Oh what bad luck
Almost every gambler I have met blames his bad luck: what has he done to deserve this(?) is a frequent cri de coeur. Conveniently they forget when Lady Luck is on their side as happened to me last weekend. Late goals in the Milan derby and Manchester United v Arsenal game provided a result when all seemed lost. I’m a great believer in bragging rights games in backing the draw. Michiel de Vacri thought his beloved Nice who have started so well would not lose at St Etinne so I laid the latter. I watched the game and it was the best football I have seen all weekend. Nice have a very young side who play attractive football even without Supermario Balotelli and overcame Les Verts.
The final nine of the European tour DP event on the Earth course at Dubai also produced some thrilling sport. Victor Dubuisson, Tyrell Hatten, Nic Colsaerts were all in contention and all hit water. The one who kept his nerve and game was Matt Fitzpatrick. One of the consequences of the abysmal selection and captaincy of Darren Clarke was to affect the form of Danny Willett and Fitzpatrick but the 19 year old bounced back to win his second event and over 1m euros. At least he will have Ryder Cup experience for Paris in 2 years time. Henrik Stensen also claimed €1m plus by winning the Race to Dubai. The chief executive of the European tour Keith Pelley intends to increase the prize money still further and hopefully this will mean we no longer lose the likes of Paul Casey and Russell Knox to the US PGA. Rory McIlroy finished fifth in the Road to Dubai and won the Fedex to show you can earn big on both tours though the European tour is generous to him in allowing him to compete.
Over at the PGA at St Sinons Island Georgia 4 are competing in the play-offs as darkness halted play: rookie Mackenzie Hughes, Henrik Norlander with a sponsor’s invitation, Blayne Barber (son of Miller Barber) and Camillo Villegas. None of these are household names and long-odd winners have been dominating the early events making my job difficult.
