It isn’t all about the big guns and the US Open in the golfing world this week. The European Tour are in action too when it stages the Open de Portugal, an event which gets an upgrade from Challenge Tour status once again.
This tournament hasn’t been played at this level since 2017 when Matt Wallace came out on top. There is nothing of his quality in the field this week but someone will get a European Tour win on their CV and the benefits that go with it.
Recent Winners
2019 – Adrian Meronk (Challenge Tour)
2018 – Dimitrios Papadatos (Challenge Tour)
2017 – Matt Wallace
2010 – Thomas Bjorn
The Course
We are at a new course this week as the Royal Obidos Spa & Golf Resort hosts the tournament. The track was designed by Seve Ballesteros and while there isn’t much information about it on the European Tour website, a quick search around the internet tells us that it is pretty near to the coast so it is exposed and wind dominated. The other thing to note is that there are five par threes and five par fives on the par 72 track.
The course measures only measures 7,283 so it isn’t a long track by any means. The school of thought is that because there are five par fives that the longer hitters are the ones to be on and that might end up being the case but none of them are particularly long so I’m not sure the advantage will come on those holes for the bigger hitters. I’d prefer to side with the class overall but the ability to play in wind is very important.
The Field
Clearly this was never going to be the strongest field in the world but it does have the man looking for a Portugal sweep in it as last week’s winner George Coetzee is here looking for another title. One or two other decent names at this level are in the field as well. Former Ryder Cup star Jamie Donaldson and Hong Kong Open champion Wade Ormsby are both here while Gonzal Fernandez-Castano and Ashun Wu have been around on the European Tour for a while.
There are plenty of players who are looking to make their breakthrough this week with Garrick Higgo, Nicolai Hojgaard, Craig Howie, Liam Johnston and Martin Simonsen among those players. There are also a few other veterans in the field such as Marcel Siem, Romain Wattel, Andres Romero and Jose Filipe Lima among others.
Market Leaders
As you would expect George Coetzee is the market leader this week. He is comfortably better than anything else that is on show in this tournament and if the emotions of winning haven’t taken too much out of him then it would be a big surprise if he doesn’t end the Iberian Swing with a second successive title to his name. You won’t get rich backing him at 9/2 but you will be on the most likely winner. Nevertheless, he’s too short for my liking.
Garrick Higgo gives it a good crack and the South African is 18/1 to come away with the title here. He has been in good touch on the Challenge Tour and was sixth in one of the first events back in Austria when golf came out of lockdown. This is largely a Challenge Tour event in all but status so there is plenty to like about the man who sits in the top 20 in par 5 scoring on the European Tour this year. He is still a maiden though so that puts me off.
Jamie Donaldson is 20/1 to win this week and that is probably my starting point in terms of price. If this was the Donaldson of five years ago when he was competing in the Ryder Cup and things I’d be all over him at whatever the price but he isn’t quite at those levels. He could still be good enough to get the job done at his current level so he’ll be popular at this price. Donaldson is in decent form having finished tenth at Valderrama and with a couple of top 15 finishes in the UK Swing. I wouldn’t put anyone off but I prefer others.
Craig Howie has come out of lockdown in decent shape with a couple of top five finishes and a solid effort at Valderrama and if he is still in that form then you’ve got to think he could be a legitimate runner here at 25/1. Coming from Scotland we know he’ll handle the wind ok and his efforts on the UK Swing show that he is capable of scoring low. If it wasn’t for the fact that he hasn’t won at this level I would be taking him this week. He hasn’t won though so that is enough of a concern to leave him.
Main Bets
There’s no reason why Wade Ormsby can’t go well in this company. He’ll be fine in the wind as he showed in the Australian events over the last couple of seasons and although he tailed off fast at Valderrama he wasn’t as bad there as his score suggested. We are talking about a man who has won a tournament in 2020 and there aren’t many of those in the field. He might not be the longest going around but his short game is decent enough and he’ll be playing from the short grass the whole way around. He won in a weakened field in Hong Kong earlier in the year and looks a big price to follow that up here.
Ricardo Gouveia doesn’t get too many chances to compete in his home country these days but he usually goes pretty well when he does. He has a couple of top 10s in the Portugal Masters so when he does play at home he raises his game and it might be worth backing him to do that again this week. Gouveia hasn’t played much since the lockdown so the four rounds he got last week should have done him the world of good and in a pretty poor field, with plenty of motivation to do well he might just outperform his odds. I’ll pay to see how well he goes.
Outsiders
Marcel Siem is never one to be trusted too much but if you go by the par 3 and par 5 scoring of which he sits in the top 20 on the European Tour then the German could have every chance here. He has plenty of results on exposed or links courses in the past so we know he can handle the wind and when the mood gets him he is capable of going low. It might be that the extra par 3 and par 5 around here brings out his best scoring. This is a weak field and it just feels that he is a little overpriced at 75/1.
I backed Robin Sciot-Siegrist in the first tournament back from lockdown three months ago and although he did nothing in that event he almost won the following week, when fortunately for us he allowed Joel Stalter to come through and win. That third place in Austria was his third top 10 of the season. It is eyecatching that the other two came in Mauritius and the Vic Open where the wind is very much in play on an exposed course much like this one. The Frenchman was solid enough to come in the top 20 at Valderrama where he finished with a 69 and any time you are shooting under par for 18 holes around there you are doing something right. At 80/1 he feels a big price here too.
Tips
Back W.Ormsby to win Open de Portugal (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-6)
Back R.Gouveia to win Open de Portugal (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-6)
Back M.Siem to win Open de Portugal (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 76.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-6)
Back them here:
Back R.Sciot-Siegrist to win Open de Portugal (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
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