The European Tour has created a new tournament this week to allow the action to continue despite the Covid restrictions that are still in place around the world. This means we head to Northern Ireland for the inaugural ISPS Handa World Invitational.
It sounds like a fancy tournament but it isn’t really and offers up a backup option for those who were not fortunate enough to be heading to Japan for the Olympic Golf Tournament this week. We are guaranteed a new champion this week and if the world gets back to normal soon potentially the only winner.
The Courses
We are at Galgorm Castle and Massereene over in County Antrim this week. If that sounds familiar to you then you would be right as Galgorm Castle was the track which stepped in at relatively short notice to host the Irish Open last season. Massereene is the other course in use this week because the men and the women are playing at the same place, albeit unlike in the Scandinavian Mixed they are playing separate tournaments rather than a combined one.
Galgorm Castle is a par 70 which stretches 7,005 yards. This is the course which gets played three times while the Massereene gets played once. That is a par 70 which measures 6,827 yards. Both tracks are set to have fairly solid rough which makes accuracy a key requirement. John Catlin won the Irish Open last year and he is as solid from tee to green as there was around that time. Holing a few putts would be nice but Catlin won on 10 under so a low scoring event isn’t necessarily guaranteed.
The Field
Even though the Olympics only has 60 odd runners the field for this tournament isn’t particularly good it has to be said. Andy Sullivan is the main attraction based on his win in the UK Swing last year but after that the bigger names are few and far between. That might be a little harsh on Justin Harding who is in the middle of a decent run but those two are the only players in the top 100 in the world rankings at the beginning of the week.
You could argue that John Catlin is some sort of defending champion this week and he is in the field looking for a second Galgorm win while other names who catch the eye in a weak field include Adrian Otaegui, Laurie Canter, Calum Hill, Callum Shinkwin, Connor Syme, Jordan Smith and the winner of the last event that had men and women present in Jonathan Caldwell, for whom this is a home match of sorts.
Market Leaders
Despite the relatively poor field it is double figures the field this week with Andy Sullivan an 11/1 favourite to win the tournament. He is fast turning into a player that is impossible to predict. You would think these conditions would suit him but he doesn’t win as often as he should do really and on that grounds he is probably a little on the short side. In saying that, he has three top 12 finishes in his last seven starts. He’s still too short for me.
Justin Harding comes next in the betting at 12/1. When you consider he was in the play-off for the Cazoo Open title on Sunday that is probably a fair price, especially when you consider that was his second top five in his last five outings and he had a top 20 in The Open in between. He has also won in Kenya earlier this season too so if I was backing either of the front two in the betting it would be him but he is plenty short enough when you think last week must have taken something out of him.
Laurie Canter is next in the betting at 22/1. He is still searching for his first win on the European Tour and it isn’t like this is the first week he has been in a poor field so that is something of a concern. Another concern would be the fact he has only had one top 10 finish since January and even at 22/1 I can’t say I’m massively interested in him at that price with that form in mind. I sense when he does win it’ll be on a track a little easier off the tee than this one.
Marcus Armitage and Calum Hill come next at 25/1. Armitage was a winner in Germany earlier in the year and although he hasn’t recorded a top 40 finish since then, I get the impression that win won’t be his only one. He’s on the shortlist but doesn’t quite make the final cut until he shows some form again. I’m less interested in Hill. He goes into this tournament with last three outings of MC-MC-62. I want bigger than 25/1 if I’m getting involved in anyone in that form.
Main Bets
I was on John Catlin when he won around here last year and I’m not going to desert a man who remains excellent from tee to green. We see time and time again golfers get inspired by places where they have good memories and Catlin will certainly have those here. There is a massive premium on hitting the fairways and the greens this week which is the staple diet of the American. He probably beat a better field than this when he won the Irish Open here last year and at 25/1 he has to be backed here.
My other main bet is a man I’ve followed for a while in Jacques Kruyswijk. I was sweating a bit last week when he was up on the leaderboard without me being on him but thankfully he stalled a little on Sunday. He should go well here though. Earlier in the time when I was on him a few loose drives would count against him but he’s tightened up on those and now he is becoming something of a tee to green monster. The negative is that he hasn’t played this course before but he’s had to face that for a lot of this year and he has had nine top 20 finishes in his last 14 starts. He’s in as good form as anyone and I’m back on the Kruyswijk train here.
Outsiders
I’ll take a couple of wildcards as outsiders this week with the first of those Darius van Driel who has plenty of experience around here having played the course in the Challenger Tour as well as the European Tour. He has a pair of top 15 finishes on this track which isn’t too shabby and he has a couple of eye catching top 10 finishes on the European Tour this term as well. One of those was in Gran Canaria which shows he is capable of scoring low and the other was in the European Open in Germany on one of the toughest courses of the season. In the second of those events he gained more than eight shots off the tee so that and a course he’s played well at before suggests to me that he’s a dark horse this week.
My final bet comes in the form of the recently turned professional Matthias Schmid. He showed off his quality when he made the top 15 of the BMW International Open in a field which contained the likes of Paul Casey, Abraham Ancer and others and then he shot a second round 65 at Royal St Georges in The Open so he is clearly something special in the making. Considering last week was his first as a professional he went fairly well there and in a much weaker field there is a good chance that a player who is hitting fairways and greens for fun will go well around here at a more than fair price.
Tips
Back J.Catlin to win ISPS Handa World Invitational (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
Back J.Kruyswijk to win ISPS Handa World Invitational (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-6)
Back D.van Driel to win ISPS Handa World Invitational (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 71.00 with 888sport (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back M.Schmid to win ISPS Handa World Invitational (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back him here:
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