The Punters In-Play Blog: Tiger on the prowl

Tiger Woods closing in on Rory McIlroy at East Lake
Steve's had another look prior to today's second round and he's added a couple of picks to his armoury. Read who and why here...
13:20 - September 21, 2012
My Luke Donald wager has been matched this morning and I've also backed Hunter Mahan. I know he's not been in very good form of late but having not been picked for next week's Ryder Cup, he has something to prove and at odds of 55.054/1, trailing by just two strokes, he's simply too big a price to ignore.
I was very tempted to get further involved elsewhere but I've resisted. It's hard to see why multiple tour winner, Steve Stricker, one off the lead on -3, is a bigger price than Bo Van Pelt, a winner only once on tour, on the same score, and as I came close to backing Zach Johnson before the off at around 40.039/1, at just ten points shorter, following an opening two under-par 68, I was again tempted to back him but I've held off for now.
As I've done with Donald, don't be afraid to back someone from off the early pace. Since the greens were changed after the 2007 event, slow starters have prospered. In 2010, Jim Furyk was just one off the pace after the first round and he led the event thereafter but the other three winners have made up lots of ground...
Last year's winner, Bill Haas, trailed by four after round one, 2009 champ, Phil Mickelson, was seven off the lead and Camilo Villegas was eight back in 2008. And he beat Sergio Garcia in a playoff, who himself trailed by six after the first round! With such a small field, a very good round can see a player readily zoom up from the bottom half of the leaderboard and into the mix, I just hope today's charger is Donald.
23:10 - September 20, 2012
Just days after Greg Norman's nonsensical claim that Tiger Woods was intimidated by world number one Rory McIlroy (now sarcastically dubbed The Intimidator), the world number two has put himself in a great position to bite back and to claim both the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup.
It looked for most of day one as though Justin Rose was going to lead overnight but a tenacious Woods was having none of it and with back-to-back birdies at 15 and16, he drew alongside the Englishman on -4. And he gave himself a great chance on 18 too, where he missed for birdie from just 11 feet.
Tiger looks like he means business this week and those that took 7.06/1 before the off will be on good terms with themselves.
My main man, Phil Mickelson, played out a pretty bog-standard Phil Mickelson round. He drove the ball atrociously and found just a couple of fairways all day but recovered majestically, missing just one green. In fact, he gave himself plenty of chances to score and the real damage was done on the greens. Birdie putt after birdie putt slipped by the hole and there were two costly three-putt bogeys to boot, so all in all, it was a disappointing start. That said, on -1, and alongside Rory, who he'll partner tomorrow, he's certainly not out of it just yet.
With just 30 competitors, it's not easy to discount anyone at this early stage and as I pointed out in my preview, it's possible to make up ground after a slow start. With that in mind, I've input a small, ambitious and as yet unmatched bet on Luke Donald, who after a one over-par opening round, trails by five.
I'll take a proper look tomorrow morning and if I make any further trades before kick-off I'll be sure to post it here.
Selections:
Phil Mickelson to win the FedEx Cup @ 13.5
And to win the Tour Championship:
Phil Mickelson @ 15.0
Keegan Bradley @ 48.0
John Huh @ 140.0
In-Play Bets
Hunter Mahan @ 55.054/1
Luke Donald @ 65.064/1