The UK swing concludes on the DP World Tour this week when the show heads to Northern Ireland for the ISPS Handa World Invitational, a tournament that came onto the schedule last year and was popular enough to remain there.
It would certainly have been a popular week for Daniel Gavins who won his maiden title at this level when he picked up the title last year. He will be looking to keep his hands on the trophy but a number of form players will be out to deny him.
Recent Winners
2021 – Daniel Gavins
The Courses
We are at Galgorm Castle and Massereene over in County Antrim this week. If that sounds familiar to you then you would be right as the same two courses were in use for this tournament a year ago. Galgorm Castle hosted the Irish Open in 2020. Massereene is the other course in use this week because the men and the women are playing at the same place, albeit unlike in the Scandinavian Mixed they are playing separate tournaments rather than a combined one.
Galgorm Castle is a par 70 which stretches 7,005 yards. This is the course which gets played three times while the Massereene gets played once. That is a par 70 which measures 6,827 yards. Both tracks are set to have fairly solid rough which makes accuracy a key requirement. The leading lights in both the Irish Open here two years ago and in this tournament last year suggest accuracy off the tee is more important than length while scrambling will be a key facet too.
The Field
Given that the PGA Tour play-offs begin this week there was always going to be a depleted look to the field here, particularly with the bigger DP World Tour events beginning to loom large on the horizon. That means the only member of the top 100 in the world rankings to tee it up here is Richard Bland, although his reception from those hosting could be frosty given his LIV Tour connections. Bland is just one of the top 20 in the Race to Dubai rankings here this week with Jordan Smith the other.
Four other players within the top 50 of those rankings are in the field this week in the form of the Scottish trio of David Law, Connor Syme and Ewen Ferguson while the American player Chase Hanna is the other one. Tour veterans such as Marc Warren, Lee Slattery and Alejandro Canizares are all here as are the two previous winners around Galgorm – John Catlin and Daniel Gavins. Richard Mansell, Santiago Tarrio and Wilco Neinaber are among those looking to break through this week.
Market Leaders
Jordan Smith is a warm 10/1 favourite to win the tournament this week. He has had a good season but has just gone off the boil during this UK swing with no top 20 finish in the four tournaments he has played to date. Smith does have a good record here though with two top 10s in the two events held here in the last two years including a 62 and a pair of 65s in the eight rounds he has played. That probably makes him a worthy favourite but he’ll need to find his putting boots again to win this.
John Catlin was the winner here in 2020 and he is 18/1 to win a second title around this course. He was fourth in the Irish Open this year so there is clearly something about Ireland that suits him nicely which has to be a positive. He won here in 2020 and was T7 here last year so this is very much a course that suits Catlin. Like Smith, he isn’t in the best of form in the last couple of weeks but I think the fact he has won here and has good memories would have me favouring him of the leading pair in the market but even he is a little on the skinny side.
Connor Syme is a 20/1 shot to win the title here. He was a runner up behind Callum Shinkwin at Celtic Manor last week and was third in the British Masters earlier in the year so the UK tends to bring the best golf out of him, although here he has a MC and T32 from his two efforts on this track in the DP World Tour. I think Syme is another you can easily make a case for but who is probably a little on the shorter side.
Johannes Veerman and Richard Mansell are both 22/1 to win this week. Veerman has won on the DP World Tour but his form has been very inconsistent of late which puts me off him. Mansell is another who has gone off the boil and would probably prefer a more expansive layout that the ones he is getting here. At least Veerman is good when he is good so I’d side with him of the two but neither really inspire me too much.
Main Bets
I think form is going to be a big thing this week and there aren’t many in better form than Jens Dantorp. The Swede has come alive on the DP World Tour in recent weeks with top 10 finishes in the Cazoo Classic and the Hero Open and although he had a bit of a mare at Celtic Manor last week he can be forgiven for that. In all three of those events Dantorp ranked in the top 10 for driving accuracy and he scrambled and putted well in the opening two of them. He has had four spins around here on the Challenge Tour so he should know everything about the place and he should feature strongly here.
The other main bet I like is Santiago Tarrio who I’m convinced is going to be winning tournaments sooner rather than later. He is a straight hitter which you have to be around here but he is very good into the greens. He has ranked in the top four in strokes gained on approach in two of his last four recorded starts. The only thing that has let him down has been his putting but he has had two spins around here on the Challenge Tour and DP World Tour and has been in the top 15 on both occasions so he seems to putt these greens well. If he does that this week he shouldn’t be far away.
Outsiders
Matthew Baldwin is another who catches my eye this week. Baldwin has a couple of top 20 finishes in his last three starts in the UK swing and should be suited to the conditions here. In those three outings he has ranked 10-20-39 for driving accuracy and 25-60-7 for putting. He has previous here with a second placed finish in the Challenge Tour event on this course in 2019 where he finished with a final round of 64. That suggests to me that he could be a big price at 66/1 this week.
I’ll also take a stab in the dark on Stuart Manley at a bigger price. The Welshman doesn’t have a huge amount of form to go by in recent times although he has plenty of finishes within the 16-30 range which probably carry more merit than they normally would here. What certainly carries weight is his accuracy off the tee where his last five recorded figures have been 3-8-48-6-32. A couple of starts back he was in the top 10 for strokes gained putting and he is another who has finished second here on the Challenge Tour. If it all comes together this week he could be a big price.
Tips
Back J.Dantorp to win ISPS Handa World Invitational (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-7)
Back S.Tarrio to win ISPS Handa World Invitational (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-6)
Back M.Baldwin to win ISPS Handa World Invitational (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)
Back S.Manley to win ISPS Handa World Invitational (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)
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