After taking a week off for the US Open, the regular DP World Tour returns this week and it does so in Germany where the BMW International Open will be played, the second event in the last three in this part of the world.
Haotong Li reminded everyone of the talent he has when he took this tournament down last year and he is back looking to defend the title successfully but he will be up against a fairly decent field for this time of year.
Recent Winners
2022 – Haotong Li
2021 – Viktor Hovland
2019 – Andrea Pavan
2018 – Matt Wallace
2017 – Andres Romero
2016 – Henrik Stenson
2015 – Pablo Larrazabal
2014 – Fabrizio Zanotti
2013 – Ernie Els
2012 – Danny Willett
The Course
We are back at the Golfclub Munchen Eichenried this week, the course which has hosted the event for a number of years previously. The course is a composite course which plays to a par of 72 and measures 7,284 yards so it isn’t terribly long. This will be the third time we’ve been here since the course underwent a lot of changes with all the greens being dug up and new undulations put into them and it is playing a little trickier than it previously did.
The finishing three holes are the highlight of this course where water is in play but by and large the fairways are pretty big here so once again we’re on a second shot golf course where a hot putter is very much the requirement of the day. There isn’t a real statistical anomaly in the previous results here but if one does tend to get a player higher up the leaderboard it is greens in regulation so have good iron players in mind this week.
The Field
To have four members in the top 100 in the world rankings here the week after a major is a decent effort by the organisers. Adrian Meronk is the highest ranked player on show and he’ll be looking for Ryder Cup points here, as will Pablo Larrazabal, Victor Perez and Yannik Paul who are the other three members of that top 100 in the world club. They are joined by the defending champion Haotong Li, who bids to make a successful defence of the title.
The focus will really turn onto the Race to Dubai title over the next month or so with some huge events on the horizon and the majority of the top 20 in those rankings are teeing it up this week. As well as the four players from the top 100 in the world rankings we have Jorge Campillo, Marcel Siem, Ockie Strydom, Romain Langasque, Sebastian Soderberg, Dale Whitnell, Sami Valimaki and Antoine Rozner all teeing it up in Munich.
Market Leaders
Adrian Meronk has already won in Italy this season and he is 14/1 to add this BMW International Open title to his collection. The Pole missed the cut at the US Open last week but prior to that he was fifth in the KLM Open so he is enjoying a decent European swing on the DP World Tour. This is his first go at this tournament though so that is a bit of a negative and with him on debut he just feels a little short. I’m a huge Meronk fan and have been for a while but I’m not ready to back him at this price on a first spin around here.
Rasmus Hojgaard is the second favourite this week. He can be backed at 18/1 on the best prices and is a little more appealing after finishing third in the KLM Open recently but he then reverted back to the out of form type at the European Open since then. One positive for Hojgaard backers is that he wasn’t at the US Open last week so he should be teeing it up here quite fresh but T17 and T36 in his two spins around here to date aren’t particularly impressive so he looks short enough to me.
There is then a quintet of players at 28/1 to win the tournament who include the former champion Pablo Larrazabal, the Abu Dhabi champion from earlier in the season in Victor Perez, Antoine Rozner, Robert MacIntyre and Takumi Kanaya. I’ll come onto Larrazabal below but Perez has put in two below par efforts here which puts me off him and although Rozner was T15 here a year ago his recent form hasn’t been brilliant. MacIntyre is another whose form here is terrible and he has been far too inconsistent for my liking recently anyway and the record here of Kanaya is nothing to shout about either.
Main Bets
Pablo Larrazabal looks an obvious pick this week. He has won around here in the past and has a pretty good all-round record here. He is actually looking for three regular DP World Tour titles in succession having won in Korea and Holland in the last couple of months. The US Open didn’t go to plan last week but his opening 71 at Los Angeles Country Club shows that he is still scoring well and on a track he knows well I think he’s the one to beat. Larrazabal has always thrived where there is an advantage on the greens and into them and he is playing as well as he ever has done. The Ryder Cup is on the horizon for the Spaniard if he keeps playing well and I think he can consolidate a spot in the plans with a win here.
I always seem to have to have a German player whenever the tour heads to Germany and I’m not going to deviate from that plan this week. I think Marcel Siem has a good chance of going well here. He was second in the last German event three weeks ago so we know that the home crowds don’t put pressure on him that he can’t handle. Siem is still riding the quest of a wave having won in India in March. He is second on the DP World Tour for strokes gained putting and that often separates the field in this tournament. I think Siem is a good bet this week.
Outsiders
Aaron Cockerill ticks a lot of boxes statistically this week and he is very much in good form and I wouldn’t be surprised if over the next couple of months he breaks his duck on the DP World Tour. He arrives here with last five tournament form figures of T13-2-T21-T16-T10 so he is very much in form. A large reason for that is the fact he sits fourth on the DP World Tour for strokes gained putting but he isn’t too shabby from tee to green either, sitting at 17 in driving accuracy and 23 in greens in regulation. If he has those numbers with him this week he shouldn’t be too far away.
If you look at the leaderboards of recent events here, especially since the renovations, big hitters who can putt make up a large percentage of them so Gavin Green is very much of interest to me this week. The Malaysian can certainly get it out there and with no severe punishments from the tee this week the freedom he has should play right into his hands. He currently leads the DP World Tour in strokes gained putting this season and registered a top 10 in the Netherlands recently. He has four other top 15 finishes on the tour this term so when it clicks for him he can do some damage. I’ll pay to see how much of that he does this week.
Tips
Back P.Larrazabal to win BMW International Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-6)
Back M.Siem to win BMW International Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 56.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)
Back A.Cockerill to win BMW International Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 71.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)
Back G.Green to win BMW International Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 91.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)
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