Celtic Manor Wales Open betting guide and form

Paul Krishnamurty is back and provides his betting guide and golf tips for this week's Celtic Manor Wales Open. Ross Fisher is the man to beat according to the bookies, but Paul provides his other picks and all the form going into another big event on the European Tour.

Louis Oosthuizen

Next best in the betting is Soren Kjeldsen, 3rd at Wentworth and generally a model of consistency these days. The Dane certainly ticks all the right statistical boxes, but I am slightly concerned that he finished a disappointing 61st last year. And as I've written recently, two titles in eight months for a player formerly known for his weak temperament probably suggests he's done his winning for now. Nevertheless, his chance looks vastly stronger than Miguel-Angel Jimenez, who once again looked in very poor nick over the weekend at Wentworth.   Jeev Milkha Singh was tied with Fisher in 10th last year, and looks for my money the second best player. Since he has become a prolific winner, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see Jeev go in, though he will need to bounce back from an uncharacteristically weak finish on Sunday when carrying the lead.   This layout also looks ideal for Francesco Molinari. True to form, Molinari produced his favourite tactic of saving his best golf for when holding no chance of victory last year, with a strong finish to make the top-4. He regularly records high-class stats, and will surely break a long losing run sooner or later, but it is hard to advise taking relatively short odds about a player with such dubious characteristics. Similarly, while Nick Dougherty loves this place and grabbed a share of the places for us last year, he has proved unreliable too many times in the past to support at less than 30/1.   Around the same price, preference is for LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN. Oosthuizen has loads of winning experience from the Sunshine Tour, and has shown enough this season to strongly suggest a European breakthrough is imminent. Nobody started the year more impressively than the young South African, who made the top-10 on all of his first five 2009 starts, including twice finishing runner-up. Form has been more patchy since, though not bad by any means, which has pushed his odds out to a more realistic level. This will be Louis' course debut, but I strongly fancy him to prosper on a course that should suit his attacking, birdie chasing talents.

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