With the PGA Tour season now over the eyes of the golfing world is back on the European Tour this week when it heads to the most picturesque of surroundings for the Omega European Masters, a regular jaunt on the schedule.
Given that there is no event stateside we have a seriously good field for this tournament, one which Matthew Fitzpatrick will be looking to win for the third successive year having claimed the title for the previous two runnings.
Recent Winners
2018 – Matthew Fitzpatrick
2017 – Matthew Fitzpatrick
2016 – Alex Noren
2015 – Danny Willett
2014 – David Lipsky
2013 – Thomas Bjorn
2012 – Richie Ramsay
2011 – Thomas Bjorn
2010 – Miguel Angel Jimenez
2009 – Alex Noren
The Course
It is Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club which is the host venue this week. This course is up in the Swiss Alps and offers up some picturesque views so it is always a good one to watch on the TV with the wonderful backdrop on show. The course itself is a par 70 which only measures 6,848 yards although with the altitude it is at, it isn’t going to play anything like that yardage through the air.
The defence of this course as well as the breeze high up in the mountains is the small greens which can be quite hard to find so we are looking for excellent iron players and ones with a decent short game because inevitably some greens will be missed and then it is a case of getting up and down. This tends to be a course for specialists so previous form round here can be a big thing.
The Field
I’ve mentioned the strength of the field already in this preview and it is by the new $15 million man in Rory McIlroy. The twice defending champion Matthew Fitzpatrick and regular Tour winner Tommy Fleetwood add real star quality to proceedings. Last week’s winner Erik van Rooyen is also teeing it up as is another regular tour winner in Matt Wallace.
There are a number of former champions in the field this week such as Alex Noren, Danny Willett, Richie Ramsay and Miguel Angel Jimenez while recent winners Thomas Pieters, Bernd Wiesberger and Andrea Pavan will be looking for another title. Local resident Sergio Garcia and veteran Ryder Cup player Lee Westwood are also in the field.
Market Leaders
FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy is the 9/2 favourite to win the tournament this week. That is mighty short when you consider what he is up against and while you could never truly rule him out of any tournament that he is in, the celebrations of last week, the long haul flight and the course not really playing to his strengths are all decent enough reasons to give Rory a few weeks before considering him for winning once again.
Twice winner Matthew Fitzpatrick is the 17/2 second favourite to walk off with the title for a third year in a row. When you consider how close he went in Sweden last week and his obvious love for this track you would have to think that he would be a worthy favourite here. He’s still plenty short enough in this company but other than the fact I’m against backing defending champions for the pressure on their time, there isn’t a lot not to like about the Sheffield man.
European Tour star Tommy Fleetwood comes next in the betting at 12/1. There are weeks between now and the end of the season when that will be good value on the popular Englishman but he just looks a little bit flat to me at the minute and once he’s played here and had a decent rest he’ll interest me a lot more. At 12/1, again while he can win whenever, he isn’t quite for me around this track.
There are a quartet of players on 25/1 to win the tournament. They are the former champions Alex Noren and Danny Willett, as well as last week’s winner Erik van Rooyen and fiery Englishman Matt Wallace. I’ll come to the previous winners shortly but I can’t be having van Rooyen the week after his first Tour title. That will take a huge emotional comeback to be competitive here and history would suggest he’ll need to week to build up the reserves again. Wallace has a poor record here which is enough to put me off.
Main Bets
I’m going with two main bets this week and if you read my Scandinavian preview last week you’ll be expecting the first one to be Alex Noren and I’m not going to disappoint in that regard. I said I wanted to see the foundations of Noren’s game looking good before this week so that I can back him here and that is exactly what we got. He was much better from tee to green than his overall finishing position suggested but it was the process rather than the result that I was after. He knows this course really well having won here twice and he’ll be bang at home playing this track. With his irons looking dialled in I expect the rest of his game to follow on a course that suits him well. He’s a big runner this week.
There have been enough signs over the last nine months or so that Danny Willett is coming back to the form which will see him have a strong showing this week too. He has won round here and generally plays well in events at this level. He’s been through the doldrums and come out the other side and I would be amazed if he doesn’t go in soon. This course mirrors the strengths of Willett’s game so it is no surprise he has a decent enough record here. With a good start I don’t see him being out of the equation at a tidy 25/1.
Outsiders
Matthias Schwab ticks the statistical boxes this week and at the price on offer he is almost an automatic pick. Being an Austrian I’m guessing playing in the Alps will be nothing new to him and so he should really shine here. Schwab sits 26 in GIR and second in scrambling on the European Tour this season and in truth the only thing missing from his CV is a maiden win. He has five top 10 finishes this season including last time out in the Czech Masters to go with another bunch of them last term as well. His poor record here is a concern but he’s never been playing better on arrival so I’m willing to forget that and take him here.
Ashun Wu has played in this tournament twice and he has finished in the top 10 on both previous occasions and at a three figure price I think the Chinese player is worth taking here too. He was fifth in the China Open earlier in the season and he was much more competitive than his end position in Scandinavia last week where a poor last round undid a lot of good work but he clearly likes it here and has the iron game to go well. He should outperform his price based on past efforts here.
The other bet I’m going to take this week is on Matthew Southgate who in his last two events has been incredibly high up in the greens hit statistic which bodes well for him here. He has a decent enough short game which bodes well for when he does miss the greens so if he keeps firing the irons like he has been then he is going to be entitled to go very well again. Southgate has three top 10s on the season including last week and is eighth in GIRs on Tour so he’s in decent touch and I fancy he could be a big price too.
Tips
Back A.Noren to win Omega European Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with 888sport (1/5 1-6)
Back D.Willett to win Omega European Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with 888sport (1/5 1-6)
Back them here:
Back M.Schwab to win Omega European Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 91.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
Back A.Wu to win Omega European Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
Back M.Southgate to win Omega European Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-8)
Back him here:
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