It is the final week before the US Open and as such things are relatively low key in the golfing world this week with two fairly minor regular events taking place on the major tours.
On the European Tour the focus switches from Sweden to Austria for the Lyoness Open where there are a couple of standout names in what is as to be expected a relatively weak field overall. The field does include defending champion Chris Wood.
Recent Winners
2015 – Chris Wood
2014 – Mikael Lundberg
2013 – Joost Luiten
2012 – Bernd Wiesberger
2011 – Kenneth Ferrie
2010 – Jose Manuel Lara
2009 – Rafael Cabrera-Bello
2008 – Jeev Milkha Singh
2007 – Richard Green
2006 – Markus Brier
The Course
Diamond Country Club in Atzenbrugg is the regular venue for this tournament and that hasn’t changed this year but reading a few quotes the set up of the course itself might have changed a little with the organisers trying to replicate as much as possible what those going to the US Open next week will face.
Primarily this has always been a hitting greens and putting well golf course but it might just be that there is a larger premium on finding the fairways this week rather than belting it miles given that the rough is said to be thicker and with there having been rain in the area recently that rough will be quite tangly.
As for the numbers the course is a par 72 which measures 7,458 yards so could be construed as a bit of a monster this week. Unlike last week where we had five par 3s and par 5s we are back to the usual four of each here. Uniquely the course finishes with a par 3 which makes for interesting conclusions.
The Field
Former champions are everywhere you look in the field this week. Bernd Wiesberger, Chris Wood, Mikael Lundberg, Joost Luiten and Jeev Milkha Singh are all in the field despite this being a relative weak collection of European Tour players.
There isn’t many star names in the field but recent and regular European Tour winners including Thomas Bjorn, Richie Ramsay, James Morrison and David Howell all tee it up in what looks like a very open renewal of this competition.
Market Leaders
Bernd Wiesberger and Joost Luiten are vying for favouritism of the event. They are both 15/2 to land the title. I’m not convinced Wiesberger is firing on all cylinders and the way Luiten disappeared without a trace at Wentworth concerns me too. Chris Wood is 9/1 third favourite to defend the title but defending is hard enough without trying to win back to back titles too.
Outside of that you have Gregory Bourdy at 18/1 to land a title with Richie Ramsay at 28/1 and former Open de Espana winner James Morrison further back at 33/1. It is 40/1 bar those six which highlights both how weak and how open this tournament field is.
Main Bets
I’m going to run with two main bets this week. This isn’t a huge week to get deeply involved in but I’ve picked out a couple that I think might give us a run for our money in a wide open tournament.
Richard Bland has been fairing pretty well in recent times and he is the first to carry my money this week. Normally I would make the argument that there is no value at all in someone at 40/1 who is yet to win on Tour but such is the weakness of this field there actually could be some margin in that price.
Bland is certainly in form which helps. He has had eight top 30 finishes in 13 starts on the European Tour this year including top 10 finishes in Qatar, Malaysia and China so he’s been around the business end of tournaments enough now to know how things feel and how to handle himself should he be in a position to win.
Bland isn’t a huge hitter but he is straight and he is one of the best putters on tour this year when he finds the green in the right number. If he can find plenty of greens he should be able to deliver us a decent run on a track which might just be set up nicely for him.
Lee Slattery tends to go well around here. He has two top 10 finishes in the last three years here and last year showed his improvement as a player since then. While it hasn’t all been champagne and caviar this year he did show on exposed tracks in Qatar and Shenzhen that he can still compete at this level, finishing in the top five on both occasions.
We shouldn’t be too surprised he goes well here because he has a decent tee to green game with a good combination of length and accuracy. His problems this year have been with the putter but I’m a firm believer that players putt better on courses they have a good memory of and if that holds true Slattery can go well here.
Outsiders
You could pick a couple out of quite a few players here and I sense this is one of those tournaments where looking at form guides and statistical analysis might not be as big as in other weeks. In the end I’ve gone with two who are hitting it well – never a bad thing of course.
Lasse Jensen impressed me in pretty decent company in the Nordea Masters last week. He played with Thomas Bjorn and Nicolas Colsaerts in the final two rounds there and outshot them both. Jensen hit a number of greens in regulation, indeed he was third in the field for that over the week, and he was in the top 10 for putting. A repeat of that should have him going very close here.
Tjaart van der Walt was seventh for fairways hit in Sweden last week in a pretty hot field and his iron and putting game was pretty sharp as well so I fancy him for a big run here too. Coming from South Africa we know he will be fine with the wind on this exposed layout and if he can have the same roll with the putter that he had last week, in much weaker company he could be a live danger again.
Tips
Back R.Bland to win Lyoness Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-5)
Back L.Slattery to win Lyoness Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-5)
Back them here:
Back L.Jensen to win Lyoness Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Paddy Power (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
Back T.van der Walt to win Lyoness Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Betfred (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
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