Niall Lyons has four selections for the British Masters at the Belfry.
British Masters Winner
The British Masters quite rightly returned to the schedule eight years ago with Fitzpatrick putting his name on the map with his maiden tour victory at Woburn. There have been a handful of captivating renewals since but with the pandemic and various other earthquakes in the game the field has certainly suffered a little in recent years.
2023 British Masters Tips
The Belfry is the venue for the third year on the spin for this event whilst back in 2020 Rasmus Hojgaard managed a victory here also for the UK Championship staging, part of the tour workaround during much bleaker times. This parkland offering is a relatively short par 72 measuring under 7400 yards and traditionally the fairways have been difficult to hit with rough more than thick enough to punish those errant enough off the tee.
Bland was outside the top 50 on the greens the week he won in 2021 making most of his score through excellent ball striking. Last year Olesen wasn't quite as good as Bland from tee to green but made up for that on the greens ranking 2nd in that statistic across the four days. Evidently there are various ways to skin this feline but ball striking will more than likely be key to those appearing on the leaderboard on Sunday.
Justin Rose at 19/2
Bolstering this field's star quality is Justin Rose, who rates a very interesting favourite (and top of my British Masters tips) around the 10/1 mark. Just a few weeks ago we saw Larrazabal come off a made cut in the USPGA to win for the second time this season in Holland and although Thriston Lawrence had two missed cuts at the Memorial and US Open he was another to bounce back to winning form on the DPWT having come from the States.
Earlier in the year we landed Lucas Herbert when he returned to this tour also and it remains a very plausible line of enquiry when looking to these fields. Now enter Justin Rose, a man with boulevards more form on the PGA Tour than those previously mentioned and he lands back in his home country for one of the most historic events in the calendar at one of the more special courses.
Rose's iron play wasn't great at LACC but it was a struggle with a lack of length off the tee there and a fighting 2 under par round on day two was admirable. Previous to that his iron play has been spectacular all year combining to place him 19th in strokes gained approach on the pga tour this season. That is lightyears better than anybody in this field and he has the potential to comfortably separate himself from the rest here.
4pts WIN J.Rose 19/2 Bet365 Enhanced
Robert MacIntyre at 33/1 (Six Places)
Next best looks to be Robert MacIntyre as he returns to a track where he has shown plenty of promise on before. Last year he was just inside the op 100 after a first round of 74 only to shoot 67 on day 2, a score only beaten by two others that day. A final day 69 followed a 76 on Saturday to finish 36th. The previous year he led after 36 holes and was second after 54 holes to eventually finish 8th.
This course sets up well for the Scot and there were signs last week in Germany that he may be about to hit some hot form. His iron play was much better than in recent weeks and if he can find a little more accuracy from the tee then he'll give himself every chance to get back into the Ryder Cup conversation.
MacIntyre has failed to deliver the goods in the past eight months but since his win at the Ryder Cup venue he has still managed five top tens and a further five top 20s. The Belfry grants him a fair chance to score well and following two recent top 20s in Germany he looks set to give a bold account.
2pts each-way R.MacIntyre 33/1 (1/5 6) Skybet
Guido Migliozzi at 66/1 (Eight Places)
Guido Migliozzi is undoubtedly a difficult character to land on the right week but following a top 10 last week in Germany this looks like one of those weeks worth risking. Following his win in France last September the talented Italian has continued like he usually does in a myriad of inconsistency with mostly poor form. He led after 36 holes in Abu Dhabi in January only to falter to 20th over the weekend.
It hasn't gotten much better with 14th in Korea being his best effort since bar the 10th place last week in Germany. He played well through the bag there and should bring a fair bit of confidence to England this week. He finished runner up here to Bland in 2021 after losing out in the playoff and this may just be the spark he needs to continue to that good golf from last week. We know on his day he is capable of beating some of the best on this tour and we live in hope that this is the week he remains consistent.
1pt each-way G.Migliozzi 66/1 (1/5 8) Bet365 8 place market
Fabrizio Zanotti at 80/1 (10 Places)
Finally I'll side with Fabrizio Zanotti whose accurate game off the tee could pay dividends here this week. Following five weeks off it was no surprise to see him miss the cut in Germany last week but his game off the tee was as solid as ever. I expect him to improve with the irons for shaking off a little rust as they were in good nick before his break.
Prior to last week he lay 7th at the halfway stage in Belgium and at this event last year he was 4th heading into the final day before finishing 8th. The Paraguayan is one to side with on the tougher driving tests and there's every reason to suggest he can improve upon last week with good form here before.
1pt each-way F.Zanotti 80/1 (1/5 10) Betfred
