Omega European Masters Betting Preview

OMEGA EUROPEAN MASTERS BETTING PREVIEW – The USA Ryder Cup team has been selected, and now all eyes turn to Crans-sur-Sierre for the final European tournament before their Ryder Cup team is selected. If this isn’t the biggest tournament on the DP World Tour, it’s certainly in the discussion, so this will be a fun week filled with a ton of storylines as some of the players on the fringe angle for one of the last available captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup squad.

The Course

Crans-sur-Sierre is, by nearly all accounts, the most beautiful course on the DP World Tour. Picture the Swiss Alps, then picture the mountain views, and then picture a beautiful little golf course tucked into those mountain views with tight fairways, small greens, and elevation changes.

This course is far from a behemoth with two extremely reachable par fives and several par fours measuring under 400 yards. At 6,900 yards — from the absolute tips — and par 70, it’s one of the shorter courses these guys will play all season.

As is typical with a shorter venue, the emphasis will be on accuracy. The fairways are tree-lined and the greens offer small targets on approach. Players who do well in the ball striking department tend to do well here. The player who wins will likely be gaining strokes off the tee and on approach. Past success here indicates that players tend to be unusually high in SG: Off the Tee for such a short course, but accuracy is at more of a premium than distance for that stat this week.

The Field

The field is pretty loaded with guys who need to play well to secure a Ryder Cup spot and there’s quite a bit of talent towards the top of the board, headlined by Matt Fitzpatrick (+850). After him, you start to get to more unfamiliar names — unless you’re a real diehard — like Ludvig Aberg (+1800) and the Hojgaard twins.

I’ll be skipping all of those guys towards the top. The DP World Tour tends to be a tour in which randomness can be your friend, so I’ll have my eyes on some deep longshots who I think could get hot, and a couple of midrange guys looking to play their way onto the Ryder Cup team.

The Picks

Yannik Paul (+4000)

He’s a guy who can play himself directly onto the team on points, given the quirky qualifying structure, with a finish of 3rd or better here.

It’s only his second full time season on the DP World Tour, but he’s been extremely consistent thus far in his young career. He’s strong on approach and comes into this week in good form after finishing 10th last week.

Altitude is always a consideration here, so you could do worse than a guy who lives in Scottsdale and went to the University of Colorado. Altitude is nothing new for him and he looks like an excellent fit with his style of play and current form. And he’s motivated.

Alex Fitzpatrick (+5000)

He’s a real player, and people are sleeping on him because of he’s still in his older brother’s shadow. He’s not at the elite level of Matt, but he’s a damn good player on this tour. His strengths tend to be with his approach thus far as a professional.

I tend to lock into certain players for different tours. Anyone who listens to the podcast, Clubhouse Picks, knows that I’ve been banging the drum for Chan Kim on the KFT, and all he’s done recently is win two in a row and lock up a PGA Tour card.

Alex is my guy on the DP World Tour. The win will come and I’ll be on him when it does — or until his odds aren’t quite so high, at the very least. He’s already checked the box with a win on the Challenge Tour, now it’s time to aim higher.

Nathan Kimsey (+5000)

The man is a laser beam off the tee, which should serve him well here. He had a really solid run during some limited PGA Tour events about a month back, finishing 2nd at the Barbasol and T25 at the Barracuda. The Barracuda is played at elevation, so it’s clear he can maneuver around once the air starts to get thinner.

I’ll take the accuracy in this field.

Marcus Kinhult (+6000)

He’s another guy who is accurate off the tee, decent on approach, who also putts pretty well.

He hasn’t finished outside the top-20 in his last three events, two of which were stateside on the PGA Tour. Again, he’s a guy who played well at the Barracuda (I watched him in person), so I’ll roll with him here.

This looks like a good course fit for a guy who isn’t overpowering with length (who I’m also emotionally attached to after spending four hours in the heat following him in person).

The Longshots

I’m just going to run these guys down quickly if you want to get really sick with your betting card.

Ryo Hisatsune (+7500) is probably the safest of the bunch in this crowd. He’s another guy I spent way too much time following in the Barracuda, and I walked away impressed at the poise of the 20 year old. Accurate off the tee and a good putter who has played well at elevation, book it.

JC Ritchie (+20000) and Jens Dantorp (+30000) are my sicko bets, mostly on the strength of very strong performances at the Barracuda (which is the best comp I can come up with for most of these guys with elevation, if that isn’t obvious) because they finished T10 and T3, respectively. They go on the card.

The last one I’ll mention is Max Schmitt (+20000). He’s been playing really well for the last couple of weeks, notching a  T12 and following it up with a T4 last week. It’s early in his career and I’m not certain what he does well yet besides hit it a pretty long ways and roll the rock. At any rate, he’s been right up there for a couple of weeks and is trending in the right direction. He goes on the card.

And there you have it. My very strange betting card for a strange golf course.