After a quite wonderful The Open coming after three successive Rolex Series events the European Tour tones it down a little this week when the Porsche European Open takes place in Germany.
A week after the third major of the year and with the next WGC next week and the final major the week after the event could be forgiven for having an indifferent field here but that is not the case.
Recent Winners
2016 – Alex Levy
2015 – Thongchai Jaidee
2009 – Christian Cevaer
2008 – Ross Fisher
2007 – Colin Montgomerie
The Course
We head to the Green Eagle Golf Resort in Hamburg this week with the North Course the host of the tournament. This course is an absolute monster. It is a par 72 which measures a quite frankly ridiculous 7,831 yards. The whole of Germany has had heavy rain recently so this course is going to play stupidly long.
Water looks to be in play on the majority of the holes but the players get some respite with the wide fairways which will be made wider by all the rain. With the lack of run the longer hitters should enjoy themselves this week but on what are regarded as very tough greens they need to be able to putt too.
The Field
A host of Americans have hung around from The Open to make the field a more competitive one. Patrick Reed, Jimmy Walker and Pat Perez all tee it up here as does Charl Schwartzel and the defending champion Alexander Levy.
Thorbjorn Olesen, Joost Luiten, Richie Ramsay and Bradley Dredge are some of the other household names who are involved in the event this week.
Market Leaders
Charl Schwartzel has the honour of being the favourite in this tournament. He has had the weekend off which might help him and if his first round at Royal Birkdale is anything to go by then he looks to be hitting the ball well. How interested in the tournament he will be given what is to come remains to be seen though.
Patrick Reed is a surprise include in the field and he is a couple of points bigger than Schwartzel at 14/1. His form on the PGA Tour has been indifferent for too long so even in a weaker heat I can’t be backing him at that sort of price.
Thorbjorn Olesen is the third favourite at 20/1. This could well be his kind of track and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him challenge strongly but the price is nothing to write home about which is an issue. Joost Luiten is next in the betting at 22/1 but I wonder if this course is too long for him.
Defending champion Alexander Levy is a 25/1 shot to keep hold of his title and he has the game for this sort of track. It is hard to defend a title in the modern game though which is enough to put me off him but I can see him going well. It is 28/1 bar those named.
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Main Bets
I’m all for length this week but an ability to putt is a must as well so my first main bet is Kiradech Aphibarnrat. He loves it when he has some freedom off the tee and once he has got his drive away he is usually very competent with the long irons and especially on and around the greens. This hasn’t been the best year for the Thai but he has gone well at this time of year before and looks well worth a go at 40/1.
Thomas Detry is the next big star in Europe as highlighted by Henrik Stenson in Sky’s excellent Open Zone last week and this should be a deck he can go well on. He is long enough off the tee and then the rest of his game is in good working order. The last time the Tour was in Germany the Belgian was runner up and probably should have won the tournament. At 45/1 I’ll chance him to go one better here.
Outsiders
I’m going for a couple of huge priced runners for some outside picks. Sebastian Soderberg is in the top 20 in driving distance on the European Tour this year and he is competent in the rest of the game. Admittedly he hasn’t played much at this level in recent times but that doesn’t mean he can’t and conditions might just have fallen right for him. At 200/1 he’s a huge price.
Pep Angles is second in driving distance on Tour and he has a top five finish to his name this season. If he can crack it down the fairway like he has been doing then he is going to have a significant advantage on a lot of them teeing it up this week. If he can catch fire for a couple of rounds he could have enough about him to go the course and distance in the mix at a huge price.
Tips
Back K.Aphibarnrat to win Porsche European Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back P.Angles to win Porsche European Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 251.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back them here:
Back T.Detry to win Porsche European Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 46.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back S.Soderberg to win Porsche European Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 201.00 with Betfred (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
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