Sandy Lane previews this week’s PGA Tour event, the 3M Open, to be played at TPC Twin Cities in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Last week’s Open Championship, played mostly in weather that was regularly described on TV as ‘filthy’, was a roller-coaster ride for players and spectators alike. Royal Troon bared its teeth, gobbled up five of…
Golf
Sandy Lane’s Golfing tips for The Open Championship – Royal Troon
Last week’s Genesis Scottish Open served up plenty of dramatic moments, not least on the very last green when the Canadian Open hero Bob MacIntyre holed out a 22-foot putt for par to win the championship. Bob is now near the top of Sandy’s Christmas Card list, having secured a 33-1 payout for us just…
The last PGA match before The Open.
Last week’s John Deere Classic proved to be both enjoyable and profitable for followers of this column. The final round was stress-free with the impressive 25-1 shot Davis Thompson setting up an impregnable lead early on and two of our other selections, Ben Griffin (60-1) and Aaron Rai (20-1) battling their way into T5th and…
US PGA Tour: The John Deere Classic
Last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit brought us smiles and tears. Having had the overnight or joint overnight leaders after each of the first three rounds, Sunday’s action was eagerly awaited. Akshay Bhatia and Aaron Rai continued to play well, and Davis Thompson was on the move. Their closest rivals were the unreliable Cameron…
US PGA Tour: The Rocket Mortgage Classic
The Rocket Mortgage Classic takes centre stage this week. It’s a low-key event with just Tom Kim representing the world’s top 20 players. Despite having heavily tree-lined fairways, plentiful bunkers and small Poa Annua greens, the Par-72 Donald Ross-designed course is easy meat for the Tour professionals, with an average winning total of around 23…
Can anyone stop Scottie winning The U.S. Open Championship? Sandy Lane thinks so.
Scottie Scheffler’s extraordinary domination of this year’s PGA tournaments soared to even greater heights last week when he reminded us of his tenacity and consistency, holding off a determined challenge from our selection, Collin Morikawa, to win the Memorial in Dublin. Ohio. Morikawa did us proud, however, as did another of our each-way picks, Ludvig…
The PGA Tour: The Memorial. At Muirfield. In Dublin. In Ohio
Sandy Lane previews this week’s USPGA event, the Memorial at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio Watching Robert MacIntyre’s maiden PGA Tour victory in last week’s Canadian Open was genuinely refreshing. With his rugged-featured Dad on the bag, the shy Scotsman proved to be a natural front-runner, and his humility shone out in the post-tournament…
RBC Canadian Open
The Canadian Open Championship is nomadic. This year, it returns to the classic Hamilton course, which last staged the event in 2019. This picturesque arena was established in 1904. It was designed by Harry Colt, who also set up the fabled Wentworth course in England. It is a Par-70 parkland course, featuring small undulating poa annua greens….
PGA Tour: Charles Schwab Challenge
Firstly, hearty congratulations to Xander Schauffle for his magnificent triumph at Valhalla last week. He had been my headline selection for the Masters, but Heigh Ho! Xander’s victory was made even sweeter because he held off a huge last-round surge by a player from the LIV circuit, Bryson DeChambeau. Onwards and upwards to this week’s…
The USPGA 2024 – Seven against the field.
The late Keith Elliot had various concepts and theories he utilised in his sports betting – one of them caught the sports betting world’s imagination and was known as The Nappy Factor. In his Golf books of the late 1990’s he set out the belief that new, or expectant fathers often improve their level of…
The Golf Majors: The Masters Tips from Sandy Lane
Please note that bets must be placed by 1.30 pm on Thursday. At last, a tournament in which the cream almost always rises to the top. Augusta National provides a massive test of every professional golfer’s mettle. It may be the most beautiful and best manicured piece of golfing property on the globe, but it…
Napoleon declared: I have only one counsel for you – be Master
Having stayed up to watch Valdero and the stuttering victory of Akshay Bhatia – no, me neither – over Denny McCarthy, I started to think seriously about the mental impact such games must have on the players. Yeah, sure, it’s what they do, I get that, but to be so totally focused as McCarthy was…
Farewell Gentle Coz.
