2018 Maybank Championship Golf – Tournament Outright Betting Preview

The European Tour team up with the Asian Tour this week for the Maybank Championship from Malaysia. After a couple of high profile events in the last fortnight this one could sneak under the radar but it holds all the benefits that winning usually carries which should ensure a good week of golf.

Fabrizio Zanotti managed to land the title here 12 months ago and he is back to defend his title taking on a decent looking line up given the time of year and the events that are to come soon.

Recent Winners

2017 – Fabrizio Zanotti

2016 – Marcus Fraser

The Course

Once again we are at the Saujana Golf and Country Club which staged the event a year ago and in which the Malaysian Open has been staged at in the past.

The course is a par 72 and it stretches to 7,135 yards. Each course in the world has its own quirks and this one is the small greens which actually take a good deal of finding. With that in mind scrambling is going to be a big thing this week. Those who hit lots of greens should go well too. The fairways and the greens are undulating so good ball striking is key. Conditions in Malaysia are very humid right now so experience in them will be beneficial too.

The Field

Usually for these events in Asia we don’t get too many standout names apart from those who maybe have sponsorship duties to fulfil but we have a couple of big players teeing it up this week.

Henrik Stenson is the big name in the field but Alex Levy and Bernd Wiesberger add a profile to every tournament they tee it up in. We’ve also got last week’s winner Haotong Li in the field while Chris Paisley is another recent champion who is in this tournament. Andy Sullivan, Thorbjorn Olesen and Joost Luiten all add something to proceedings.

Market Leaders

Given that he is clearly the standout name in the field it goes without saying that Henrik Stenson is the favourite this week. He is an 8/1 chance to land the title and if he is up for it there’s nothing to suggest he can’t win here but he has played both desert events and could be a little fatigued which would not be ideal.

Alex Levy generally has a decent record in Asia, especially in China, and he is the 14/1 second favourite. He goes in off the back of a solid event in Dubai and would look to have a leading chance. The only thing that could count against him is the price which is a little skinny given how competitive this field is this year.

Bernd Wiesberger is the third favourite at 16/1 but I would be wanting a little bit more than that for a man, who while capable of winning this by a sizeable margin, doesn’t win as often as a man of his talent should do. Haotong Li is 18/1 but winning back to back weeks especially after such a big victory.

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Main Bets

I’ll go with a couple of main bets for this tournament. Andy Sullivan has been finding some form under the radar and this could be a big week for him. He hits a lot of greens and when he misses them he is more than capable of getting up and down. His coach tweeted that he is playing himself back to top form and if he continues to improve he should go very well this week.

I’ve missed out on the big prices for Shubhankar Sharma but there is still enough to like about his chances at 40/1 here. He has already won on the European Tour this season when he took down the Joburg Open and he sits in the top 15 in the scrambling stats on the tour. He was in the top 10 last year and with the confidence of winning at this level behind him another big showing should be expected.

Outsiders

I took Mike Lorenzo-Vera last week and I will take him again. He hasn’t been hitting the number of greens that we have become accustomed to him hitting in recent times but it might just have been that the courses have been a bit long. The bright side is that he has been scrambling well and I expect him to go well here. He is a big enough price to take a punt on this week.

Arjun Atwal was only beaten in a play-off in the Mauritius Open earlier in the season in a tournament where nobody in the field putted better. He is a twice winner around here in the past and the comfort on the course combined with a decent putting stroke and good ball striking should make him a huge runner. Whether he’s good enough to win this remains to be seen but at the price I’m happy to pay to find out.

Tips

Back A.Sullivan to win Maybank Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-6)

Back him here:

WON – Back S.Sharma to win Maybank Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)

Back M.Lorenzo-Vera to win Maybank Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)

Back them here:

Back A.Atwal to win Maybank Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 176.00 with 888sport (1/5 1-6)

Back him here:

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