One of the better events on the DP World Tour takes place this week when the show heads to the Birmingham area of England for the British Masters, a tournament which once again is hosted by the legend Nick Faldo.
Daniel Hillier enjoyed himself in the UK in this tournament last year and he is the man who will be looking to make a successful defence of the title but a fair field will be up against him looking to take the crown from him.
Recent Winners
2023 – Daniel Hillier
2022 – Thorbjorn Olesen
2021 – Richard Bland
2020 – Renato Paratore
2019 – Marcus Kinhult
2018 – Eddie Pepperell
2017 – Paul Dunne
2016 – Alex Noren
2015 – Matthew Fitzpatrick
The Course
We are on the Brabazon Course at The Belfry this week, the scene of Ryder Cups in the past. This track hosted this tournament last year and also one leg of the UK Swing during the pandemic in 2020. The course is a par 72 which measures 7,328 yards which isn’t especially long by modern standards but it is still a decent test of golf, one where good ball striking and accuracy is generally the key.
You don’t need to drive the ball miles here. In fact this is very much a course for finding fairways and greens. The top 10 in each year was filled with players who had a high GIR ranking but these greens are small and can be hard to find so scrambling is another key statistic. There isn’t really any premium on putting here, as there doesn’t tend to be on courses with small greens. The weather has been very good in the UK throughout August so the players might get a firmer and faster test than they would normally get at this venue.
The Field
With Nick Faldo as the tournament host this week and Ryder Cup points beginning for the European team we have a perfectly fair field for the event when you consider that the elite stars are in Atlanta for the conclusion of the PGA Tour season. We have five players in the top 100 in the world teeing it up here with them led by the LIV Golf star Tyrrell Hatton. Thriston Lawrence is the second highest ranked player ahead of Thorbjorn Olesen. The other two top 100 players are Matt Wallace and Keita Nakajima.
We are getting towards the nitty gritty of the Race to Dubai campaign and along with Lawrence we have two other members of the top 10 in those standings teeing it up this week. They are Jesper Svensson and Rikuya Hoshino while the winner of the Danish Golf Championship last week, Frederic Lacroix, is one of five other players who are in the top 20 of those rankings and looking to make a move here. The others are Guido Migliozzi, Tom McKibbin, Laurie Canter and Matteo Manassero.
Market Leaders
Tyrrell Hatton is generally a 7/1 favourite across the board. This is a big week for him in a lot of ways. There are a few world ranking points on the go here but there are Ryder Cup points and he won’t get a lot of chance to play his way onto the European team with golf as it currently stands. He has been in decent form on the LIV circuit over the course of the year but his first tournament back on the DP World Tour since joining that organisation might just have a little too much attention on him for my liking.
Matt Wallace is a well backed 20/1 second favourite to win the tournament this week. At his best he is more than above DP World Tour level and the last time he teed it up in this event five years ago he came second so that bodes well. Wallace hasn’t pulled up too many trees on the PGA Tour in recent times but he is clearly down in grade here and competes on home soil so from a class and motivation perspective he ticks plenty of boxes. The price isn’t screaming for me to back him though.
A trio of players are 25/1 in the field this week. Rasmus Hojgaard, Tom McKibbin and Thriston Lawrence are the three in question and you could make a case for all three of them. Hojgaard has won around here before during the Covid season while McKibbin and Lawrence are seen as progressive players at this level. If anything, the first two might need the course to play longer than it does and that might be a reason to swerve them but I wouldn’t put anyone off any of them too strongly. It is 30/1 bar.
Main Bets
Thorbjorn Olesen has been biding his time between the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour and while he hasn’t really cracked it over four rounds on the latter, it is only six DP World Tour starts ago that he won the Ras Al Khaimah Championship. The Dane arrives here having won the tournament on this course a couple of years ago and given that he has status on the PGA Tour and his world ranking gets him into plenty of big events, you would imagine a return to the Ryder Cup team will be on his radar so a decent week here would do no harm. Olesen has gone a little quiet recently but he was ranked 11 for strokes gained putting on home soil last week and if his long game can play ball, which it has done in the past here, then he should be right in the mix once again. I think he’s a fair price this week.
Laurie Canter had been knocking on the door prior to getting his first win at the European Open earlier in the season and I think he’s a fair punt to pick up a second on a course he’ll know pretty well. Canter has generally putted well this season and you don’t win around here if you don’t do that but he has the right mix of accuracy in the long game with enough length to get him to where he needs to be. It is fair to say he hasn’t pulled up trees since he won that tournament but he’s had a few weeks off so he should be fresh here, which you can’t say for those who have been chasing points everywhere. Canter has the profile I like around here and the price is acceptable enough on a man who has won this year to get involved.
Outsiders
Another player who has won in 2024 is Marcel Siem and I think he is worth taking a chance on around here. Siem won the Italian Open where the tools needed there aren’t a great deal different to the ones needed here so that bodes well. I think it is fair to say that he hasn’t pulled up any trees since he won in Italy but he has only had four starts and one of those was a major. Where I am encouraged is that he finished with a 66 in Denmark last week and we know the German generally hits a straight ball and putts well and I think he’s a big price here.
Eddie Pepperell has won this tournament in the past, albeit when it was held on another course, but seeing his name on the trophy will give him good memories and generally throughout his career he has played above himself in front of home crowds. Pepperell ranked sixth for strokes gained with the putter in Denmark last week and we know that he is a very good iron player when he gets it right. I’m sure he has played The Belfry on a number of occasions because it was always a fixture on the various circuits and at a three figure price I’ll take my chances on him here.
Tips
Back T.Olesen to win British Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
Back L.Canter to win British Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 36.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back M.Siem to win British Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
Back E.Pepperell to win British Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
