There are two European Tour events this week, one strokeplay and one matchplay and I’m going to concentrate on the strokeplay event here. The Madeira Islands Open is the lesser of the two tournaments with the second tier of Europe’s players getting their chance in the spotlight and that makes it a big week for those involved.
This event was originally scheduled for March but persistent bad weather meant the organisers were unable to get a tournament in so they will try again this week. Luckily for all involved the weather appears to be much better at this time of year.
With most of the bigger names in Scotland for the Paul Lawrie Matchplay the field is headed this week in terms of the betting at least by the local lad Ricardo Gouveia at 16/1. That isn’t too surprising as he leads the Race to Oman standings and in 10 Challenge Tour appearances this year he has put together no fewer than eight top 10 finishes.
This isn’t a Challenge Tour event though so it will be interesting to see how he copes with the step up. John Parry has been well backed into a 25/1 second favourite with another Challenge Tour specialist Rhys Davies at 28/1. Ryan Fox is also 28/1 and then it is 40/1 bar that quartet highlighting both how open this field is and how unsure bookmakers are of who to take on and who not to.
The tournament will take place at the Clube de Golf do Santo da Serra as it has done every year apart from a three year stretch elsewhere between 2009-2011. The course is a Robert Trent Jones design and is situated alongside the Atlantic Ocean. Some of the cliff face positioned holes give off some wonderful views but sadly with no TV coverage this week we won’t get to see them.
The course is a par 72 which measures 6,826 yards which isn’t long at the best of times in today’s world but when you add the altitude into the mix it is much shorter in reality. Despite that longer hitters tend to prosper around here. Fairways are wide and the greens are slow and hold approaches so those with length behind them can get stuck in as Peter Uihlein showed here a couple of weeks ago. The course can be protected by wind off the sea but has little defence otherwise.
With this being the lower key event of the two in Europe this week I’m not going to produce much on it but I will take a few players outright and I might come back over the weekend with an update on top.
The first player I like is the man who actually led when this tournament was cancelled earlier in the year in JB Hansen. Hansen has plenty of European Tour experience and has gone well in a number of events by the standards of those he’ll be up against here. He has gone well on the Challenge Tour in recent weeks too with three top 10s in his last five appearances including one in Scotland so we know he’ll function if the wind blows.
Hansen is competitive when it comes to distance off the tee so given that the wind won’t disadvantage him any and he got on with this course earlier in the year in this field the 40/1 on him looks a bit big.
He is my main bet and I’ll take a couple of outsiders to go with him. The first of those is Peter Lawrie. Lawrie hasn’t had full playing rights on the European Tour recently but he has got in a few fields and he took advantage of that last week with a 65 to finish to see him to a tie for 16th in Switzerland. We know Lawrie will function in the wind and if his game continues to come together then in a field of this lack of depth he can go well at a nice price.
The other man I’m going to chance this week bombs it miles off the tee in Pedro Oriol. The Spaniard hasn’t always been consistent with it but he has had some solid if unspectacular performances in bigger tournaments in recent weeks and if he can hit the ball well this week his length should give him an advantage on a much weaker field than he’s used to going up against. Oriol went well enough on the Challenge Tour last year so this field is probably his level and at 66/1 I fancy him to give us a run this week too.
Back JB.Hansen to win Madeira Islands Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Sportingbet (1/4 1-5)
Back P.Lawrie to win Madeira Islands Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Skybet (1/4 1-5)
Back P.Oriol to win Madeira Islands Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Skybet (1/4 1-5)
Blog golf P/L for 2015: +3.51pts
****EDIT****
29/7/15 – Pedro Oriol has tweeted a picture saying he only has his woods, putter, balls and gloves in Madeira with him. His irons and wedges have got lost on the way to Madeira.
