The regular DP World Tour returns after a wonderful week in New York and it does so with the long running KLM Open, the tournament which takes us to Holland where a number of talented players are beginning to originate from.
French star Victor Perez won the title a year ago and he is now back to look to make a successful defence of the crown but even though this event comes the week after a major a fairly good field will oppose him.
Recent Winners
2022 – Victor Perez
2021 – Kristoffer Broberg
2019 – Sergio Garcia
2018 – Ashun Wu
2017 – Romain Wattel
2016 – Joost Luiten
2015 – Thomas Pieters
2014 – Paul Casey
2013 – Joost Luiten
2012 – Peter Hanson
The Course
We are back at the Bernardus Golf Club in Cromvoirt this week. This is the third time this course has staged the tournament so we have a little more understanding about the place. Although the scoring has been very low this is a brilliant course with a real good test of golf. We now know that this is very much a links test and with that in mind there can be no surprise that the winner of last year has also won the Dunhill Links in the past.
The course is a par 72 which measures 7,425 yards. The fairways here are pretty generous so those who prosper will be the ones who excel from the second shot and in. There is water in play in some of the holes and plenty of bunkers as well. The greens are pretty large here so you would imagine that accuracy with the irons and a hot putter would be the recipe to success. This is an exposed layout so those who are comfortable in the breeze should be favoured too.
The Field
We are still in the middle of major season so we are going to have to wait for a month or so for the better European fields to come out to play but we still have six men who are in the top 100 in the world rankings on show this week. The highest ranked player in the field is Adrian Meronk. He is the only member of the top 50 in the world teeing it up. The other five in the top 100 include the defending champion Victor Perez, Pablo Larrazabal, Callum Shinkwin, Adrian Otaegui and Jordan Smith.
Perez is not only the defending champion this week but he is also the highest ranked player in the Race to Dubai for the season. He is third in those rankings with Meronk one behind him in fourth. Two other members of the top 10 are here in Jorge Campillo and Ockie Strydom while the majority of the rest of the top 20 are in the field too with Alexander Bjork, Sebastian Soderberg, Sami Valimaki, Romain Langasque, Marcel Siem, Antoine Rozner, Larrazabal and Simon Forsstrom.
Market Leaders
Adrian Meronk is the 12/1 favourite to win the tournament this week. He is looking for successive regular DP World Tour titles after he won the Italian Open prior to the USPGA Championship. Things didn’t go well for him in New York but he remains one of the brightest stars on this tour and it would certainly be no surprise if he was to get his way into contention here, especially when you consider that he was third here a year ago. Meronk has bits and pieces of links form so I wouldn’t want to be against him.
Victor Perez is the 14/1 second favourite to make a successful defence of his title this week. Given that he had previously won the Dunhill Links it is certainly no surprise that Perez won this tournament and he had a decent spin at the USPGA Championship last week too so he should be back in familiar territory feeling pretty good about this game. As ever though defending champions have other commitments on their time and I’m reluctant to get involved for that reason.
There are a pair of players who are 22/1 to win the tournament this week. They are Alexander Bjork and Jordan Smith. The latter could have been much closer than T24 here last year but for a very poor third round but I would worry about his putting anyway in what I envisage to be a low scoring event. Bjork finished in the top 10 here last year despite a level par final round but I sense he is a better player now than he was then and he definitely can’t be ruled out.
Rasmus Hojgaard is next in the betting at 25/1 on the best prices. You would think that his skillset would be suited to this test but he keeps on flattering to deceive at the minute hence why he is not yet in the top 80 in the Race to Dubai rankings. He was in the top 10 here last year though even though he shot a second round of 75. That offers hope but he would need a real return to form which hasn’t really looked like coming so far.
Main Bets
Romain Langasque doesn’t have the best record around here but I’ve always thought he has the game to succeed on a links track and given that he was the runner up in Italy a few weeks ago he is clearly hitting the ball well enough to be full of confidence and showcase his skills here. Although T22 and T31 haven’t really been the results he would have wanted on this course, he has shot a par of 68s so it isn’t like he can’t score around here, he just needs to put the four rounds together. Langasque is an excellent driver of the ball which should set up a lot of scoring positions and I’ll pay to see how many of them he converts.
Eddie Pepperell is never far from my thoughts whenever a links course event comes along. He has a long list of form on links tracks and the nuance of it clearly brings out the best in his game. The reason for that is because he is an excellent iron player when he is on form and there have been signs that he is coming to the boil again. He finished in the top 10 in Italy recently and put in another solid effort in Belgium a fortnight ago and his record in Holland is very good. His last six starts in this tournament, not all on this course it has to be said, have been 4-T5-T89-T3-T6-T14 so there is something about Holland that he likes. This isn’t the strongest field in the world so a good links player coming into form should be a threat this week.
Outsiders
Richie Ramsay won a links event last year when he took down the Cazoo Classic at Hillside and it makes sense that with this field not being the best that we go with him once again. He was in the top 10 in Belgium a couple of weeks ago which is very much a positive and we know as a Scot he is perfectly comfortable should the wind blow. Ramsay was also third at The Belfry last season and finished the year very well so the fact he looks to be finding his confidence again can only be a positive. I’ll pay to see how he goes.
Matthew Baldwin won on a links course at the SDC Championship earlier in the season and given that he originates from Southport it certainly comes as no surprise that he won a links event. There are plenty of great links courses in that part of the world so he should be suited to this test quite nicely. That win secured his DP World Tour future for the next few years so he is largely playing with the house money from here on in for the remainder of the season so in conditions which should suit and against a weak field he is another I’ll pay to see how he goes.
The final player I like this week is Kristoffer Broberg who was the first winner of this tournament on this course and then made the top 15 on his title defence a year ago. I always make the point about how the defending champions have their time impacted ahead of a tournament so to finish that high up shows that he clearly feels very comfortable on this course. This will be his first DP World Tour event this season but he went well in the UAE on the Challenge Tour earlier in the month and the fact his status isn’t as high as he would like will give him plenty of motivation for this week. I’ll pay to see how he goes too.
Tips
Back R.Langasque to win KLM Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 31.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back M.Baldwin to win KLM Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back E.Pepperell to win KLM Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
Back R.Ramsay to win KLM Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 71.00 with Betway (1/5 1-7)
Back K.Broberg to win KLM Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-7)
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