By Angus Loughran
Gary Orr leads a spectacular Scottish challenge for the 2000 Victor Chandler British Masters going into the final round and the sponsors will be open on-course on Sunday from 8.30 am offering 5-1 against a Scot not claiming the prestigious prize.
Those might seem tempting odds but with Colin Montgomerie, Paul Lawrie and Andrew Coltart also all in the top eight it is fair to say that the sponsor’s are not being over generous.
Nevertheless the Duke’s course at Woburn Golf and Country Club will be the scene of a fantastic final round and it is certainly not a one-horse race with Victor Chandler having made Montgomerie the 11-10 favourite with Orr at 6-5.
Orr compiled an excellent third round of 68 for a 19 under par 54-hole total of 197 – but Montgomerie halved his halfway deficit by putting together a 66 for 199.
What is more one visitor to the Victor Chandler unit early on Saturday morning was overjoyed to see Montgomerie’s pre-third round price of 9-4 and promptly placed £4,000 on the Scot while two other punters each put down £2,000.
Orr, who was a 40-1 shot at the start of the tournament with the sponsors, demonstrated his desire to follow his win in the Algarve Portuguese Open earlier this year by winning the £133,330 first prize at Woburn with a fighting finish after fearing he may have lost his ball with his drive at the 18th. He found the ball, chipped out, hit a three iron to ten feet and made the putt for a birdie four.
Montgomerie, however, declared: “I expect to win from two shots behind” although Orr countered: “He’s done that so many times before you would expect him to say that.”
Victor Chandler will also open on-course with a special “How Low Will Monty Go” (Montgomerie’s last round score) bet – offering 10-1 against 63 or under, 6-4 for 64 to 66, 6-4 for 67 to 69 and 11-4 for 70 or over.
My advice? I reckon if the conditions remain similar – and remember Montgomerie was cross that he left two eagle putts short at the 17th (where he drove the green) and 18th in his third round -
that Montgomerie will not only win but that he will do so by shooting under 64 so take advantage of the 10-l offer from Victor Chandler.
The chasing pack is led by Mark McNulty - our pre-tournament selection -at 15 under – and he is a 12-1 shot ahead of Lawrie (16-1), Per-Ulrik Johansson (20-1), Ian Garbutt (28-1) and Jarrod Moseley (28-1), who are all on 14 under par.
Coltart is at 33-1 with Victor Chandler and on 13 under par – one ahead of Bob May, the defending champion, and Patrik Sjoland, who are at 40-1 and 50-1 respectively.
If you like a bet on the two balls then I suggest May at evens to beat Sjoland, Coltart at 6-5 to outscore Johansson and Garbutt at evens to beat Moseley – a treble that comes to a little over 8-1.
Each way betting is still available at place odds of one fifth the first three and with another hot, sunny day forecast huge crowds are expected to follow the action on the fairways while in the tented village the Victor Chandler betting unit will be offering a tax free service on golf plus all other sports including the millennium Charity Shield between Chelsea and Manchester United and racing from Ascot, Leicester and Redcar.
