Our golf expert has picked seven selections for the European Tour event at Close House.
British Masters 2020
The European Tour returns with a largely disappointing field taking to the North of England and the Close House track in Newcastle. Lee Westwood hosts the event for another time although his job in enticing players to the venue has been a difficult one as you can imagine. Many took the decision, quite rightly, to head to the States and the European Tour has been left behind somewhat. Hopefully these next few events are a success and we see some of the better players focus on the Race to Dubai towards the end of the season. This course held the 2017 edition of the British Masters where Paul Dunne beat McIlroy by three shots winning at 20 under par. The course is pretty simple although at less than 7000 yards requires a good deal more strategy than power. Three years ago Dunne ranked 4th in SG Tee to Green upon winning, and 4th in SG Approach. McIlroy, Bjerregaard and Lowry all featured in the top ten of the leaderboard and those stats also so it is worth noting that a solid tee to green game here is needed to shoot the scores necessary to contend. That being said, we have no form and little stats to go on. So I'll be looking mainly to accurate types who can plot their way around a short track and have shown form on a similar type layout.
Lee Westwood is a tough betting proposition to let pass. As I mentioned in our filmed preview on Monday his form here is lightyears beyond anyone could wish for in this field. It's worth nothing that he won in Abu Dhabi earlier in the year on his first outing of the season. That was around an 8 or 9 week absence from competitive golf so we can presume a break is not a huge negative for the tournament host. Hosting duties can often be a negative also but with no spectators and a lot less work for a tournament host to do, I gather Westwood will have a better opportunity of landing the spoils here as when he was tournament host back in 2017. He started that edition 66-65 to lie second at the halfway stage before faltering at the weekend. This time around we see a lot weaker field, but with that comes a much thinner price. The top 5 finish at the Honda before the break was another sign of the sparkling golf Westwood has produced in the winter of his tour career. It is just head and shoulders above the rest and his course knowledge here should secure him a top ten comfortably as long as there is no hangover from the break.
2.5pts each-way L. Westwood 9/1 (1/5 10 places)
Adri Arnaus managed 11th place last week at the Euram Bank Open so we can safely assume there's not a whole lot wrong with his game on return. I can make the analysis of this lad short and sweet. Quite simply, he is probably the 3rd best golfer in this field. I had him slotted in around 22/1 third fav in my tissue, ahead of the likes of Pepperell, Fox, Fisher and Kinhult. I was amazed by the 50/1 on offer this morning and whilst some of the value has disappeared I still make Arnaus closer to half the 40/1 price that is now on offer. I am looking to the more accurate types this week and it's a huge positive he finished 2nd at Valderrama and has a 6th place finish posted at Crans also. The best value bet in the field for me.
1.75pts each-way A. Arnaus 33/1 (1/5 10 places)
GB & Irish golfers have excellent records on these shores, as do Scandinavians and Kalle Samooja is a must for the staking plan this time around. He showed some serious form in the middle of 2019 finishing inside the top 25 in four big events on the trot, the Open De France, Turkish Airlines, Portugal Masters and the Nedbank. The top 10 in the Nedbank was particularly impressive with the strength of field. A decent field assembled for his last outing also in Qatar where he finished 3rd, one shot off the pace. Under 7000 yards is particularly short for a tournament course these days and he went well at another short track at altitude last year having been beaten in a playoff in Crans. He has shown a good deal of game in the past 18 months and although his price isn't anything special I believe another classy performance is possible.
1pt each-way K. Samooja 45/1 (1/4 5 places)
Two springers could be Grant Forrest and Jack Senior. The former is still to get off the mark on either of the European or Challenge Tour but he has posted some impressive results in the past 18 months. Two top 10s in Mauritius have been backed up by 6th at the Trophee Hassan and a top 20 in the Irish Open at Lahinch. The odd decent links result can be no negative heading to Close House this week. Prior to the break he he went 16th-27th-10th in the Desert Swing with some better fields than this taking to those events. He spoke candidly of his worries for his girlfriend working in an Edinburgh Hospital treating Covid patients during the lockdown and mentioned a new perspective that we all must have if and when the virus eventually dies down. That may be another positive for the Scot who has been far from disgraced on the big stage. Jack Senior has two Challenge Tour wins in this part of the world winning at Galgorm in NI and the Scottish Hydro Challenge. Performances like those in challenging conditions are always a positive. Earlier in the season he was playing impressive golf finishing 4th in the South African Open and adding top 20 finishes in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Those two events blew hard as well so we can take from that he is comfortable in the wind which could materialise at points this week. I expected a slightly shorter price. Marcus Armitage wasn't far from being on the staking plan with a win here before and a final pairing with Oosthuizen at the South African Open at the start of the year. I wanted three figures at least though and despite a lively outsider I'll reluctantly leave him aside. Elvira is another who likes a track that demands some accuracy and could maybe outplay his odds of 140/1.
0.75pt each-way G. Forrest 70/1 (1/5 10 places)
0.75pt each-way J. Senior 80/1 (1/5 7 places)
Finally I'll add two smaller selections at big prices. The first being Franceso Laporta. The Italian is an accurate sort who has drifted to a big number after two lacklustre performances in the two comeback events. That shouldn't be enough to warrant these kind of prices though. There are only 10 golfers in this field ranked higher in the world ranking than Laporta yet we see him dangled at a top price of 160/1. Finished 7th int he 2019 Italian Open that demanded a good deal of accuracy off the tee. A top ten in Sicily is another sign of him being comfortable in some more challenging conditions. There are plenty of birdies on offer here but I think he could like the track. Finally I can't help but feel David Drysdale is a shade big. Last time we saw him he was heart breakingly close to winning in Qatar with Campillo eventually beating him in a playoff. The shots he pulled off towards the end of that round and during the playoff where spectacular and he'd have thought on one or two occasions that he had it won. It wasn't the case sadly. He has saved some of his best performances for these islands with two top tens on Irish Links tracks as well as top tens at the Links Championship and Wentworth a fair long time ago. You wouldn't see half the 200/1 on offer had this been the week after his playoff defeat. Worth chancing a small stake bet.
0.75pt each-way F. Laporta 150/1 (1/5 7 places)
0.5pt each-way D. Drysdale 150/1 (1/5 10 places)