It’s been a lousy week, made far worse today by the unexpected news that the 80-year-old widow of my late Coz was tragically killed yesterday in a freak accident in a pub car park. Do not smile… such things can happen to the Kneesup clan when they least expect it. I had known her since…
PGA Tour: The Valero Texas Open – bets on by 1:00pm
Oh Me, Oh My! What a roller-coaster ride we have had in recent weeks. It started with our headline selection, Scottie Scheffler’s imperious triumph at the Players. It was followed by our man Cameron Young’s dramatic implosion (but with an e-w payout) in the final round of the Valspar. Next came the Houston Open and…
PGA Tour: The Houston Open
Sandy Lane previews this week’s PGA Tour event, The Texas Children’s Houston Open in Texas Please note that bets must be placed by 12.20 on Thursday. Speaking of children, I nearly choked on my Cheerios on Monday when I read what Cameron Young, one of our selections to win the Valspar Championship in Florida, had said…
PGA Tour: The Valspar Championship
Sandy Lane previews this week’s PGA Tour event, the Valspar Championship in Florida. Please note that bets must be placed by 11.30 am on Thursday. Wow, the climax of The Players Championship at Sawgrass last week was something to behold. Scottie Scheffler, our headline selection, treated golf lovers to an imperious bogey-free final round of…
The PGA Tour and Sandy Lane Masters Sawgrass
Greetings! It’s time again to enjoy the unofficial ‘5th Major’, the Players Championship at the iconic TPC Stadium course in Sawgrass, with its infamous Par 3 17th island hole. Previous winners have ranked highly on their accurate play and been good scramblers and putters. The key required stat is Strokes Gained Approach. Scottie Scheffler, the…
Who is going to pick up the Palmer D’Or?
Sandy Lane previews this week’s PGA Tour event, The Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida. Please note that bets must be placed by 12.45 on Thursday. Another week, another 100-1 plus winner in the most extraordinary start to a PGA Tour season that your writer can ever remember. Full marks, though, to Austin Eckroat, who played superbly…
PGA Tour: The Cognizant Classic at the Palm Beaches
Greetings Be cognisant (why do the Yankees have to mess up the King’s English?) of the fact that today’s date only occurs every four years. It’s a big deal for Grandpas like me, who can raise a glass to their leapling descendants. Our Arthur (12, allegedly) is one of this exclusive group – there are…
The Mexican Open
Sandy Lane has sent a note, along the lines that the Weights of the Grand National or even Fontwell on a soaking Thursday were considerably more interesting than this weekend’s PGA offering – The Mexican Open – and that he was not sure that this event was the “full enchilada”. So I thought I would…
Sunday Golf, Irish racing, Secret shredding
With not much doing on the social front, attention has turned to resolving some issues in the office – such as a mountain of papers. The Hon is on shredding duty, as she is rightly concerned that information is power, and in the days of paper recycling and special bins, a walk around Notting Hill…
PGA TOUR – THE GENESIS INVITATIONAL
Greetings from Sandy Lane in Sunny Barbados Caramba! Another 100-1 winner (Nick Taylor) in Phoenix last week. Thankfully, we escaped with minor injuries, courtesy of Sam Burns (3rd) and Cameron Young (8th). This week, the show moves on to the Genesis Invitational, staged at the swanky Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. Here,…
THE PGA TOUR: Waste Management Phoenix Open
Greetings From the classical Pebble Beach courses in North California, we head off to the Arizona desert for the Waste Management Phoenix Open at Scottsdale. Played out in front of the most raucous (700,000ish) bunch of fans over the four days, this event provides a different set of challenges to those played to date this…
THE PGA TOUR – THE AT&T PRO-AM AT PEBBLE BEACH
As you know, our correspondent Sandy Lane is permanently based in Barbados, where he busies himself on a range of important Island matters. His Christmases may all have just arrived at once, with the news that the PGA Tour and Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) have revealed a long-term Official Marketing Partnership this Monday that…
The Farmers Insurance Open
The Farmers Insurance Open has become one of the most exciting regular-season PGA Tour events on the schedule, thanks in no small part to the host course, Torrey Pines, and Tiger Woods‘ incredible winning record there, including his epic 2008 U.S. Open triumph. We’ll have to wait a little longer to see Tiger tee it…
