The main event on the European Tour this week is the newly formed Paul Lawrie Matchplay. Matchplay is a pure form of golf which isn’t played professionally as much as it should be so kudos should be given to the former Open champion for organising an event of this type.
The tournament sees 64 European Tour stars head to Aberdeen for a week of knockout golf right from the start so every player will need to be at their best from the very first tee shot if they want to be around for longer than one day.
The Murcar Links Golf Club in Aberdeen will host this tournament and on the face of it the course looks well suited to matchplay. It isn’t a long course at all, quite the opposite in fact with the par 70 layout only measuring 6,409 yards but with narrow and contouring fairways accuracy from the tee is going to be important even in this format of the game.
With all the rain that has been around the golf course is likely to play soft so players need to avoid the rough to give themselves the best chance of going flag hunting but the greens are likely to take balls from all angles so we should see plenty of birdies this week especially with the freedom to be more aggressive with putts.
So summing that up I’m looking for players who hit it straight and who are aggressive putters. I’m not too worried about distance because largely playing for position will be the order of the day this week.
One of the beauties about betting on this tournament is we have the draw planned out for the whole week before a ball has been hit so we can focus on the right areas in the schedule and get stuck in. I’m going to go with four outright. One from each quarter and hopefully at least a couple get through to Sunday.
Chris Wood has been enjoying a good time of it recently. He was third in Morocco earlier in the year and then in the top five at Wentworth and then topped it all off with a win in Austria so he has no problem in the wind and with a proven links record I’m expecting a big run from the Englishman. Not only should Wood be suited to the conditions he has landed himself with a plum draw and it is hard to see him not making the quarter final from his position. At 22/1 he looks a great bet given how he’s hitting the ball right now.
I sided with Matthew Fitzpatrick last week and I’m taking him again this week. The former US Amateur champion is accustomed to matchplay and he is hitting the ball really well. He went close in Switzerland last week and only a Danny Willett on top form denied him. He’ll meet nobody of that calibre this week so he must have every chance. We’ve seen in Ireland that he can play tough links golf and being young he should be extremely competitive. This is a chance to break his European Tour duck and he’s a nice price here.
In the top quarter numbers one and nine seeds James Morrison and Richie Ramsay are sat but there could be better value in the Spanish player Alejandro Canizares. Canizares is a wonderful putter which is a big thing in matchplay and he’s usually very tidy off the tee box so I expect him to attack these greens and make a nice number of birdies. We shouldn’t write off Morrison or especially Ramsay but at three times the price of the Scot I’ll take a chance on Canizares.
The third quarter is headlined by a player I admire a lot in Kiradech Apribarnrat but I’m not so sure he functions best on these smaller, tighter tracks so I’m happy to take him on this week. There are a few options in this quarter with Raphael Jacquelin, Max Kieffer and Krisoffer Broberg all in the section but in terms of pure ball striking Gregory Havret is going about as well as anyone. The Frenchman is fourth in fairways hit on tour this year so he should find these ones no problem. If he can get some putts to drop then his experience could see him progress towards the weekend and beyond.
Back C.Wood to win Paul Lawrie Matchplay (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Betfred (1/4 1-4)
Back M.Fitzpatrick to win Paul Lawrie Matchplay (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Stan James (1/4 1-4)
Back A.Canizares to win Paul Lawrie Matchplay (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Ladbrokes (1/4 1-4)
Back G.Havret to win Paul Lawrie Matchplay (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Skybet (1/4 1-4)
Blog 2015 Golf record: +3.51pts
