The Czech Masters begins on Thursday but once again that gives us a last chance to look at some of the side markets before the tournament begins.
The main outright market is a really open heat with the relatively weak field assembled for this tournament and that makes the side markets even more so which should mean there is some value to be had somewhere.
The first market I like is the Top Rest of the World one. In all there are 21 international players competing this week which gives us a good each way place term of four places.
Ryan Fox is building a nice reputation for himself and he is the 13/2 favourite in this market ahead of two men who went well in Denmark last week in the form of Terry Pilkadaris and Daniel Gaunt. Both men are 16/1 and 18/1 respectively and both have the challenge of backing up last week. Hennie Otto, Justin Walters and Sihwan Kim are interesting runners but I like a different South African here.
With length being a big commodity on this golf course it is no surprise that Merrick Bremner finished third here 12 months ago. He is the third longest off the tee on the entire European Tour this year so he is going to power the ball a lot further down most holes than most. Usually big hitters lack something further down the bag but Bremner showed last year he can get the ball in the hole here and at 22/1 he looks a little big in a market with a very weak field.
I had a runner go deep into the weekend in the Top Englishman market last week and I’m going to hit that particular field again this week.
Daniel Brooks was the longest in driving distance in Denmark last week and he was sixth in that statistic in the Scottish Open last month too where he was ahead of the likes of Brooks Koepka and Branden Grace so he can clearly get it out there off the tee. We saw in Scotland that on undulating greens he can still compete so he looks to be massively overpriced here.
I admit this is a much stronger renewal of this market than last week with the likes of James Morrison, Eddie Pepperell and Matthew Fitzpatrick all in it along with David Horsey who will have the confidence of winning last week behind him but none of those are going to beat Brooks off the tee so if Brooks can get his short game working he should put himself among his more illustrious countrymen this week.
Back M.Bremner Top Rest of the World (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-4)
Back D.Brooks Top Englishman (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Paddy Power (1/4 1-4)
