2020 Irish Open Golf – Tournament Outright Tips and Betting Preview

The European Tour is back in the UK for another UK Swing this week which begins with the Irish Open which is in Northern Ireland this year as the attempts to create secure bubbles for player safety means many traditional courses used for this event were out of the equation.

Jon Rahm galloped to victory in this tournament last year but a week on from the US Open it was never feasible for him to come over and defend his title so we are guaranteed a different winner of a prestigious event.

Recent Winners

2019 – Jon Rahm

2018 – Russell Knox

2017 – Jon Rahm

2016 – Rory McIlroy

2015 – Soren Kjeldsen

2014 – Mikko Ilonen

2013 – Paul Casey

2012 – Jamie Donaldson

2011 – Simon Dyson

2010 – Ross Fisher

The Course

This is a tournament which moves courses but the one thing we can tell from the roll of honour is that it tends to produce very good champions. That is what the Galgorm Spa and Golf Resort in Ballymena will be looking to achieve this week. The course is a par 70 with the regular two par fives but it only stretches to 7,087 yards so it is by no means a monster. It has been used as recently as the start of this month when it held the Northern Ireland Open on the Challenge Tour.

13 under was the winning score on that occasion and the overriding feedback from those involved was how thick and heavy the rough was and how finding the fairways is imperative. The weather for the first two days is expected to be quite ordinary so it might be worth keeping straight hitters who don’t mind a tough challenge on side. Certainly we want players with form in the wind and preferably those who have been active recently as accuracy is important.

The Field

Of this new UK Swing, this is probably the weakest of the three events just because the Scottish Open and BMW PGA Championship that follows this are both Rolex Series events. That means the field this week isn’t of the standard that it usually but popular Irish player Shane Lowry tees it up to give it a little bit of extra appeal. Recent winner in Portugal George Coetzee is also in the field this week as are recent tournament winners Garrick Higgo, last week’s winner, and John Catlin, the man who won at Valderrama.

There is a good mixture of young and old among the field as well with the new breed led by the impressive South African player Wilco Nienaber and Connor Syme while the more experienced players include the Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington, another Irishman who will be popular this week, Soren Kjeldsen who is a former winner of this event, and Joost Luiten. The field might lack some of the elite from Europe but there is enough to deliver a good week here.

Market Leaders

Shane Lowry is the headline attraction this week and he is also the 8/1 favourite to win the tournament. He tends to go well on home soil so to speak so there is every reason to think he is the man to beat. His driving has been pretty good in recent times but the edge has come off of his usually exceptional short game. That was on the PGA Tour in illustrious company and big events though. It wouldn’t take much for Lowry to win this but he’s plenty short enough at 8/1.

George Coetzee is the second favourite and the way he’s been going of late that is no surprise. His last four weeks worldwide read 2-1-1-3 so he is clearly a man in form and likely to be popular with many at 11/1. He tends to fare better on tracks where there is a lot of freedom off the tee however and he doesn’t get that luxury here. What he does have though is a wonderful short game and a touch that should serve him well. He was on my shortlist but the price took him out of my final selections.

Ryan Fox has already won around this course in his Challenge Tour days so he is going to carry the money of those who love a course horse and at 22/1 if he completes the double those punters will be well rewarded. I suspect the course when he won here wasn’t set up to be as tough as it is at the moment with things like skeleton staffing making preparation tougher and things like that. If he drives the ball well he could overpower this place, but that driver can be a weakness as much as a strength should its radar go awry. He isn’t for me even as a past winner here.

The South African hotshot Wilco Nienaber is next in the betting at 25/1. He looks to have all the tools to be a potential superstar and if he can drive the ball well here this could be the week he makes his breakthrough and wins on the European Tour for the first time. We know all about Nienaber and his length off the tee but he’ll need to be accurate with it, although with this not being the longest of courses it is perfectly possible that he won’t need to pound the driver. He’s certainly one to watch. It is 28/1 bar.

Main Bets

Connor Syme has done all but win in recent times on the European Tour but his time is going to come and in these conditions it could very well be this week. If we take the US Open out of the equation because that probably came too soon for him and in any case a pair of 75s in missing the cut at Winged Foot is hardly a catastrophe, his form figures coming in here read 4-MC-68-19-3-8-8 since lockdown so he is in decent nick. Interestingly the third placed finish was the first week at Celtic Manor when the weather threw in plenty of curveballs so for him to handle that is very much a positive ahead of this week. Another positive is the top 10 at Valderrama as that isn’t achieved if you are not hitting the ball well so he ticks every box and at 25/1 is a main bet this week.

The other main bet I’m going with is John Catlin, the man who actually won the tournament at Valderrama which says everything about how he is hitting the ball. That should have surprised us too much actually because the American currently sits at third on the European Tour in fairways hit. In case you think that is a misleading statistic because it is a strange year, he was sixth in that statistic last year in a full and normal season. The American hits a lot of fairways and clearly the rest of his game is in good shape. There is nothing like the confidence of winning and I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes well again this week at a huge price considering he won on one of the toughest courses in the world less than a month ago.

Outsiders

I’ll plump for three fairway finders who should be good in the winds and conditions as much outsider bets this week. The first of those is Soren Kjeldsen who won this title in 2015 in some of the most insane conditions I can remember on the final day. It was on a links track then but it isn’t like he can’t play these parkland tracks. Although the Dane faded away in the final 27 or so holes at Valderrama, he was right in the mix at halfway which shows signs that his old game is still there when he needs it. We know Kjeldsen can handle tough conditions and on a tight course like this his driving ability should really help him. He feels like a big price.

Ashley Chesters is probably the straightest hitter on the European Tour. He currently sits first in fairways hit this season and was second only to Paul Peterson in that discipline last season. It is generally around this point in the calendar that he starts playing well as often he needs to in order to maintain his playing privileges and although his livelihood isn’t on the line this term there is no reason why he shouldn’t figure on a track where clearly hitting fairways is going to be of paramount importance. Chesters has a couple of top 20s in the last three years in this tournament so he’s clearly comfortable in Ireland and his accuracy makes him a big price here.

Lastly although he has no form whatsoever to speak of I can’t resist a play on David Drysdale as these are his sort of conditions and for a man renowned for being straight off the tee there is no reason why he can’t outperform monster odds if he can find something in the rest of his game. He has a couple of top 10 finishes in Ireland in the past so this part of the world is good to him and while others might struggle in tough conditions he’ll be relishing them. It is a bit of a longshot given his form but at the same time he isn’t the sort of player who is going to shoot the lights out of a course and win a 20 under shootout. This should be tougher than that and it might just be right up his street.

Tips

Back C.Syme to win Irish Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-8)

Back A.Chesters to win Irish Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-8)

Back them here:

WON – Back J.Catlin to win Irish Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-8)

Back him here:

Back S.Kjeldsen to win Irish Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-7)

Back D.Drysdale to win Irish Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 251.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)

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