The European Tour remains in China this week for the Volvo China Open. After the Shenzhen International last week the Asian nation will be hosting some of the stars of Europe for a second time and the last time until October.
It was a bit of a slog in Shenzhen last week which might have an impact on this tournament but thankfully the weather is set much fairer for this event so we should be in for a decent week of golf to conclude the Asian leg of the Tour.
Recent champions
2015 – Ashun Wu
2014 – Alexander Levy
2013 – Brett Rumford
2012 – Branden Grace
2011 – Nicolas Colsaerts
2010 – Y E Yang
2009 – Scott Strange
2008 – Damien McGrane
2007 – Markus Brier
2006 – Jeev Milkha Singh
The course
For the second year in a row this tournament will be played on a new course. This week the Topwin Golf and Country Club will stage the event and in truth we don’t know a whole lot about the place.
There is no information on the course on the European Tour website and somewhat annoyingly the course website is lashed with malware so we can’t find too much out about the place especially as this is the first time a top level tournament has been held here.
What we do know if that the course is designed by Ian Woosnam and is a par 72 which measures 7,261. There was a lower tour level tournament played here in the past with a winning score of 16 under so we’re probably looking at a birdie fest this week so I’m attacking with length on my side.
The field
Last week’s runner up Joost Luiten is in the field this week and he will tee off as the 10/1 favourite. Former champion Alex Levy is the second favourite at 16/1 with Bernd Wiesberger the same price. Ross Fisher is 22/1 with Alex Noren sitting at 28/1, the same price as Thorbjorn Olesen. It is 33/1 bar those in what is an open looking betting heat.
Main bets
I’m going with two main bets once again this week. Length is the primary trend I’m looking for but good touch is helpful and fairly recent form too and both my picks have that. I was looking at Joost Luiten but I wonder if he’s long enough and going into Monday last week is a negative as is his price.
I’ve backed Thorbjorn Olesen before this season and he almost landed the goods for me in Qatar. A very strong field found him out that weekend but this field isn’t anything like as strong and that has to be a positive. Another positive is Olesen’s form where he made the cut and finished well with an under par round in Spain and then he was in the top 10 again last week.
All the weather delays and messing around probably never helped Olesen last week but there won’t be any of that here and with him able to use his length off the tee I think it is a leading player here. If he can get the putts to drop I’m expecting him to be right in contention at the weekend.
Another player I’ve backed before this year with some success is Scott Hend and I’m taking the big hitting Australian again this week. Although he lives in America his record in Asia both on the co-sanctioned European Tour events and the Asian Tour is very good and after a solid week in Shenzhen I think he’s primed for a decent run here.
Hend loves tracks where he can attack off the tee but his all round game was in good nick last week. He is always long which means he is firing shorter irons into the greens and if he can have another good week with the short stick this course should have set up well for him to go close to, and hopefully land, another European Tour title.
Outsiders
I’m going with two outsiders as well this week. Both come from Sweden and I’ve backed them both before so there is no mystery to either of them. Indeed one of them is a man I took last week in Johan Carlsson.
In fairness Carlsson never competed last week. He missed the cut by quite a few shots but with all the waiting around and the course changing qualities with the rain and heavy conditions there are excuses there to merit giving him another chance.
If we ignore last week Carlsson has been in pretty decent form in 2016 as a whole as I mentioned when taking him in that tournament. One bad week doesn’t put you out of form. With this tournament likely to be less of a lottery than that one became Carlsson gets much the same chance on a track which should still suit his game.
The other Swede I like this week is Pelle Edberg. We saw in Thailand that he can give it a good biff off the tee but he has a nice touch both going to the greens and around them too and that could make him a live runner here.
If he can have a big week with the short stick then the rest of his game should make him very competitive over the four days of this tournament around here.
Tips
Back T.Olesen to win Volvo China Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Coral (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
Back S.Hend to win Volvo China Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-5)
Back J.Carlsson to win Volvo China Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-5)
Back P.Edberg to win Volvo China Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-5)
Back them here:
