The Back 9 leg of the DP World Tour season continues this week when the roadshow heads to the Swiss Alps for the Omega European Masters, an event which has a decent roll of honour in terms of past winners and is the second event on the Ryder Cup point scoring schedule.
Ludvig Aberg won this on his way to making the Ryder Cup team last year but having only finished his PGA Tour season last week he hasn’t made the trip to defend the title so we are guaranteed a different winner this year.
Recent Winners
2023 – Ludvig Aberg
2022 – Thriston Lawrence
2021 – Rasmus Hojgaard
2019 – Sebastian Soderberg
2018 – Matthew Fitzpatrick
2017 – Matthew Fitzpatrick
2016 – Alex Noren
2015 – Danny Willett
2014 – David Lipsky
2013 – Thomas Bjorn
The Course
We are back at the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club 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 6,808 yards although with the altitude it is at, it isn’t going to play anything like that yardage through the air. There have been no changes to the course of any note.
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. Distance control at altitude is another thing to look for.
The Field
While the field this week lacks the top European names, which you would expect given that many of them were competing in the Tour Championship in Atlanta last week, we still have one of the better fields of the season so far with 10 of the top 100 in the world rankings here. Matthew Fitzpatrick heads up the list while Nicolai Hojgaard is also in the top 50. The other players in the top 100 are Thriston Lawrence, Erik van Rooyen, Ryo Hisatsune, Romain Langasque, Rasmus Hojgaard, Matt Wallace, Sebastian Soderberg and Jesper Svensson.
Three other members of the field are in the top 20 in the Race to Dubai rankings and they will be looking to boost their position in those standings as we get towards a few key events of the season. They are Matteo Manassero, Laurie Canter and Guido Migliozzi, who will all be looking for a second success on the campaign. Other notable players in the field that could go well include Ewen Ferguson, Jordan Smith and the recent Czech Masters winner David Ravetto.
Market Leaders
Matthew Fitzpatrick is comfortably the best player in this field on his past achievements and some of those include twice winning this tournament so he will be arriving as a very confident 10/1 favourite to land a hat trick of European Masters titles. The caveat to all that is he isn’t in blinding form. He didn’t reach the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour which is a rarity for him so he hasn’t had a good season. He is massively down in class and knows his way around here but I’m not a massive fan of taking out of form players at 10/1.
Rasmus Hojgaard and Matt Wallace are 16/1 shots to win this tournament. Hojgaard is a former winner around here and he has been having a fairly decent season on the DP World Tour. Wallace is seen as a class above the DP World Tour now that he is a regular PGA Tour player but he hasn’t really pulled up any trees Stateside but generally when he drops to DP World Tour level he goes pretty well. I wouldn’t put anyone off either player but I prefer a couple at bigger prices.
Thriston Lawrence is another player who has won this tournament in the past and he is 18/1 to win it again here. He gave his followers a form boost at the British Masters last week where he went well and playing at altitude isn’t something that is an issue for him as we have seen not only in this tournament previously but also a couple of the South African events. He was the last one off my shortlist and only on the basis that his price is a little tight for me compared to others.
Nicolai Hojgaard and Bernd Wiesberger come next in the betting at 22/1. Nicolai is another who has generally had a decent time of it although he probably didn’t impact the PGA Tour as strongly as he would have wanted. Back at DP World Tour level he can’t be written off. Wiesberger is beginning to knock on the door again and he is the sort of iron player who would give himself a chance here. Once again I wouldn’t put anyone off this part either.
Main Bets
The two men I do like though are slightly bigger in price. The first one is Matteo Manassero who has already been good for me this year. He won the Jonsson Workwear Open with my money on him and I’m hoping for a repeat here. The Italian comes in here in decent touch after a top 10 last week which would have shaken off the rust that he might have built up having not played since The Open. He began last week with an over par round potentially because it was his first competitive round in so long and had he hit the ground running he could well have wont he tournament. He could make up for that here where he has finished third in the past and with greens in regulation a key statistic this week the fact he led the field in that discipline last week and is sixth on tour this season makes me think he is going to be right in the mix here.
The other player I like is the former winner Sebastian Soderberg. He sits seventh on the DP World Tour rankings this season which shows that he is having a decent campaign highlighted by three runner up finishes. Soderberg has been hampered by a back and rib injury in recent times which isn’t ideal but if there is a tournament for him to come back and be competitive in it is this one when you consider that the driver stays in the bag for most of the week. Soderberg leads the DP World Tour for strokes gained on approach so if he is fit then this course should really suit him once again. He won here in 2019 and looks a more than fair price to win here again.
Outsiders
Darius van Driel won in Kenya earlier in the season on a relatively short and fiddly course a little like this one so that bodes well for his chances this week. It is fair to say that he has been fairly quiet since then but we often see that, especially on the DP World Tour where the layout of the courses used differ so regularly. The Dutchman comes in here off the back of a top 10 in the Czech Masters last time out though so that is encouraging and sitting at 12 on the tour for strokes gained on approach he ticks the major box needed for this week. At a three figure price I think he is something of a good outsider bet.
The last bet I like this week is Matthias Schwab, the Austrian player who shouldn’t be too out of touch with conditions given the relative proximity of his home country to the host one this week. Schwab was tied for sixth in hitting greens at The Belfry last week and he is at 11 on that statistic for the season so if he can get the putter warmed up there is nothing to stop him from going well here. Schwab was T8 the last time he played this tournament in 2019 so he knows his way around here so it really might be that the putter is the difference between him being in contention and not. I’ll pay to find out either way at the price.
Tips
Back M.Manassero to win Omega European Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-7)
Back S.Soderberg to win Omega European Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 31.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
Back D.van Driel to win Omega European Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-6)
Back M.Schwab to win Omega European Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
