World Cup.

It was too much of a lottery dependent on the toss, though New Zealand won the semi final and lost the final as the chasing side.

As Duggie Heath predicted, the two teams that made the early running England – who comprehensively beat Australia – and Pakistan, who mastered New Zealand, in the Supersix stage did not produce the winner.