With no European Tour event this week, my attention is turned to the US where we have the St Jude Classic taking place in Texas.  Defending champion Justin Leonard is second in the betting behind Phil Mickelson and despite Leonard’s impeccable record here (twice winner); I am going to look further down the field when it comes to picking a winner. 

Top of the pile is Germany’s Alex Cejka around the 80/1 mark.  T4 here last year and a respectable T23 last week Cejka is a man in form who like the course.  Backers of Cejka in recent weeks will be still recovering from his defeat in the Players Championship, where he shot a closing round 79 to finish in T9 after leading for most of the tournament.  This might be off-putting for some people, but his price around the 80/1 mark is enough to justify him being my big bet of the week, bearing in mind that he has won on tour before.  His 6 top 25 finishes this year are a further comfort for those who would be happy if he snuck into a place.

One player who has yet to win on tour but is certainly capable is American Michael Letzig and is definitely worth a punt around the 80/1 mark.  T14 here last year and T14 last week he is a player who has shown he can go close and it is probably the fact that he has yet to win that his price is so big.  He could have went really close last week bar his closing 75 and I would be very surprised to see him finish outside the top 20 this time round.  If he holds his form over the 4 days he may very well find himself around the top of the leaderboard and at 80/1 I will gladly take that.

To finish off the trio, I shall also have a go at Will MacKenzie around the 100/1 mark.  8th here in 07 and a top 10 finish are stats far too good to ignore when they are associated with a 3-figure price.  MacKenzie already has 2 top tens to his name this year and with any luck he can find himself there or there abouts come Sunday evening.

Hopefully we can go close again this week, and although Europe proved to be unsuccessful last week, Woods’ victory in America has yet again given us a return on our selections.  Let’s hope we can repeat this with a nice big-priced winner this week.

After a great first day last week, all of my selections eventually dropped down the leaderboard with not even one in contention come day 4. I am, however, putting this down to the weather over the weekend and am confident that at least one selection this week will make a return on my investment. Those who have been following this for the past few months (before most of it was deleted *Ahem*) will know that the balance sheet is still showing a healthy profit, so those of you new to here, please keep the faith!

Right, back to picking some golfers. Once again Ross Fisher heads the market, again around the 12/1 mark, but his admission that he was ‘tired’ last week (this info would have been nice on Monday) is enough to put me off, despite his solid record on the course and good form of late. I am instead drawn towards the 50/1 that is available for Jamie Donaldson. On a course which is relatively easy to score on, one must look for players in-form, or those who have a history on the course and Donaldson has both. A native of Wales, T15 here last year and a T4 in Portugal a few weeks ago is enough for me to think that 50/1 is too big for him and he will be my big bet this week.

Going along the same lines, (but alas not the same odds) I am going to have something on Welshman Stephen Dodd around the 25/1 mark. With three top tens in the last few weeks, there is no questioning his current form and despite never really doing well here, a man in form with good course knowledge is always going to be a danger and this is why he is worth a punt despite his short price.

Lastly, I am going to have a go at Peter Lawrie around the 80/1 mark. Although his T27 last week might not jump put of the page at you (nor his previous form this season), anyone with a keen eye will have noticed a golfer really enjoying his game last week, and more importantly a golfer striking the ball really well, which is why he is well worth something small just in case…

Across the water I can’t see past Tiger, despite his current form (or lack there of) but man of the moment Casey is also well worth a punt as he is probably the best golfer in the world on current form and 16/1 is far too big a price for a golfer associated with this sentence.

Apologies if this reads a bit rushed (it was), but rest assured there was plenty of thought and consideration put into the selections!