The European Tour returns from the break for the Olympic Golf tournament with the third staging of the Czech Masters in Prague. Usually this tournament is one of the lesser lights on the tour schedule but with Ryder Cup qualifying coming to an end in Denmark next week it is an important week for those harbouring hopes of being on Europe’s team.
Recent Winners
2015 – Thomas Pieters
2014 – Jamie Donaldson
The Course
For the third year in a row the Albatross Golf Resort in Prague is the venue for this tournament. In numerical form it looks a bit of a monster at 7,516 yards but the course is at altitude so it won’t play quite that long. Nevertheless length is no bad thing this week.
The course profile this week suggests that the rough is more penal than before and three water hazards have been added to the course so if the wind blows then scoring could get quite tricky here. With the rough being more penal then there could be a little more need for accuracy although most of the problems will be around the greens.
Speaking of the greens they are said to be running quickly this week so nobody should have a problem getting the ball to the hole. The two previous winners here were good putters though and that could be significant.
The Field
With the need for Ryder Cup points becoming more real the field this week is probably stronger than it might have been. Pieters is here to defend his title while Andy Sullivan, Lee Westwood and Matthew Fitzpatrick will all be looking to bank chunky Ryder Cup points.
Former champion Jamie Donaldson is in the field while in keeping with the Ryder Cup theme the vice-captain Thomas Bjorn is also teeing it up. Big names are few and far between aside from those named.
Market Leaders
Andy Sullivan is the 9/1 favourite to win the tournament this week. At his best that is very fair and he has been getting better and better over the last few weeks so he is a worthy favourite. Even in a poor field though I can’t bring myself to take someone at single figure prices.
Thomas Pieters comes next in the betting at 10/1. He will be looking to defend the title just a week after his Olympic exploits where he could well have medalled had he not had a shocking third round. How much that will have taken out of him remains to be seen though.
Lee Westwood is next at 11/1. He was playing well around the time of The Masters but his form is starting to dip a little bit. At his best he should be able to take care of this field without too many problems but whether he is at that is a totally different question.
Matt Fitzpatrick has already won a European Tour event this season when he landed the title in the Nordea Masters but it has been a time of frustration since then with a series of missed cuts. A lot of them have been by the odd shot though so he may not be playing as badly as the record suggests.
Jamie Donaldson is next in the betting at 28/1 alongside Richard Sterne and then it is 40/1 bar the six named which both highlights how weak the field is here and how open the tournament has the potential to be.
Betting
I’m going with one main bet this week and three at bigger prices. This isn’t a tournament to go too mad at given how open it is and how weak the field is but someone has to win it and hopefully we can find who that is.
Callum Shinkwin was going really well last month. He had a top 10 finish in France and followed that up with another in Scotland which shows how well he is hitting the ball and with plenty of length in his armoury he looks to have all the bases covered this week.
Shinkwin hasn’t won on the European Tour yet but this is a tournament which has a profile of first time winners so I’m not put off by that. If the Englishman can hold it together on and around the greens he should go very close.
Pelle Edberg is another who I fancy to go well here and not just because he was a runner up here last year. The Swede has shown up well a couple of times in Asia this year and this field is probably weaker than many he has faced in those sort of events.
Edberg gets it out there off the tee and if he can find the amount of greens and putt like he was in Thailand a couple of weeks ago he should be right in the mix. Given he went well here last year the Swede looks overpriced to me.
Oliver Fisher played some really nice stuff in the Paul Lawrie Matchplay which was good to see and that is the kind of form which should have given him a confidence boost ahead of the rest of the season. It is fair to say that 2016 hasn’t been brilliant for the Englishman but he has something to build on after the Matchplay.
He should have good memories of the Czech Republic too as his only European Tour win has come in the country in the now defunct Czech Open but positive memories often bring about good form so with that in mind I’ll take Fisher on here.
My last pick is a massive price but someone who also has good memories of the Czech Republic in Estanislao Goya. He has three top 10 finishes in the old tournament in this country and we know that he can cope in these minor events because he was second in Russia last year.
He was third in Mauritius earlier this season in a tournament where he shot a second round 79 so had that round been anything around par he would have won that tournament. He doesn’t get in contention too often but when he does he tends to hang around so if there is something about the Czech Republic that he likes this could be one of those weeks.
Tips
Back C.Shinkwin to win Czech Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Ladbrokes (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
Back P.Edberg to win Czech Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Paddy Power (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
Back O.Fisher to win Czech Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Betfred (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
Back E.Goya to win Czech Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 351.00 with Coral (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
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