The European Open Preview - Gone Fish(er)ing!
This week the European Tour travels to The London Golf Club for the European Open. A high-class field will be present in Kent for the event where last year, Ross Fisher won the tournament in real style. A fantastic holed bunker shot at the final hole completed a majestic seven shot victory.
Sergio Garcia returns to European soil this week looking to kick-start his poor season thus far. He has not had a top ten finish since January and his last five tournaments in America have been particularly disappointing - 31st, 77th, 38th (at the Masters Tournament), a missed cut and 22nd in his defence of The Players Championship. But he returns to The London Golf Club full of belief that he can go one better than last year, when he was runner-up to Ross Fisher.
Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy looked like he would challenge last week before fading away on the back nine, largely due to some errant tee shots. It is the mark of the young man however that at such an early stage of his professional career, he is joint favourite at 12/1 with defending champion Ross Fisher.
Henrik Stenson (25/1) and Angel Cabrera (25/1) will both be looking to bounce back after disappointingly missing the cut in Wentworth last week while Graeme McDowell will look to avoid what is becoming an all to familiar dreadful start to his tournaments. To his credit, he has bounced back from these starts and if he can shoot a sub 70 round on Thursday, he wont be without his chances.
Colin Montgomerie has played well in his last two tournaments only for final rounds of 80 and 77 undoing all the good work. Rafael Cabrera-Bello had a nightmare last week but the Spaniard remains on our radar and we are convinced it is a matter of “when” and not “if” he wins on Tour. At 80/1 his price looks too high and we just hope his confidence hasn’t taken too big a hit from Wentworth. David Horsey was impressive last week also and at 80/1, is again tempting. Finally, newly turned professional Shane Lowry (125/1) makes his debut on Tour after his Irish heroics. I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed for Lowry and would love to see him make it through to the weekend at least.
Verdict
Ross Fisher nearly came through for us last week and we are finding it difficult to oppose him this week despite the low odds. At 12/1 we recommend him as an each way bet due to the fact he likes the course and played so beautifully last week. I would imagine McIlroy and Stenson won’t be too far away however.
As an outside bet, David Horsey impressed me last week. His swing looks very compact and despite falling back in the final round at Wentworth last week, he should be brimming with confidence. At 80/1, I think he offers value. Rafael Cabrera-Bello is also tempting but I will stick with Horsey this week
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