Another Graceland?

That title has been given to Germany’s Martin Kaymer who, at 20/1, tops the field for this always intriguing pro-am event in which players alternate between St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns for the first three rounds before a select group of 60 professionals and 20 amateurs who have made the cut head back to the cradle of golf, St Andrews, for the fourth and final rounds of the professional and pro-am contests. .

 

Close behind Kaymer on the bookies list of favoured golfers are South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel at 22/1, three Englishmen, Paul Casey, Ross Fisher and Simon Dyson at 25/1 followed by two more South African’s, Ernie Els at 28/1 and Richard Sterne at 30/1.

 

Grace is also a 30/1 shot with some bookies, but others have him at 35/1 which, in my book at least, makes for a rather appealing bet.

 

The 25-year-old is clearly not in the same kind of form as he was last year when he arrived at St Andrews with three European Tour titles already under his belt, but while the 2012 four-time winner has yet to win another title this year, he has earned more than a million Euros on the 2013 European Tour thanks to some close shaves like his 2nd-place finish in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, his tie for 3rd at the Volvo Match Play championship, his tie for 6th at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and his tie for 7th at the Volvo Golf Championship.

 

His heroics in the Dunhill Links last year and his second-place finish in the Scottish Open this year indicate that he has an affinity for Scottish Links courses and his 18th place at the Masters also tells you he can handle the intense pressure of the kind you are put under at Augusta National, so don’t count him out..

 

And Kaymer? Like Grace, he has yet to win in Europe in a season he is splitting between Europe and the USA, but he has picked up five top 10 finishes in the 12 events he has played in Europe and it may be significant that three of those came in quick succession at the start of the year before he headed for the USA where he has teed up in 17 tournaments and had two top 10s.

 

I say significant because it might well indicate that the former PGA Champion is more at home in Europe than he is Sates side and that his American form may not be a true indication of what he is capable of on the other side of the big pond.

 

What might also be significant is that the 29-year-old six footer from Mettmann is, along with Grace and the likes of Dyson, Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie and Colin Montgomerie, one of the former winners in this week’s field for in short it means he knows what to expect and how to play it.

 

But in a competition featuring most of the cream of Europe’s Tour professionals, one or two hot-shot US PGA Tour campaigners like Dustin Johnson, 14 former major winners and many of the greatest names in sport including knighted stars Sir Ian Botham, Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Steve Redgrave, rugby greats like Morne du Plessis, Gavin Hastings, Schalk Burger and Rob Louw, cricket celebrities such as Andrew Strauss, Steve Waugh and Shane Warne, football legends of the calibre of Johan Cruyff and Ruud Gullit and show business celebs such as Andy Garcia, Bill Murray, Hugh Grant and Huey Lewis, there are many unusual influences that will be brought to bear and the favourites might not necessarily be this week’s front runners.

In fact its very possible that the bookies favourites could be upstaged by some of the fast-rising young guns in the field, notably players like Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood and Danny Willett, the USA’s Peter Uihlein, Denmark’s Thorbjørn Olesen or Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger and don’t underestimate the possibilities of a Dustin Johnson or a Padraig Harrington bringing their A Games to the contest and sweeping the likes of Kaymer, Schwartzel, Casey, Fisher, Els and Dyson off their feet.

 

For as I’ve indicated, anything is possible in an event like this.

 

Martin Kaymer 20

Charl Schwartzel 25

Paul Casey 25

Ross Fisher 25

Ernie Els 28

Simon Dyson 25

Richard Sterne 30

Joost Luiten 30

Bernd Wiesberger 33

Branden Grace 30

Stephen Gallacher 33

Shane Lowry 40

Louis Oosthuizen 40

Peter Uihlein 50

Tommy Fleetwood 50

Victor Dubuisson 50

Danny Willett 45

Thorbjorn Olesen 45

Paul Lawrie 45

Brooks Koepka 55

Alvaro Quiros 66