Matthew Fitzpatrick roared back to force a playoff at the Omega European Masters last week and then defeated Scott Hend, who lost in a playoff for the second straight year in Switzerland. The European Tour will now move to the Netherlands for the KLM Open, which will tee off at The Dutch for the second year in a row. The KLM Open, formerly the Dutch Open, was first held in 1912 and this will be the 98th edition of the event, which now has a prize pool of almost $2.15 million as the Race To Dubai is starting to wind down. Here is a closer look at this week’s event along with the field and some betting picks.
Details
Event: KLM Open
Category: European Tour
Date: September 14th – 17th
Location: The Dutch, near Gorinchem, the Netherlands
This is the second consecutive year that The Dutch will host this event, and Joost Luiten’s -19 was good enough for a three-stroke win. It was Luiten’s second win in his home-country’s event as he also won at Kennemer in 2013. A win in 2017 would tie Luiten with Bernhard Langer and Simon Dyson as three-time winners of the KLM Open.
Past Five Winners
2016: Joost Luiten -19
2015: Thomas Pieters -19
2014: Paul Casey -14
2013: Joost Luiten -12
2012: Peter Hanson -14
The Field
Bernd Wiesberger enters the week as the favorite at this event. He has been relatively successful this year but a lot of that success came early. He had four Top 4 finishes in his first six events this year. More recently, he missed the cut last week at the Omega European Masters and placed 51st at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open. Joost Luiten is second in line here but he too has been shaky of late. He finished 30th last week, missed the cut prior to that and finished 54th and 32nd the weeks before that. Ryan Fox might be an interesting bet at +1850. He placed ninth last week at the Omega European Masters but that was his fourth Top 10 in his last five outings.
What To Know About The Course
The Dutch opened in 2011 and was designed by Colin Montgomery, and it is a par-71 course with large greens and water that can factor into play on 12 of the 18 holes. It isn’t a particularly long course at around 6,600 yards, but accuracy is the key on this course, especially on the undulating fairways and greens where the ball can roll away from you.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Julian Suri over Adrian Otaegui
Suri is the favorite in this matchup at -125, while Otaegui is rated at +105 after missing the cut at the Omega European Masters. Suri finished T-20 in Switzerland and he is on a roll with three top-20 finishes in his last four starts, including his win at the Made in Denmark event. Otaegui won the Match Play event, but looked a little rusty coming out of the gate in Switzerland and he might have a little more this weekend. It is tempting to take Otaegui, but Suri has the hot hand right now.
Top-Five Pick: Ryan Fox
Since a string of three missed cuts earlier in the year, culminating at the BMW PGA Championship, Fox has put together a nice season. Since then, he has finished in the top 25 in seven of 10 starts (one of those was a T-26 at the BMW International Open, and his only missed cut came at the British Open) and he has finished in the top 10 in four of those tournaments, including a T-9 at the Omega European Masters. He also finished in the top five in three straight starts recently as Fox is now in the top 100 in the world rankings and is trying to improve on that.
Odds To Win The 2017 KLM Open
Bernd Wiesberger +1650
Joost Luiten +1650
Ryan Fox +1850
David Horsey +2050
Lee Westwood +2050
Andy Sullivan +2250
Ross Fisher +2550
Richie Ramsey +2550
Julian Suri +2850
Adrian Otaegui +3050
Fabrizio Zanotti +2050
Paul Dunne +3250
Thongchai Jaidee +3550
Chris Wood +4050
Kiradech Pepperell +4550
Aaron Rai +4550
Tom Lewis +4550
Alexander Bjork +5050
Nacho Elvira +5050
Mikko Ilonen +5050
Padraig Harrington +5500
Thomas Detry +5500
Dean Burmester +5500
Jamie Donaldson +5500
Anthony Wall +5500
Nicolas Colsaerts +5500
Richard Bland +5500
Victor Dubuisson +6550
Thomas Aiken +6550
James Morrison +6550
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