Van Gerwen salvages the weekend after Rugby World Cup agony

My first experience of 'half-term' got off to an appalling start when Corey Conners finished sixth in the Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashiro Country Club, Chiba, Japan.

I am pretty sure nobody else in Europe opened up that Monday morning having their mood determined by the performance of a clumsy Canadian in the Land of the Rising Sun. It was the Land of the Falling Son for me as I forlornly dropped my offspring on to his playmat as Gary Woodland birdied the final hole of the Zozo to knock Conners from fifth place to sixth.

My £30 each-way (quarter the odds, first five places) on Conners at a juicy 70-1 with Sportingbet looked like it was going to continue my streak of place money and keep me in the betting game, but a disappointing level-par final round saw him one shot shy. Half-term hell had begun.