Heineken Classic Betting Preview

The European Tour moves from joint sanctioning with the Asian Tour in Singapore, to a similar relationship with the Australian Tour, for the Heineken Classic this week. A decent field will be involved, with the principal lure being the quality of the golf course, Royal Melbourne. Always immaculately prepared, it is a course which rewards accurate risk takers, and has some of the very best greens in the world.One man who has often spoken out of his liking of the venue is Ernie Els, and the South African has the results to support his views. They could not actually be any better, with three victories from three visits.2002 was the first trip for the Els team, and he immediately signalled his intentions with a opening 64 which paved the way for a five stroke victory. This was in contrast to 2003, when a stomach bug meant that the cut was only just made, but two weekend rounds of 66 and 65 were good enough for glory. And last year he began with a scintillating 60 during which 17 greens were hit, as well as 17 fairways, and the putter was only required 25 times.The bookies have priced the world number three at 3/1, and whilst this is short, there is no reason to suspect anything other than a fourth successive win. Ominously for the rest of the field, he says on his website "the enjoyment I get personally from playing the course never wears off." No other player has won here since it was moved from The Vines in 2002.Although no titles have gone his way so far in 2005, his golf has been good, with 6th place at the Buick Invitational a fortnight ago following finishes of 2nd at the Sony Open and 3rd at the Mercedes Championships. A week's holiday in Hawaii followed the Buick effort, and Els has arrived at one of his very favourite courses in great shape. It is a short price for a golfer in any market, but there is so much in his favour that we feel support is merited.With Els so prominent in our betting verdict, we are not going to include anybody else in an outright capacity.Way down the odds lists at a best of 125/1 is Peter Senior and we feel the Queenslander is worth a bet at this price. Last week saw his first start of the season at the Caltex Singapore Masters, and he got better with every round to end up in 12th place. His individual scores were 72, 71, 70 and 69.The 45 year old is also in seventh place on the Australian Order of Merit after two fine efforts in his last two ventures onto the professional golf circuit. He came 8th at the Mastercard Masters, and 6th at the Australian PGA Championships in December.His best days may possibly be behind him, but Senior has won four times on the European Tour, and last year carded four rounds of 70 or better at Royal Melbourne to come 11th. These figures indicate that his price should be shorter so we are happy to include him in the betting verdict.Bet on the Heineken Classic with VCBet