After a thrilling Made in Denmark tournament played out in front of huge passionate crowds the European Tour is likely to return to a bit of normality this week when it heads to Prague for the D+D REAL Czech Masters.
This was a key tournament on the calendar last season as it was the penultimate event in the point scoring for the Ryder Cup team and one man took advantage of that to book his spot at Gleneagles. That man was Jamie Donaldson who won this tournament and went on to hole the winning putt in the Ryder Cup.
The event doesn’t have quite the same billing this week and the fact it goes up against the opening playoff event in America means the field is nothing special this time around. Donaldson isn’t even defending the title which is a blow to the organisers.
Big names are few and far between in the field this week with Victor Dubuisson being the headline act but Open D’Espana winner James Morrison and Made in Denmark champion David Horsey add a tournament winning feel to the event. Dubuisson is the favourite to win the event at 14/1 while Morrison is 22/1 and Horsey 33/1 to follow up last week’s success.
The Albatross Golf Resort in Prague is the venue for the tournament again this week. This will be the second staging of this event and this course will have hosted it both times. The course is quite long. It is a par 72 which measures 7,516 yards and with no altitude in play it is likely to play every yard so the longer hitters should enjoy themselves this week.
They tightened the fairways on the course last year but the rough wasn’t too penal so the big hitters were still able to have fun. It is an exposed course though so the wind can always play a part and water is in play on seven of the holes so you need good accuracy into the greens which again probably favours the longer hitters as they’ll be hitting shorter irons.
One man who gets it out there and who goes into the week in good form is Kristoffer Broberg. You could argue he’s a little on the short side this week but the field is so poor that we have to accept that sadly. He finished up in Denmark with a nine under 62 to finish in the tie for second. At one point when everyone was playing the 18th it looked like he might be involved in a playoff even though he’d already flown home!
That round shows he’s driving the ball well though because those fairways weren’t easy to hit down the back nine last week and I think this course will suit him even better if anything. He is going well at the minute with five top 15 finishes in his last six normal strokeplay events (I’ve excluded the Scottish Open as that was a links course) including the runner up last week so he’s on an upwards curve and in an awful field even at 18/1 he should go well.
Another Scandinavian who likes to get it out there is Morten Orum Madsen and I think he’s worth following this week too. Madsen started the year well with good finishes in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Africa then went missing for a spell but he found something in the Paul Lawrie Matchplay and finished in the top 20 in Denmark last week.
This course looks to set up nicely for Madsen who likes freedom to get the ball out there. If he can find the greens and avoid silly errors with the short stick then this course should be one where he can deliver a really strong run on.
Back K.Broberg to win Czech Masters (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 19.00 with Skybet (1/4 1-5)
Back M-O.Madsen to win Czech Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Ladbrokes (1/4 1-5)