WELL DONE SANDY
Having just missed out on Week 1 of the new PGA season, I backed Sandy’s Sony Hawaiian selections last week on Betfair Exchange. A thrilling “nip and tuck game” led to a three-way playoff, but my nerve failed me and I sacrificed my potential 200 pt profit and “Greened Up” by selling Byeong Hun An…
The PGA Tour – The Sony Open
Sandy Lane – our man in Barbados – writes: Aloha to One and All! Our first foray into the 2024 PGA Tour at last week’s The Sentry proved to be bang on track until the 69th hole. Here, Jordan Spieth, one of the longer-priced of our ‘Big Five’ picks, who had just taken a share…
Ryder, Arc and Cyprus – work, work, work
The Trustees of The Kneesup Foundation (World Peace through Gastronomy motto: Edere et bibere, et gaudeamus) have tasked me to fly to Cyprus to see if The Hon and I can help bring together this tiny, divided island through the simple act of redistributing the last few centimes left us by the crooks of this…
A great result for Raceweb – and English Women of all ages
Captain Kneesup got the spreads spot on yesterday, and thanks to the brilliant No 23 shirt worn by Alessio Russo Raceweb racked up over 40 points of profit. Well done Captain, (or CK as he is known in the dressing room). This is my first full post as Raceweb’s Golfing correspondent and whilst the tips…
I feel obliged to explain…
Not even midnight and I have already told a bookmaker to close my account on the grounds of impertinence; threatened a minor Building Society with more reputational damage than a Nigel Farage letter; made money on the Sweden-Spain game; written an elevator pitch; unpacked a grocery order and been marginally surprised by the bosom on…
Cashless though not quite potless – pray to St Jude in Golf.
One would be naive to believe that the Government which effectively “owns” Natwest, is not in the enviable position of both being able to manipulate or pressurise Natwest into doing precisely what it wants the bank to do. But as is constantly explained, their/our shareholding is at “arms-length” and thus the bank’s activities are in…
Mayyyte – oh maayyyyte
I am very wary of the Woke and of the new threat or potential for a member of Boodles or Whites to come striding up and saying “Mate” in a really whiny voice because they think I have said something anti-women. This all stems from Sadiq Khan’s new advertising campaign for the Protection of Rural…
An abundance of sporting riches – but no time to enjoy
As the rest of Europe fries and the unwary make their way to an airport in order to stay inside but abroad, a few of us will have made plans that require very little effort. Imagine if you will, that it is Thursday. You were awake at 6:30 and you were able to listen as…
Warming up for The Open? Yes, it’s the Scottish Open
Quite why an American-Romanian family called Sarvardi thought that taking 300 acres off the Duke of Hamilton right next door to Muirfield and sticking another Golf Course on it was a good idea, bamboozled a lot of people at the beginning of this century. But former Texan aviation fuel wholesaler, Jerry Sarvardi and his brother…
Tuesday’s Ascot proves too strong a siren call
Lunch with chums near Malmesbury on Sunday, and I ran into David Lloyd-George, who will know by the time you read this whether he is to be (reinvested – reignited – reinterred? I’m sure there’s some particular name for it), admitted to the House of Lords to take up a spare hereditary seat for the…
Can’t even pick a paint colour right these days!
I’m going to keep this brief this week largely because we are awash with sport. We have the US PGA Championship, The Italian GP, the league Play-Offs, The Dante meeting, Indy 500; it is relentless. From this melange, I have to develop the funds to pay for the Royal Ascot badges and two pre-planned barbecue…
The Master 2023
I think we managed to get away with the weekend’s tips, showing a tiny profit, despite not having the winner of the Lincoln. Meanwhile, the Australian GP seemed to be in a never-ending crash, interspersed with various restarts. Don’t watch it apart from the last five laps if you haven’t seen it. The chaos and…
The snow-free Players Championship
As King Wenceslaus pops his snow shoes on, and sends some kid off to get the kindling, the snow continues to fall and lies deep and crisp, even here in Lambourn and Cheltenham. In the interest of my readers, I have ventured out to measure the depth of the snow to calculate how many mm…
There are bad times just around the corner..
