Westwood said “If I was sitting here at 10, 11 or 12 under that would reflect the way I’ve played.” Instead, he sits tied for fourth on six-under-par, so although things are going relatively well, they could be a lot better.

Those who bet on golf tournaments like this know that they are won by players who take their chances to record an impressive score and this is why Westwood will be slightly disappointed with how things turned out.

Venting his frustrations at the day’s events, Westwood said that “sometimes you don’t get what you deserve”.

Moving forward into the weekend though, the world number three still believes he has what it takes to close the gap on the leaders and secure a first major title.

He says that he should “be there or thereabouts” come Sunday afternoon, especially if he keeps playing as he has been with the added ingredient of luck.

Elsewhere, fellow Englishman Paul Casey was also left slightly underwhelmed by his second successive round of 69 on the Old Course. He was on track to better his first round score, until a nightmare triple-bogey at the 17th.

Overall, both Westwood and Casey are still majorly in contention with the Sports betting odds, but they will need to raise their game even further if they are to be in with a chance of holding the Claret Jug on Sunda

Both the veteran Neal Wilkins, head of PR for Victor Chandler for the last 10 years, and David Hood of William Hill, one of the most recognisable PR faces in the business, have parted company with their respective employers in moves that strongly hint that the focus of the betting industry is now moving away from horse racing and onto general sports betting.

Those who enjoy betting online should note that Wilkins was unavailable for comment, but Hood, in a revealing interview with the Racing Post, made it clear that the budgets being set aside to support the sponsorship and promotion of horse racing have been, and will continue to be reduced year on year as firms feel their money is better spent on more high profile sports like, football, rugby, cricket and golf.

Speaking of his decision to part company with Hill’s, Hood tellingly said: “I love racing and betting, but the non-racing element is taking increasing precedence. It’s a sign of the times, the resources that can be spent on promoting racing are increasingly limited – and racing has to come to terms with this and the pressure it is under.”

Following on from the news in the last seven days that high profile sponsor Stan James (Newmarket Guineas meeting) and Boylesports (The Cheltenham International fixture) will not renew their sponsorship agreements, and the more than £24 million in cuts in prize money and other reductions proposed by the Levy Board for 2011, the future is looking somewhat bleak for the long-term health of horse racing in Britain.

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What’s great about Paddy Power is not just the free bet deal, but the shear volume of betting opportunities available. Any sport you care to mention is cover by them: Boxing, Cricket, Racing, Political Bets, Soccer, UFC and even TV shows like ‘The X Factor’ and ‘I’m a Celebrity’. Paddy also gives you the chance to bet as an event is happening, Live betting on Premiership games, APT tour and many more major sporting events.

As a Paddy Power customer you’ll also benefit from superior customer service, the security of dealing with one of the Europe’s most reputable bookmakers and you can take advantage of weekly MoneyBack specials. It’s also worth noting that Paddy Power is one of the fairest bookmakers around, after the Irish football team was controversially knocked out of the world cup play offs by France, Paddy Power refunded all bets on Ireland to win the game!

Of the bigger priced runners, former winner, State Of Play, (27.0 win, 4.3 place) runs off the same mark (145) as when staying on strongly to win this event three years ago and is reported in rude health by Evan Williams.”

In past years this fixture would’ve been easy to call, a home win without a doubt but City’s newly acquired wealth and talent may finally swing the balance of power from red half of the City to the blue half of Manchester. Looking at the latest odds on Betfair United seem to be a very short price at (1.64) and City are a very generous (6.20), my money is on the draw at (4.40) considering that 4 of the last 8 derby games have ended this way. You could also look at the Asian handicaps market backing City with a 1+ start gives odds of (1.89).

The central defensive stalwart made his first league appearance of the season only last weekend, when the Reds impressively won 3-1 at Tottenham Hotspur. But Rio then reported a groin problem in training the next day and consequently wasn’t risked in Tuesday night’s Champions League victory over Besiktas.

“The only concern I’ve got is Rio,” said Sir Alex in his pre-match press conference. “He missed the game on Tuesday and he was out before the Spurs match. Only one game back after injury is a concern – he needs a run of games to be at his maximum. He did some running on Monday but he wasn’t right.

“He has to do some positive work in training if he’s going to make the game on Sunday. We hope he’s there because you want all your big players available.” If Ferdinand fails the fitness test then Jonny Evans will deputise once again.

