Super6 Week 24 Predictions and post-cut round-up Abu Dhabi

Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men.  In good faith I promised the rest of our Super 6 predictions in the middle of the week.

With snow, scaffold, workmen and disruption we were no sooner getting the rest of the predictions on for Week 24 than any other week.

At least the delay has presented the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: the rest of the Super 6 predictions and a round up of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship after Round 3.

Let’s start with the predictions of the rest of my Motley Crew (you can find my week 24 predictions, here). Herewith:

Ken’s @soccersatsuper6: LIV 2-2 NOR, MNC 3-1 FUL, NEW 1-1 REA, SWA 2-1 STO, WHA 1-1 QPR, WGN 2-1 SUN sky.me/Super6 #Super6 GG=9 383/1

— Jason Darrell (@JasonDFeckTVcom) January 19, 2013

Pat’s @soccersatsuper6: LIV 1-2 NOR, MNC 3-1 FUL, NEW 1-1 REA, SWA 2-1 STO, WHA 1-0 QPR, WGN 1-1 SUN sky.me/Super6 #Super6 GG=7 630/1

— Jason Darrell (@JasonDFeckTVcom) January 19, 2013

Mick’s @soccersatsuper6: LIV 2-1 NOR, MNC 3-1 FUL, NEW 1-1 REA, SWA 2-1 STO, WHA 1-1 QPR, WGN 2-1 SUN sky.me/Super6 #Super6 GG=4 87/1

— Jason Darrell (@JasonDFeckTVcom) January 18, 2013

Les’s @soccersatsuper6: LIV 3-1 NOR, MNC 2-0 FUL, NEW 1-2 REA, SWA 2-3 STO, WHA 2-1 QPR, WGN 1-0 SUN sky.me/Super6 #Super6 GG=12 104/1

— Jason Darrell (@JasonDFeckTVcom) January 18, 2013

Jord’s @soccersatsuper6 LIV 2-0 NOR, MNC 3-1 FUL, NEW 0-1 REA, SWA 2-1 STO, WHA 0-1 QPR, WGN 0-2 SUN sky.me/Super6 #Super6 GG=7 201/1

— Jason Darrell (@JasonDFeckTVcom) January 19, 2013

How unreal is this? Micky D and Ken remarkably predicted 5 of the six same scores. The only difference was the Liverpool v Norwich game.

Ken predicted 2 – 2, Micky D predicted 2 -1. The shock was not in the fact that Micky D predicted Liverpool to win a game, but the difference in the accumulator odds purely down to that one differing prediction.

Ken’s odds with SKY Bet returned at 383/1 for all six results; Micky D’s was just 87/1. I was amazed. No wonder the missus only gives me 50p e/w to bet at a time.

So there’s our predictions for Week 24 on the Super 6; now, how is Team Ten Tee 20 Vision faring at the National Golf Course in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship?

Rory & Tiger fail to make the cut in Abu Dhabi

I’m guessing there were plenty following the Woods/McIlroy/Kaymer pairing over the first two days. Of the three, only the 3-time winner of this event, Martin Kaymer, progressed.

Surprised? I’m not.

Of the ten golfers who make up the first Ten Tee 20 Vision Fantasy Race to Dubai team of the 2013 European Tour season, only two have failed to make the cut.  And they’re not Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods.

¿Que, Señor? I dain’t pick ’em for my team, amigo.

One word – pressure.  McIlroy’s under £80M pounds worth to prove to Nike he’s worth the investment.  Tiger Woods wants desperately to be Official Golf World Ranking’s top dog, again.  Both blew it.  Tiger missing the cut by 3 shots, McIlroy by 6.

Factor in that Rory’s got to get used to his new Nike golf clubs and that he and Tiger were head-to-head in every tee box, you didn’t have to be Nostradamus to foresee their failure.

Martin Kaymer progressing to the weekend golf action, however, was a banker.  Confident, on a roll, thrice winner at the National Course in Abu Dhabi – the German making the cut was a dead cert.

The two golfers who’ve let our side down the first week of the Fantasy Race to Dubai are Ireland’s Paul McGinley and Italy’s Franceso Molinari.  Both missed the weekend action by carding rounds of 149 after the first two rounds, the cut being 144.

Our team’s best chance of glory going into the fourth and final day in Abu Dhabi is, of course, Justin Rose.  Doesn’t he always get off to a blinder?  He sits two shots clear at the top of the Leaderboard on -12 for the first three days, brandishing the UK Golf flag, heralding the 2013 challenge.

The Leaderboard with the all remaining eight golfers from the Ten Tee 20 Vision team is as follows:

Race To Dubai – Week 1 R3 – Ten Tee 20 Vision

The fourth and final round kicks of at 3:29 am Sunday morning (GMT) with coverage on SKY beginning at 8:00 am.  Justin Rose tees off alongside Danish golfer Thorbjørn Olesen at 8:50 to hopefully bring back the bacon for England, UK Golf and our Fantasy Race to Dubai team.

