The European Tour leaves Asia and heads back to Africa for a couple of weeks. The latest African leg of the tour starts with the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco. This tournament has been established for a while and was won last year by Richie Ramsay.
The European Tour have co-sanctioned the event since 2010 but the tournament has struggled to find a settled spot in the calendar. The previous co-sanctioned stagings of this event have been in March but the tournament has moved to May this year.
Recent winners
2015 – Richie Ramsay
2014 – Alejandro Canizares
2013 – Marcel Siem
2012 – Michael Hoey
2011 – David Horsey
2010 – Rhys Davies
2009 – No tournament
2008 – Ernie Els
2007 – Padraig Harrington
2006 – Sam Torrance
Course
When Ramsay won last year he did so on a different one to which the tournament will be played on this week. This week we’re back to the Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat having had the tournament at the Golf du Palais Royal for the last five years.
It isn’t easy finding much out about the course this week and statistics weren’t monitored when Rhys Davies won here in 2010 due to two courses being used that week. This week just the one course is in operation and the scoring should be a lot higher than it was then.
The Red Course is the one in play this week. It is a par 72 this year having been a par 73 in 2010. The course has been lengthened by 150 yards since then and has a total yardage of 7,487 yards. The fairways are generally flat and wide but the greens are small and will be tricky to find so this is going to be a bit of long test for the players.
The field
The change in the schedule has done the tournament no favours because this is one of the weaker fields I can remember being assembled for a full event. Ramsay doesn’t even defend the title which shows where this event is at now.
There are a couple of recent champions in the field though with Alejandro Canizares, David Horsey and Rhys Davies all teeing it up looking for a second Moroccan title to put on their mantel pieces.
Market leaders
Alexander Levy is the favourite for the tournament this week. He will tee off as a 14/1 shot with the former champion Alejandro Canizares next at 16/1. The Open de Espana champion Andrew Johnston is 20/1, the same price as Gregory Bourdy while French duo Julien Quesne and Romain Wattel are 25/1 and 28/1 respectively.
Main bet
The field this week is so bad I’m only going with one main bet and I’ll throw a few darts at the bigger prices. The main bet comes in the form of Dylan Frittelli, a man who has shown some form in better fields than this over the course of this term and who arrives here in decent nick after some good weeks on both the Sunshine Tour and the Challenge Tour.
Frittelli leads the driving accuracy on the Sunshine Tour this year and he is seventh in the greens in regulation and those two rankings should serve him well on this layout. The South African should be comfortable with all the kikuyu grass on the fairways as that is the grass used on many courses where he is from.
Frittelli has eight top 20 finishes on the three tours he has been playing on this season and with this field being as light in depth and genuine quality as this I fancy he could go well this week and nick the title.
Outsiders
Mike Lorenzo-Vera hit my ‘one to watch’ list when he had an excellent week around the corner from me at Woburn last season and it was impossible not to notice him in the recent Open de Espana where he was bang in contention in a quality field on a really tough track in very tough conditions.
That week he finished in a tie for sixth and was third overall for greens hit in regulation and they were tough greens to hit. There is nothing like the standard of player who was ahead of him that week in this tournament with the exception of Johnston so at a big price we should get a run out of the Frenchman.
At a similar price I’m going to have a go with Anthony Wall. It is fair to say that 2016 hasn’t been anything like as good as 2015 was but such is how well he played last year it was probably never going to be.
That said Wall is pretty solid from tee to green and that should make him competitive here. When not in the best of form a weak field is perfect to get some confidence and if he can get the putts to drop here then I expect the Englishman to give us a run for our money.
Finally I’m going to chance a man I took in this tournament last year in Mikael Lundberg. It has all gone wrong for the Swede since the time he took a share of the lead in the British Masters at Woburn last year and now he no longer has his European Tour card so weeks when he gets in the field he has to make the most of them.
Lundberg has a fairly decent record in Africa which is a positive for him and he was third in this tournament last year, albeit on a different course but he drives the ball well and usually hits plenty of greens. Greens being smaller around here might benefit him so he’s worth chancing at a three figure price.
Tips
Back D.Frittelli to win Trophee Hassan II (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 36.00 with Paddy Power (1/4 1-5)
Back M.Lorenzo-Vera to win Trophee Hassan II (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 56.00 with Paddy Power (1/4 1-5)
Back them here:
Back A.Wall to win Trophee Hassan II (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
Back M.Lundberg to win Trophee Hassan II (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 201.00 with BetVictor (1/4 1-5)
