The final tournament of the DP World Tour regular season takes place this week when the show heads to Korea for the Genesis Championship with playoff spots and tour cards on the line in what should be a dramatic week of golf.
Byeong Hun An never had any worries about his playing rights and he used that freedom to come out on top in his homeland a year ago. He is back in the field looking to win the title again but plenty have so much to play for and will be looking to dethrone him.
Recent Winners
2024 – Byeong Hun An
2023 – Pablo Larrazabal
The Course
Byeong Hun An will defend his title on a different course to the one which he won it on 12 months ago. He won on the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon but this week the event moves to the Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan. In bare numbers, the course is a par 71 which can stretch up to 7,367 yards although the humidity means that tracks in this part of the world rarely play to a full yardage. Nevertheless, it is towards the longest side of normal.
While the course is new to the DP World Tour, it has staged events on the Asian Tour for the past two decades so it is used to hosting tournaments. The fairways are wide and generous and the rough is down this week so that will encourage the longer hitters. The greens are undulating though so accuracy into them and precision on and around them might sort out the men from the boys. We’re looking at big hitters with a good short game this week.
The Field
With the playoffs beginning in a fortnight there was a case for the field to be weak this week even allowing for what is at stake but that isn’t actually the situation. The organisers have attracted 10 members of the top 100 in the world rankings to this part of Asia with two PGA Tour stars very much leading the way with Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im adding real star quality to the field. Thomas Detry is also inside the top 50 in the world rankings and he tees it up here too.
Asia are well represented in the other leading lights with Si Woo Kim, the defending champion Byeong Hun An and Haotong Li all in the field while top class golfers such as Adam Scott, Thriston Lawrence and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen are in the field. Laurie Canter is the other member of the top 100 in the world while Keita Nakajima, Martin Couvra, Elvie Smylie and Joakim Lagergren are all in the top 20 in the Race to Dubai standings and looking to make a move ahead of the playoffs.
Market Leaders
We have joint favourites for this final leg of the regular season. The PGA Tour stars Hideki Matsuyama and Si Woo Kim are both 11/1 if you shop around and it is hard to go against that. In terms of out and out class, Matsuyama leads the way here but you wouldn’t call his short game amazing. Kim probably has the edge in that department but then you would worry about whether he’ll be outhit by the longer hitters in the field. Both are a fair price but not necessarily bulletproof.
The other Asian star from the PGA Tour comes next in the betting at 14/1. That is Sungjae Im and in terms of consistency then he is entitled to go very well in front of a home crowd. The same question applies to the two above him in the betting though in terms of he isn’t massively long off the tee and could be vulnerable but then he has plenty of class which could get him out of trouble. He is another who I wouldn’t put anyone off but he hasn’t had a brilliant 2025 which might be more of a concern.
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen comes next in the market at 16/1 if you shop for the best prices. He certainly ticks the length off the tee box and having been fifth in the Open de Espana last time out he carries plenty of form into the week with him. He is still looking for a first win on the DP World Tour which might be a concern in this fairly established company but with a long game that should set up a number of chances, he can’t be ruled out.
We are left with one player in the field who is shorter than 20/1 on the each way terms this week and that is the Australian legend Adam Scott. He is another who very much has the class to dominate the majority of this field and is as pure a ball striker as you will see but he isn’t blessed with necessarily the best short game in the world which is an issue. At 18/1 there is certainly enough juice in the price to make Scott tempting but he isn’t quite for me.
Main Bets
I’ll go with a couple of main bets this week with the first of those being the Spanish player Angel Ayora who has no issues in terms of playing for anything other than to win the tournament this week. He is safely in the playoffs and with it guaranteed playing rights for next season and he arrives here in some useful form. The Spaniard sits tenth in the driving distance on the DP World Tour this term and although he missed the cut in India last week, that tight course was never going to suit him. He had top 10s at the Dunhill Links and Open de Espana prior to that though and those mean he has had seven top 10s on the season. Spaniards generally have good touch around the greens and with the power he has too I think Ayora should go well here.
This course might well suit Haotong Li as well. He isn’t necessarily the straightest driver in the world but when there isn’t an emphasis on that and the rest of the game can come to the fore then the Chinese star is generally at his happiest. Haotong sits in the top 20 for driving distance and in the top 10 for greens in regulation and with nobody having an advantage on the greens unless you’ve played in the Asian Tour event here then any putting weakness won’t be as apparent. Haotong won in Qatar earlier in the season and had top 10 finishes in Singapore and China. His form has tailed off a touch since he contended at The Open but in conditions which suit I think he is a leading runner this week.
Outsiders
I’ll chance a couple of big prices on the outsider front this week with the first of them coming in the form of a man who has won twice in Asia before in his career in Kiradech Aphibarnrat. He is safely inside the top 110 to make sure he has a card for next season but would need a monster week to make it into the playoffs so that should be his motivation here. We have seen in the past how the Thai can excel on tracks where he can let his driver go with no fear of being wayward and his length should set him up for some nice positions into the greens which is generally where the better part of the Aphibarnrat game comes out. I’ll pay to see if he can light up in Asia once again this week.
The other bet I think is a big price is Jeong weon Ko, the French player who has Asian roots. He sits at 67 on the Race to Dubai standings largely courtesy of finishing second in the Open de France a few weeks ago. He was second in strokes gained approach that week and then the following week went to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and led the field in that statistic so he is clearly beginning to heat up with his irons. Given that there is no massive test off the tee this week so he can overtake players with some quality iron play I think the man who has a big position in his career to defend this week will be motivated enough and comfortable enough to have a big week.
Tips
Back A.Ayora to win Genesis Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-6)
Back H.Li to win Genesis Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
Back K.Aphibarnrat to win Genesis Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 226.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
Back J-weon Ko to win Genesis Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 301.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
