With the absolute best in the world competing in the TOUR Championship this week, the European Tour has still managed to assemble a considerable field of talent for the Porsche European Open this week. On most weeks, the EPGA takes a back seat to the PGA Tour but this week will be especially so. The Beckenbauer Course at the Hartl Golf Resort Bad Griesbach in Bad Griesbach, Germany will play host to the final event of September with a couple of Ryder Cup captain picks set to compete as well.
Event Details
Event: Porsche European Open
Category: European
Date: September 22-25
Location: Hartl Golf Resort Bad Griesbach, Bad Griesbach, Germany
The Bernard Langer-designed course is one of six at the Hartl Golf Resort in Bad Griesbach, set adjacent to the river Rott. The bentgrass greens weren’t fast last year and with the conditions surrounding the course lending to even slower greens this year, accuracy will be as important as ever. This will be only the second edition of the tournament since 2009 so there are plenty of unknowns heading in to this week.
Past Five Winners
2015: Thongchai Jaidee -19
2009: Christian Cevaer -7
2008: Ross Fisher -20
2007: Colin Mongomerie -11
2006: Stephen Dodd -9
What To Know about The Course
There isn’t much to go with in terms of statistics in regards to this course over the years but what we do know is that Scrambling could definitely be important. Based on the course conditions, Driving Accuracy will likely be more important than Driving Distance and it will be very important to find the Greens In Regulation. The area where the course is based has had a ton of rain in recent weeks so the rough is up. That will make it that much more important to stick to the fairways this week.
The Field
With the Ryder Cup right around the corner now, it will be fun to see what kind of form Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters are in playing the final event before that tournament. Kaymer and Pieters are listed as the co-favorites according to the sports betting odds with both players available at +1000. Next in line is Bernd Wiesberger, who is available at +1200 odds, followed by both Scott Hend and Alejandro Canizares. It’s hard to predict how much of an impact experience will play this week but it is worth noting that the 2015 champion Thongchai Jaidee is listed at +4000 odds to win this event.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Thomas Pieters over Bernd Wiesberger
This pick is more about finding a value opponent versus Pieters than it is anything else because Wiesberger has played well enough of late that he still gives us some value betting against him with Pieters. The big hitting Belgian is in excellent form, following up a runner-up finish at the D+D Real Czech Masters with a win at the Made In Denmark tournament in his last start. Pieters has had a couple of weeks off to rest and prepare for this event so he should be in fine form by the time this tournament gets underway this week.
Top-Five Pick: Thongchai Jaidee
It’s impossible to overlook last year’s winner as a top-five pick based both on what he did in 2015 and the fact that he is available at such long odds. Jaidee is available at +3550, which is ridiculous considering he won this event against a similar field in 2015. That experience should help Jaidee’s chances to repeat this time around and that makes him an excellent value pick to place in the top-five. Taking a look at his recent production, he’s been fairly steady of late, although he hasn’t registered a Top 5 result since the 100th Open de France (which he won). He placed ninth last week at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, 46th at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, 20th at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and had a pair of 70th-place results prior to a tie for 14th at the Ture Thailand Classic Presented by Chang. That makes three Top 20’s in his last seven; we just need him to do a bit better to get the win here.
The Top 10 Odds To Win The Porsche European Open
Martin Kaymer +1015
Thomas Pieters +1015
Bernd Wiesberger +1150
Scott Hend +2550
Alejandro Canizares +2550
Richard Bland +2850
Bud Cauley +3050
Anirban Lahiri +4550
Tommy Fleetwood +3050
Rikard Karlberg +3250
