The DP World Tour heads to the Czech Republic this week for what is a more high profile Czech Masters than some runnings of this tournament that we see as it is the penultimate event in the Ryder Cup qualifying period.
Max Kieffer won this tournament last year and he is back to attempt to defend the title but with so many players hoping to show Luke Donald what they can do, the German will defend against one of the strongest fields this event has seen.
Recent Winners
2022 – Max Kieffer
2021 – Johannes Veerman
2019 – Thomas Pieters
2018 – Andrea Pavan
2017 – Haydn Porteous
2016 – Paul Peterson
2015 – Thomas Pieters
2014 – Jamie Donaldson
The Course
Once again we are back at the Albatross Golf Resort this week as is always the case when this tournament is played. This is a track where the bigger hitters should have a massive advantage but actually three relatively short hitters have come out on top here in the last six outings. The course is a par 72 which stretches way beyond 7,400 yards and with wide fairways and big greens everything plays into the hands of the powerful hitters, even if recent winners suggest otherwise.
Although length is no bad thing around here, it is becoming more apparent that hitting greens in regulation is the biggest requirement for this track. There is no punishment off the tee around here though so that gives the bigger hitters shorter irons into the greens which is why length could be important. That said, there is still the chance for someone who peppers the flags with the irons from the fairways to go well. I’m focusing on bigger hitters this week though.
The Field
With the PGA Tour season ending this week and no playing opportunities for anyone on the other side of the pond for a few weeks beyond Sunday, we are expecting the fields for the next few DP World Tour events to be pretty good and that is certainly the case this week. We have eight members of the top 100 in the world teeing it up in Prague. They are Shane Lowry, Adrian Meronk, Robert MacIntyre, Pablo Larrazabal, Victor Perez, Adrian Otaegui, Rasmus Hojgaard and Thriston Lawrence.
The Ryder Cup isn’t the only thing to focus on this week. The Race to Dubai is coming down to the final third of the campaign and points are beginning to take on extra significance in that. Five members of the top 20 who aren’t in the top 100 in the world rankings are here including the likes of Thorbjorn Olesen, Alexander Bjork, the German pair of Yannik Paul and Marcel Siem and the Spanish player Jorge Campillo. Ludvig Aberg and Korn Ferry Tour powerhouse Adrien Dumont De Chassart are notable inclusions.
Market Leaders
Shane Lowry will peg it up as a 13/1 favourite to win the tournament this week on the best prices. It is pretty obvious why he is here. He is looking for a big week to bolster his Ryder Cup standing ahead of the qualifying ending next week. He certainly has the length and quality to be competitive this week but the fact he needs to come here to qualify in the first place suggests that he isn’t in the sort of form he would have wanted. He still looks a worthy favourite though.
Adrian Meronk will begin the week just a point bigger than Lowry at 14/1. He is fifth on the European list in the Ryder Cup standings and could make a real move here. Unlike Lowry, he is in the field next week so he has two chances to get the points he needs. You would think this course would play well to his strengths but he is yet to crack the top 15 in two efforts which would be a bit of a concern. He is one of the players of the season though and shouldn’t be written off with his extra motivation.
Ludvig Aberg has barely teed it up on the DP World Tour in his career but he is also a 14/1 joint second favourite to deliver the goods as he bids to show Donald that he deserves a wildcard. He is very highly thought of and if he is as good as people think he will be then he could easily take this down but in his two DP World Tour events this year he has finished T70 and T78 so just because he is highly touted doesn’t necessarily mean he will transfer that into results.
Nicolai Hojgaard comes next in the betting at 16/1 on the best prices. He comes into this event with a couple of top six finishes in his last five starts and on his only appearance in this tournament he finished T17 which would have been much better but for an indifferent final round. The Dane has five top 10 finishes on his season but it is going on for 18 months since he last won on the DP World Tour. That said, the setup suits and it wouldn’t be a surprise if this was his week.
Main Bets
I get that a few shorter hitters have won here recently and the fact that the temperatures in Europe have been quite high this summer means those who don’t hit it as far should get a bit of run from a firmer course but it is still bombs away for my picks this week. Wilco Nienaber was eighth here last year but he comes in off the back of a solid effort in Northern Ireland last week and he has absolutely battered this course off the tee in each of his two appearances and with the confidence he has gained from his effort last week the rest of his game should be in decent enough order to contend around here. That effort last year tells us that he can score on this course and at 40/1 I’ll pay to see how much damage he does this time around.
Gavin Green has played this tournament on four previous occasions and he has finished third and second in two of them, the latter being last year when he was a shot behind Max Kieffer. The other two efforts look nothing to write home about but there was actually a round of 64 to open up in the first of those so that means in 13 rounds around here he has shot a 63 and two 64s so to say he enjoys the layout is something of an understatement. The last two outings have been nothing special for Green in terms of results but you wouldn’t expect the Made in Himmerland track to suit a bomber and he actually had himself positioned nicely in the Scottish Open before the weather got the better of him. There is more than enough to suggest Green should go well here though at a more than fair price.
Outsiders
I’ll go for a couple of outsiders at monster prices this week with the first of those being Martin Simonsen who is back on the DP World Tour this season. I think it is fair to say that he hasn’t pulled up any trees with just three top 20 finishes to his name all campaign but interestingly those three have come on tracks where there is no real test off the tee, much like this one. In two of those three events, he posted -12 and -15 so when the track allows he is perfectly capable of scoring. Simonsen sits at 22 in driving distance on the DP World Tour and led the field in that discipline in Northern Ireland last week. The other thing that catches my eye is that he had one win on the Challenge Tour and it came in the Czech Republic so at a huge price I’ll chance my arm on the Dane.
The other player I’m happy to back this week is someone who has already been good to followers of this site this season in Ockie Strydom. He won the Alfred Dunhill Championship for us at the beginning of the campaign at a massive price and he has followed up since then by winning in Singapore. There aren’t many two-time winners in a season who tee it up at 500/1 in a tournament the same year so I’m almost obliged to get on anyway but Strydom is a big hitter who fares inordinately better on courses where he can let the driver go off the tee, which explains his poor form over the last four months or so where he has been competing on tight tracks which don’t suit his strength. He was eighth in strokes gained off the tee in Scotland last month though so his poor form doesn’t appear to have killed the confidence in his long game. Strydom’s two winning scores this season were -18 and -19 and he also carded -19 at the Jonsson Workwear Open so when the tracks allow this guy can go low. This is one such track and he could be a crazy price.
Tips
Back W.Neinaber to win Czech Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
Back G.Green to win Czech Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
Back O.Strydom to win Czech Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 501.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-8)
Back M.Simonsen to win Czech Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 401.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
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