A 3-1 thumping of Spurs was a fantastic warm-up for the clash with Besiktas – Tottenham were in good form following four straight Premier League wins – and more of the same should be expected on Tuesday. The only problem is everyone else thinks that! At 1.56 (8-15), United are among the shortest of favourites playing away from home with Bayern Munich (away to Maccabi Haifa) and Real Madrid (at FC Zurich) the only two who are shorter.

In truth, the layers have it about right and for the sake of simplicity the 1.56 looks the proverbial ‘good thing’. Let’s consider the evidence…

The Reds’ opponents are not in great shape. Besiktas currently sit ninth in the Super Lig table following one win from their opening five games. This weekend they were comprehensively beaten by Galatasaray, 3-0. Their last league win was on August 17.

The Reds are in good shape. After the shock of losing at Burnley, United are in full stride with confidence-boosting victories over Arsenal and Spurs to send them into Europe on a high. Talking of good form, Wayne Rooney could not be in better nick, with five goals he sits alongside Jermain Defoe as the Premier League’s top scorer. United are nearly at full strength. Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand are reunited at the back and only Edwin van der Saar’s thumb injury is keeping a guaranteed first-teamer out.

Put all that together and three points for United looks likely but what other betting options are available?

If you see United’s dominance being translated into a big win then the Asian Handicap market could be for you. In this market a goal handicap is applied so United would have to win by a two goal margin for the bet to pay (a one goal win would result in the stake being returned, while a draw or defeat would mean a losing bet).
Alternatively a Betfair Multiple is another way of having a bet when there are so many teams trading at short prices. Rolling together United and those other well-fancied teams – Real Madrid and Bayern Munich – into one bet pays out at around 2-1. Not a bad way to kick off the Champions League huh?

England have scored 26 and only conceded 4 in the campaign so far. The latest betting on Betfair (Tues, Sept 8th 2009) has England as the heavy favorites at 1.61 the draw at 3.9 and Croatia at 7.6, England will qualify for South Africa if they beat the Croatians, a draw will also be enough if the Ukraine fail to beat Belarus.

It’s a tricky game to call, England’s record so far in the competition is perfect, but Croatia will be pushing hard, as they need at least a draw to be in with a chance of reaching the World Cup finals via a play-off spot. I expect a cagey first half, this could be a good way to exploit the market with Betfair. My bet will be to back the draw @3.9 and wait for the clock to tick down during the first half, if no goals are scored by the 20-30 minute mark you should be able to lay the draw @ 3.0 or under to guarantee a profit whatever the outcome. You can use the Arb Calculator to work it out the lay stake if you want to get on the bet.

Quick Guide To Using The Calculator

1. First enter the commission you pay on Betfair in the ‘Commission Rate’ box (it’s normally 5%).
2. If you’ve already backed a horse or football match then you should to use the first part of the calculator ~ this works out how much you need to lay the bet for. We’ll be using the first part of the calculator because you should always “Back High ~ Lay Low”
3. Most people back a horse or football team first and then want to lay them at lower odds, this guarantees a profit whatever the outcome.
4. So if you’ve backed the Arsenal match to be under 2.5 goals at 1.92 then enter 1.92 in the ‘Enter the Odds You’ve Backed at:’ box
5. Then enter the amount you’ve bet (your stake) in the ‘Enter your Back Stake’ box (example: 5.50) Don’t use £ or $ symbols just numbers (and decimal points if need).
6. Then enter the odds that you want to lay at, for example: 1.63, do this in the ‘Enter the Odds you want to lay at’ box
7. Now click the ‘Calculate Lay Stake’ button, this will tell you the cash amount you need to lay to guarantee a profit. If you’ve followed the example above the calculator will tell you that you need to Lay £6.47 at odds 1.63 to guarantee a profit of £0.92 (Green Up) whatever happens! (Assumes 5% commission entered)
8. If you’ve placed a lay bet first then use the second part of the calculator ~ this tells you how much you need to back for. It’s works in exactly the same way.

It’s also worth noting that if your horse doesn’t win but is placed (usually 2nd, 3rd) you will only get 1/4 or 1/5 of the quoted odds. Which means you shouldn’t back a horse each way unless it’s odds are over 5-1, because you could never win enough to cover your original stake at odds of 5-1 or shorter.

You can back ‘Each Way’ with all online bookmakers, if you want to know how to fill in a betting slip for an each way bet you can click the small thumbnail in this paragraph. It shows you the correct way to fill in the bookmakers slip for each way betting.

Remember that an each way bet is actually made up of two bets, so if you bet £5 each way, your total bet cost will be £10 (£5 on the win and £5 on the place)