I was minded of Noel Coward’s lyrics this week, when I received a red flag from my Interweb security system, alerting me to a sustained attack on the site, emanating from Hamburg. I have no idea why any little hacker would want to turn me over – an irate bookmaker desperate to stop a sudden…
It was the best of times… but it was no longer the Aga of reason
In the Shires, Tory women are already preparing in their six-oven Agas the cakes and biscuits consumed during the hustings, as Rishi and whoever turns up for the triannual Tory leadership elections. They and their cohorts will promise to deliver whatever is perceived as locally vital and promise to be either more woke or more…
Bad Manners, The US Open and Royal Ascot Day 1.
In the midst of all the Ascot preparations, the thinking, the calculations, the decisiveness and confidence, sadly coupled with the loss of all value perceptions and risk management, I managed to scramble home from The Derby crash, by dint of good fortune and the bond of friendship. I cannot recall a more topsy-turvy year when…
No Nay Never No More
I know – for one brief joyous moment you thought there would be no more from Kneesup. No, I will probably take a break for a couple of weeks, after I give you my thoughts on the second Major of the year, The US PGA; but meanwhile my “Never” refers to the new exciting world…
The FA Cup, Golf and The Lockinge
They’re racing early tomorrow because of the FA Cup. For some reason, I had it in my head that the Cup was next weekend and that this weekend we had The French Grand Prix. I spent 20 minutes proving to myself that The French GP is in fact the Spanish and that it is happening…
You’re not allowed to say boo to the Goose
Editorial Note: No people died from Covid in the writing of this article and the author has recently tested negative – again. Even as Thor’s Day gets into gear and as the first rounds get underway at Augusta, I shall be back at The Great Western Hospital undergoing what should have happened on Monday, after…
The Cheltenham Question
I had a jolly Fish and Chip supper at a local pub last night with my old friend The FinTech Brain, and while inventing a new and delicious dessert (one scoop each of Blood Orange and Gin Sorbets covered in a shot of Cointreau), we cruised around the conversational islands of Paralympic Curling, Olympic 3-day…
I’m too lethargic for ennui
Something is amiss in the life of Kneesup. I have been trying to become enthused by The Ryder Cup, and the probable massacre by the USA of our plucky European brethren. Nope – Nada. Am I enthused by The Cambridgeshire? No, not really. The County Championship? Warwick? Oh good. Probably. Formula 1 and The Russian…
A Himalayan Sandwich? Or is it a Sand Wedge in the Himalayas?
One of the nicest links courses in England, Royal St Georges, beckons Darren Clarke’s inheritors back to its comfort and largesse, ten years after the Ulsterman won the 139th Open. Won at Portrush in 2019 by Shane Lowery, the Sandwich links course has traditionally proven tough to score on, and of the last five Champion…
Sunday Brunch
I owe you all a huge apology. I was so wrapped up in the whole stick-in-tonsils-swizzle-test thing that I forgot myself. The Drowning and the huge reversal of fortunes between Thursday midday and eight pm on Saturday didn’t help, but still and all I should have mentioned backing The Lib Dems to win Chesham. There…
USPGA
The first round gets underway in about an hour, and you would have had this sooner, but I fell into bad company yesterday at that very splendid pub The Queen’s Arms in East Garston run by the inestimable Freddie Tulloch. Whilst I started lunch with a head nod to the current calorie-conscious diet, it transpired…
The Masters 2021
I know it only seems like six months ago, (it was), that the Augusta National Golf Club gave the Green Jacket to Dustin Johnson and, as a result, he’ll be hosting the annual Defending Champions dinner, an event at which only Green Jacket holders can attend. He gets to choose the menu and I have…