The European Swing is in full swing on the DP World Tour and it heads to Holland this week for the KLM Open, a tournament which is a regular fixture on the calendar and one which gets the lead up to The Open underway.
Pablo Larrazabal picked up another title on the DP World Tour when he took this tournament down a year ago and he is in the field looking to keep hold of the trophy. A good field has been assembled to try and wrestle it off him.
Recent Winners
2023 – Pablo Larrazabal
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
The Course
Pablo Larrazabal will defend his title on a different course this week as we move back to The International in Amsterdam for the first time since 2019. That is the only previous time the course has been used to stage this tournament so there isn’t a huge amount of history to go by. We do know that the course is a par 71 which only measures 6,914 yards so it certainly isn’t a long one but it is one which will require some accuracy.
The course has a links feel to it with large, undulating greens which produce a number of pin positions but which can lead to plenty of scrambling. There is water in play on 10 of the holes this week which further tells us that we need accuracy over length for this test. The course is largely the same as it was five years ago except hole 11 has been changed from a short par 4 to a lengthy par 3 hence why it is now a par 71.
The Field
Four players in the top 100 in the world rankings are in the field this week and they are headed by the American star Luke List who makes a rare appearance on the DP World Tour. Sebastian Soderberg is the next player in the top 100 in the rankings and the other two are Matt Wallace and Rasmus Hojgaard. Another player who is in the field here is the defending champion Pablo Larrazabal while Joost Luiten and Darius van Driel head up the home charge.
There are a number of players high up in the Race to Dubai standings who will be looking to improve their position ahead of a big month in July. Soderberg is the highest ranked in second place while Rikuya Hoshino and Laurie Canter are in the top 10. Van Driel and Hojgaard are in the top 20 and looking to make progress while Zander Lombard, Adrian Otaegui and Matteo Manassero can all make decent moves with a positive showing this week.
Market Leaders
Matt Wallace is making his first regular DP World Tour appearance of the season this week and he is 14/1 favourite to win it. He has four wins at this level to his name and has finished in the top five in his last two starts in this tournament including here in 2019 which could be significant. He opened up with a 75 that week too so surely would have won the event had that been a more solid first round. Wallace hasn’t had a brilliant season on the PGA Tour but down in grace he’ll be of interest to some.
Bernd Wiesberger is 16/1 to get his hands on the trophy this week. I’ve been waiting to see him show his best stuff since he returned to the DP World Tour and we finally got to see it at the European Open three weeks ago when he finished in a tie for second there. He has also finished second in this tournament but didn’t play the event in 2019 so he’ll be tasting this course for the first time which might be a negative. I’m tempted though.
A trio of players come next in the betting at 18/1. They are Sebastian Soderberg, Tom McKibbin and Rasmus Hojgaard. I would have given Soderberg a chance here but I can’t be relying on him to get it done at this sort of price after what happened in the closing few holes of the Scandinavian Mixed. Hojgaard’s form has fallen off a cliff so he doesn’t do it for me. McKibbin has a couple of top 10s in his last three starts in regular DP World Tour events so of the three he would interest me most but I’m not rushing to get involved.
Laurie Canter tees it up for the first time since he won the European Open at the beginning of the month so he is looking for successive wins in DP World Tour starts. He wouldn’t be without a chance here either so he will be popular at 20/1 but you would have to put behind him a poor record here of three attempts and three missed cuts to his name. None of them were on this track though. I’m not a fan of betting on players playing after winning though.
Main Bets
Alex Fitzpatrick went well at the Scandinavian Mixed last time out and he has enough form on links layouts to make me think that he could run a first DP World Tour win close this week. He sits third in the scrambling statistic on the tour for the season which is going to be a key stat over these four days so he ticks a few boxes here. The negative is that he hasn’t won but with no course knowledge disadvantage to overcome I’ll pay to see if this is the week he can get the win by his name.
Ewen Ferguson is another player who has an excellent short game and unlike Fitzpatrick he has won at DP World Tour level so he looks a solid punt at 50/1 even allowing for the fact that he pulled out of his last event midway through it. He went well in this tournament last year so seems to enjoy being in this part of the world and his form on links or more exposed tracks is quite strong. We know any breeze isn’t going to worry him so if he can get his irons and his short game on song then he is more than capable of taking a tournament of this kind down.
Outsiders
Rafa Cabrera Bello is another who has an excellent short game and he has won on the DP World Tour in the past as well. That was a while ago but there were certainly signs on a really tough layout at the European Open that he is still hitting the ball well and can be competitive at this level. He was seventh in that tournament and he has the same finish in this event in the past as well. His short game sees him fourth on the DP World Tour for scrambling this season and he has good form on links tracks so at a three figure price he certainly appeals here.
Ashun Wu has already won this tournament and he is another who sits high up in the short game statistics on the DP World Tour. He isn’t the sort of player who is going to win on the bombers tracks so I would imagine he has had this tournament on his radar for a while. There isn’t a huge amount in his recent form that is all that encouraging but last time out at the Scandinavian Mixed it was only a level par final round that help him out of the top 15 so that suggests that he might be on the verge of doing something positive. I always think a player has an extra pep in their step when they go back to a tournament that they’ve won so I’ll pay to see if that happens here.
Tips
Back A.Fitzpatrick to win KLM Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back E.Ferguson to win KLM Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-6)
Back R.Cabrera Bello to win KLM Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Ladbrokes (1/5 1-7)
Back A.Wu to win KLM Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-6)
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