Results for the Super 6 will be in the comments, later after 5pm today.  See you on Tuesday next week for a preview of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, which starts on Wednesday 23rd.  Fantasy Teams will have to be in by Tuesday 22nd midnight, latest.  Best of British, in both

Related articles

• Tiger Tracker: Follow Woods, McIlroy In Round 2 From Abu Dhabi (huffingtonpost.com)
• Golf: Woods, McIlroy miss cut at Abu Dhabi (dispatch.com)
• Woods, McIlroy struggle together in Abu Dhabi (cbssports.com)

Fantasy Race to Dubai tees off in Abu Dhabi tomorrow

Tell you what, I nearly said ‘kicks off’, then.  Hang on.  Switch modes…zure-wep……golf-mode assimilation complete.

Good evening my little tee-totallers!  It is the eve of the first golf tournament in the 2013 Race to Dubai.  That’s right, luv-a-ducks, tomorrow we’re off to sunnier climes to follow the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

Continuing where we left off last season, I’ll be posting my weekly team.  Change of name, this year.  Out goes Zebedeerox Teetotallers (because I think that describe you, dear readership, way better).  Instead, we have Ten Tee 20 Vision.

Ten Tee 20 Vision – Week 1

Nike investment repayment begins in Abu Dhabi

No doubt Rory McIlroy will want to start paying Nike back some of that £80M sponsorship deal signed earlier this week.  Can you believe that?  He truly is among sport’s elite, now.  And at 23.  Wow!

What better way has Rory of proving his worth than in the pairing he’s been drawn with for the first two days in the U.A.E. – you couldn’t make it up.

Joining McIlroy on the first tee of what promises to be a spectacular golf season are none other than Tiger Woods and Martin Kaymer.  And, yes, you’d be forgiven for thinking Woods is the main challenger to the OWGR number one.  Think on.

Martin Kaymer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Martin Kaymer, Rory’s Ryder Cup fellow team member (and indeed the golfer who sank the winning putt and the Yanks in one fell swoop on an amazing last day in Medinah last autumn) has won the Abu Dhabi Championship no less than thrice already.

The last time was in 2011, when he pipped a then 21-year old McIlroy to the title.  Rory finished runner-up again last year, behind Robert Rock, and is hoping his new Nike golf clubs will take him one step further this year.

Rory McIlroy looking to “go one better” in U.A.E.

In an interview with the European Tour earlier this week, Rory underlines exactly why Martin Kaymer may well be the main threat again, this year:

It’s a place I have done well. I think one problem for me the last few years has been Martin Kaymer.
He’s played really well around here and won it a couple of times – three times I think – and I always came up second best.
It would be nice to go one better this week and obviously that’s what I’m aiming for.”

And he’s in the best company in the world to do just that.  Last year, he partnered Tiger Woods not just for the first two, but first three rounds here at the National Golf Course in Abu Dhabi.

All that nonsense towards the end of last season about rivalry between the two was all in the minds of the media.  Although, I can see a lot closer battle between Woods and McIlroy this season.

The winners are, of course, the golf fans.  With Westwood, Rose, Poulter and Donald waiting in the wings with the English challenge the Race to Dubai, if not the OWGR, is going to be closer than ever.

You’d be silly not to put money on either Woods or McIlroy finishing on top of the pile, though.  The Northern Irishman is way out in front points-wise; Tiger clawed a huge number back towards the latter half of 2012 to leapfrog Westwood then Donald to finish in number 2 spot in the official world golf rankings.

Woods & McIlroy Nike Golf Advert reflects mutual respect

And I know they didn’t film the new Nike Advert together, but you don’t need Rory to emphasise the respect he and Woods have for each other.  If you’ve not seen the McIlroy/Woods/Nike Golf advert yet, here it is:

Coverage of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship begins in the wee hours of Thursday morning on SKY Sports 1/HD at 3:30am (GMT).  Woods, McIlroy and Kaymer tee off at 7:40am (GMT).

Friday, we hop over to SKY Sports 2/HD and begin at 6:00am.  Saturday and Sunday we’re on SKY Sports 3/HD, coverage starting at 9:00am and 8:00am respectively.

Over to you:

• Can Martin Kaymer win this event an astounding fourth time, or will one of his paired duo stop him?
• Who’s your tip for the Race to Dubai and/or OWGR top spot for 2013?
• And, £80M – is anyone worth that much in investment for their endorsement, really?

Related articles

• Tiger Woods welcomes Rory McIlroy to the ‘family’ as they go head to head (guardian.co.uk)
• McIlroy, Woods among top-class field in Abu Dhabi (utsandiego.com)

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About the author
Jason Darrell is UK National Media Manager for global TV network, FeckTV.com [UK]. The role includes writing the news in seven topics as well as spreading the word via Google+, Twitter, facebook and Pinterest amongst other social media (links to all through G+ profile/about).
A keen SEO copywriter, Jason has recently attained Google AuthorRank and is currently freelancing on oDesk, DoNanza and People Per Hour as a content SEO specialist, first-line manager and copywriter extraordinaire.