Golf returns to the UK for the first time in 2019 this week when Tommy Fleetwood becomes the latest global icon to host the Betfred British Masters. He follows the likes of Ian Poulter, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood as Justin Rose to host this fine tournament.
Eddie Pepperell landed the biggest title of his career to date at Walton Heath last year and he will attempt to successfully defend it on a different track. It might be the second major of the year next week but a good field has been attracted to this tournament.
Recent Winners
2018 – Eddie Pepperell
2017 – Paul Dunne
2016 – Alex Noren
2015 – Matthew Fitzpatrick
The Course
Hillside Golf Club in Southport is the one which has been chosen by Tommy Fleetwood to host the tournament. This is the first time the event will have been on a true links course since it was reformed in 2015 so in many ways the previous history of the tournament can go out of the window.
It is hard to find too much with regards information on the course but looking at the flyovers it looks like a number of the holes are built within sand dunes so being straight off the tee looks a prerequisite. The greens are big so like most links courses the ability to scramble should never be underplayed either. The course is a par 72 which only measures 6,953 yards so you don’t need power to tame it.
The Field
The USPGA being such a headline event next week has swayed many of the elite top stars from teeing it up here and hampering their preparations for the second major of the season. In saying that though, there are a few household names showcasing their skills here, not least the tournament host Tommy Fleetwood.
Former Dunhill Links champion Tyrrell Hatton is supporting his friend in the field this week while defending champion Eddie Pepperell also tees it up. Englishmen Lee Westwood, Andy Sullivan, Ross Fisher and Matt Wallace have all shown up here while Joost Luiten, Victor Dubuisson and Thomas Detry will look to do it for the Continental Europeans.
Market Leaders
Tournament host Tommy Fleetwood is the favourite to win this week. He can be backed at 8/1 but you only have to look at the record of the four men who have hosted the tournament previously to know that there is a lot more than just golf on their plate this week and it definitely has an impact on the game. Ian Poulter was T33, Luke Donald missed the cut, Lee Westwood was T15 and Justin Rose was T8 after a bad start. That’s enough to make me swerve Fleetwood this week.
Tyrrell Hatton has twice won the Dunhill Links Championship which puts him immediately in contention around here but his form hasn’t been the best for a while and with his questionable temperament I’m not sure I can get involved here. I would say he is worthy of a lofty position in the betting but given his lack of form the 18/1 is just a little on the tight side.
I expect a decent showing from the defending champion Eddie Pepperell this week. He is the 20/1 third favourite to land the crown for a second time in succession and given his liking for links tracks he probably couldn’t have picked a better course to defend on. That said defending a title is never easy and I’m never one for backing the winner of the previous year and I’m not changing that stance here.
Matt Wallace is the fourth favourite to win the title at 25/1. He hasn’t shown plenty of links form in his career but at the same time he hasn’t really shown anything to suggest he can’t go well on a course of this type. My gut feel is that he is all about the events a notch or two up from this and is probably just here to support the tour, which is creditable. He isn’t for me this week.
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Main Bets
I’ll go with a couple of main bets this week. Lee Westwood should be nicely equipped for the test this week. He has bags of links experience and the strength of his game off the tee should have him in excellent positions throughout the weekend. Westwood is a much improved player on and around the greens which will be a big thing this week and we saw last year that he is more than capable of winning at this level again. Westwood has always been an advocate for golf in the north so I expect him to give it a good run this week at an attractive enough 28/1.
Ryan Fox should have landed the title in Ireland last year but lost out to Russell Knox in a play-off but there is no reason why he can’t make up for that here. Fox has already won this season in Perth, on an exposed track where the wind was up so although that format was a quirky in the end we know he can win in these conditions. If he drives the ball well this course is nowhere near long enough to contain him. The Kiwi’s next step is to win an event of this kind and he could easily do that this weekend.
Outsiders
I’ll bang out three outsiders this week with the first of those being the man who won in India recently in Stephen Gallacher. He is no stranger to competing in links events and coming from Scotland, the home of the best links tracks in the world, he should be perfectly at home in these surroundings. He has been given the top billing group for the first two rounds which should inspire to perform in front of what is close to a home crowd. We saw in India he is hitting the ball well and he’s overpriced here as a result.
Oliver Wilson showed all of his links credentials when he revived his career in winning the Dunhill Links Championship and that in itself makes me interested in him here. When you throw into the mix he won on an exposed track in Northern Ireland on the Challenge Tour last year too then he has to be on our radar. Wilson already has three top five finishes on the European Tour this season so that makes him more than slightly interesting. At the price on show I’ll pay to see how well he goes here.
Matthieu Pavon has shown some good signs on links tracks in recent years. He was third in Scotland in 2017 and then in the top 10 in Ireland last year as well as the top 20 in the Dunhill Links Championship in 2018 too. In each of the last two runnings of the event in Mauritius he has finished in the top five so he has good form in windy surroundings on exposed and links tracks. That makes him an attractive punt at a huge three figure price.
Tips
Back L.Westwood to win British Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with BetVictor (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back R.Fox to win British Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 41.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-10)
Back S.Gallacher to win British Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-10)
Back M.Pavon to win British Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-10)
Back them here:
PLACED – Back O.Wilson to win British Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 176.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
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Shame about your main player Kev. Westwood has been very disappointing given that he was -6 after 9 holes on Thursday. He looks to be carrying a fair bit of condition and some of his play since early Thursday looked pretty sloppy to say the least. Very Disappointing on ground he knows so well.