European Order of Merit 2005

If Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh are likely to dominate in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />America in 2005, the men who look set to do battle for the European Order of Merit are Retief Goosen and Ernie Els. The South African duo have won the accolade twice each over the past four seasons, and last season finished first and second.Els is the favourite at a best price of 11/8. It is he who has topped the Order of Merit for the last two seasons and we understand that he is to adopt a similar schedule in 2005. This will involve around 16 tournaments is Europe, and as he has proved, this gives him ample time to win enough money to see off his rivals.Much of Els's earning power last year came in the Majors and the World Golf Championships, which offer big purses and count towards both the European and US Tours. At the Majors he came 2nd, 9th, 2nd and 4th. Whilst there is no doubting his talent, this is a short price for this market.Goosen is longer at 6/1, but we expect him to finish behind his countryman once again. A win at the US Open went a long way towards his second place in the Order of Merit last year, but even with that he couldn't beat Els. The 34 year old played superbly to win the Nedbank Challenge in December, but this did not count towards the European season.The closest challenger according to the bookmakers is Padraig Harrington, and the Irishman has twice finished as runner up in the race. However, he has made no secret of the fact that he intends to spend much more of the early and mid summer playing in America, and so will miss out on several potentially lucrative Euro events in which he has usually taken part. Therefore we cannot get too excited about a best price of 11/1.Most companies are paying out at 1/4 odds for a top three finish. The man who stands out in this regard is Miguel Angel Jimenez at 25/1.2004 was the best season of the Spaniard's career, as he won four times in European counting events. His form was exceptional throughout the whole season, with his successes all coming at least six weeks apart from one another. He also showed at the Ryder Cup how he is comfortable competing at the very highest level, and good showings in previous seasons also illustrate this. He finished fourth on the Order of Merit, and the reason this wasn't higher was largely due to his poor displays in the Majors. No invitation was received for the Masters, whilst the other results were 67th(US Open), 47th (Open) and 31st (US PGA). He also did not finish higher than 27th at the World Golf Championship events and these are the tournaments where most money is on offer.We see no reason why this should be the case, and see Jimenez as a player of high enough quality to actually win one of these and is also very popular all over the world. His fine play through 2004 ensures that he will be included in all of the Majors and World Golf Championship events this time around, including the Masters. This will be a particular relief as he has finished in the top ten during his last two visits to Augusta. Best Major results of 2nd at the 2000 US Open, and 3rd at the 2001 Open confirm our belief that the 40 year old is a good enough player to fare well in the elite tournaments. 2005 has already begun well, with victory in his only outing to this point, at the Omega Hong Kong Open and so there are already 100,000 Euros in the coffers. Hitting an average of14.5 greens per round last year, and holding the lowest stroke average of all on the European Tour for 2004 says everything about his class and this price is long enough to encourage an each way piece.Have a free bet on the European Order of Merit 2005 with VCBet!