Golf – European Tour Finale (The Volvo Masters)

Europe's top 60 golfers head for sunny Spain on Thursday of this week for the exciting final event of the season, the Volvo European Masters at Sotogrande, Valderrama.

As well as being a prestigious and hugely lucrative tournament in its own right, the Volvo Masters will play its part in deciding a much bigger accolade; the 2006 European order of merit champion. A brand new name is guaranteed to appear on the coveted Harry Vardon Trophy this week as Paul Casey (€2,409,000) leads the way in this particular race by a huge €218k from Ireland's Padraig Harrington (€2,191,000), who will need at least a top three finish to stand any chance of catching up. With a huge €666,660 first prize and a huge total of €4,000,000 to play for this week there are certain connotations, which mean that David Howell (€2,167,000) and Robert Karlsson (€2,000,000) also have a chance of beating Casey into 2nd place but nothing short of victory for either of those two will do, whilst any sort of performance from Casey should see off all challengers and see him crowned as the 2006 Champion.

Casey who managed to win the Jonnie Walker Championship in June finally rose to the head of the rankings when he won the £1m HSBC World Matchplay in September and has held firm at the top ever since. Given the enormity of the task of his rivals, he is understandably an incredibly short-price to hold on to his number one position at a best available 1/7 with Paddy Power, whereas Harrington is still given some hope at 8/1 with Bet365. The real outsiders are Howell and Karlsson who are priced by Stan James at 14/1 and 25/1 respectively. Karlsson managed a tie for eighth in last weeks Mallorca Classic, which moved him €35,000 closer to Casey but he will need much better this week if he is to even begin to think about upsetting the odds in the race to the order of merit championship.

In terms of the final event of the season itself; Sergio Garcia leads the betting in this all-star invitation only tournament, which permits entry to just the top 60 golfers on the European order of merit. The young mercurial Spaniard is the slight favourite to take the title; he is priced at 7/1 with Ladbrokes and VC Bet. Another of Europe's American based tour professionals Luke Donald is the second favourite at a best available 9/1 with Pinnacle Sports and Total Bet. The charismatic extrovert Ian Poulter is 3rd in the betting, alongside Padraig Harrington and Paul Casey who are all priced at a very tempting 16/1 with Bet365 and UK Betting. Poulter has won this event before back in 2004 so has the course and distance credentials to suggest he is capable of victory again here this week. Harrington is also a previous winner of this event, when he took victory in 2001, so with that in mind and with his obvious pedigree and class it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility for him to stake a serious claim on this event and of course the Vardon Trophy this week.

Last year's winner of this event was Irish hero Paul McGinley, who emerged from the chasing pack on the final day to claim victory and set his Ryder Cup qualification campaign off to a flying start. McGinley has somewhat struggled in recent months but a strong finish last week in Mallorca ensured his top 60 finish and his invitation to return here this week to defend his title; he is priced at 50/1 with Pinnacle Sports and UK Betting – good value for a usually consistent performer just beginning to return to form.

Twice winner of this event and eight time winner of the European order of merit; Colin Montgomerie is always worthy of a mention in any European Tour event. In a time when everyone is talking about which young pretender is going to take the Vardon Trophy for the very first time, it would just be the giant Scot's style to serve a reminder to Europe's elite this week of who has dominated European golf in the last ten years. Monty cannot be discounted here and would so dearly love to become the first person to win this event 3 times – he is priced at a pretty tempting (even in this quality field) 28/1 with expect.com and sporting odds.

Good luck with your selections!

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