I have just come off another action packed punting weekend which, while successful in terms of bottom line, ended in dramatic and heartbreaking fashion.

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I had backed Dustin Johnson to win the US PGA Championships at 50/1 and on Sunday night I settled on the couch for what I hoped would be a long vigil. Johnson 3 shots off the lead overnight, started strongly enough but then faltered as he missed a handful of short putts. To add to my frustrations the TV coverage went down for what must have been the better part of two hours and I was left following the in running betting and live text feeds from overseas to get a feel for what was happening at Whistling Straits.

Things did not look great and Johnson touched 30/1 at one point before playing a remarkable chip on the par 5 16^th to grab a birdie and a share of the lead. He then nailed his tee shot at the difficult par 3 17^th and playing the last he needed par to win his first major and nett me a handy sum.

Things went wrong immediately with a wild tee shot and a second that landed in deep rough. He played another amazing chip and I was on my feet in front of the TV as he lined up his 8 footer for victory. It was a weak effort and as I begun to prepare myself for the 3 way playoff that was to follow I was shocked to see his price go from 2/1 to 7/1. Seconds later it was 20/1 and after a tense wait Johnson was handed a 2 shot penalty for grounding his club prior to his second shot in what was deemed a bunker.

The youngster was robbed of his shot at glory (although in fairness the officials had no choice) and rather than go to bed knowing my bookmakers account had been bolstered I was left to reflect on staying up till after 02h00 only to come away empty handed.

As disappointed as I was with the outcome I was pleased for those in the Goodforthegame Forum that backed the winner Martin Kaymer and runner up Bubba Watson and while I was on the wrong end this time I have been left with another sports betting memory I will talk about for years to come.

Betting previews for the weekends Currie Cup and Tri Nation’s games will be posted in our RUGBY SECTION and for betting previews in the English Premier League go to our FOOTBALL SECTION

This article was written for the CitiGaming supplement of the Citizen Newspaper and was first published on the 19th of August 2010.

Brent Graham is a blogger on www.goodforthegame.co.za and presents a sports betting radio show every Thursday night from 22h00 – 22h30 on 1485AM Radio Today or Channel 169 of the DSTV Audio Bouquet and to get on his free weekly e-mail list just send a message to brent@goodforthegame.co.za titled “Best Bets”..