It's Open Championship Week

10/7/16

Irrespective of what happens in today’s two major sporting finals, we have shown a nice profit on both Euro 2016 and Wimbledon but surely for all neutrals it has to be a case of come on France, anyone but Portugal!

Many thanks to Carl Redden for his thoughts over the last fortnight where his each-way advice on Angelique Kerber at 25/1 (1/2 odds a place 1-2) and a Serena-Kerber final at 14/1 were the highlights of his recommendations. Carl will return to cover the U.S Open and I’ll see if I can twist his arm to find a little time to also cover part of the tennis at the Olympics whilst he is training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. If you have made a few quid out of his tennis selections and would like to sponsor his efforts in aid of the Alzheimer’s Society then you can do so via http://justgiving.com/Carl-Redden2.

After three weeks away I’m back in blighty in the early hours of Tuesday morning after which I will be finalising my preview of The Open Championship which starts at Royal Troon on Thursday. Unlike the tennis multi-millionaires, many of the big names of golf are shunning the Olympics citing the zika virus as the reason. Some would argue that has presented them with the perfect get-out clause for never wanting to go in the first place. Dustin Johnson is the latest to pull out joining Jason Day, Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Charl Schwartzel and others. A real kick in the teeth for the Olympic Committee and it’s hard to see golf being invited back after this slap in the face. Strange that the zika virus is not stopping top athletes from any other sport taking part but these golfers have their precious schedules that they never wanted messing up in the first place.

It's Open Championship week and outside of horseracing, this is my favourite four days of the sporting year. I usually have a good idea who I want to back at least a fortnight beforehand but must admit that I am struggling to find an outright selection at present. Padraig Harrington knows a few things about links golf being a dual Open winner and he is of the view that Troon suits American-style players more than other links course as “it’s not so tricky or funky” so that is likely to be the way I am leaning.

And the sport coverage doesn’t end there this week as Mike Henderson is looking forward to getting his teeth stuck into the World Matchplay Darts Championship that starts next weekend as he looks to continue his fine run for arrers-based tipping for us. After the World Championships, this tournament that takes place at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool is widely regarded as the next most important knockout darts event in the calendar. I attended as a sponsor’s guest a few years ago so had backstage access and when I say backstage I literally mean backstage, as the VIP room is directly behind the dart board. It’s quite an atmosphere.

In addition, the Tour de France is just starting to enter its critical stage and Paul Smith will shortly be embarking on his preview of the England v Pakistan test series attempting to follow up the profit he showed on his T20 World Cup recommendations so it’s all go and we haven’t even reached the Olympics yet.

As for the next horseracing coverage, there isn’t a big race as such this weekend outside of the Irish Oaks for which Even Song looks like being sent off at odds-on so it’s a week off Ante-Post Focus and I will return to cover King George Day at Ascot before tackling all five days of Glorious Goodwood the following week.