THE Porsche European Open takes place at the Bernhard Langer-designed Beckenbauer Course at the Hartl Golf Resort, Bad Griesbach, in Germany.
The course runs beside the River Rott and of course water comes into play frequently throughout the round. Also this week there has been a lot of rain in that area and conditions could be quite wet underfoot. Because of the conditions distance off the tee and scrambling could be important stats this week.
I gave Scott Hend a miss last week as I thought he could be tired after his last few tournaments and I'm glad I did as he missed the cut.
Hopefully the extra break has helped him recharge the batteries. He is a long hitter, averaging 301.4 yards this season, and his scrambling stat is 55% so the figures are there and it’s just whether he can get back to how he played in the European Masters and KLM Open.
Last year here he finished fourth with four sub-70 rounds for a 271 score. As I said a few weeks back he is going to win in Europe soon.
Bernd Weisberger got back to form with a bang two weeks ago when finishing second in the KLM Open. He hit two 66s and a 65 in his -16 score. The 31-year-old Austrian has had an up and down season and hasn’t won since the French Open last year.
He is a better player than his 27th position on the European Tour and has six top-15s in his last 10 starts. Hits the ball on average 294.3 (49th) and scrambling average is a 61.3% (17). Hit a bogey-free 64 in the first round here last year before missing the cut but shows he can hit low scores on this course.
Recommended Bets
1.5pts ew Scott Hend (Stan James, 30-1)
1.5pts ew Bernd Weisberger (Betfair, 16-1)
Ace Venturer
Bet 365;
Russel Knox, Top 4 – 8/1
Scott Hend, Top 10 – 3/1
Mainz -1 – 3/1
Alloa to Score – 6/5
£1 Lucky 15
Kaymer to win for me, 5 top 10 finishes in his last 7 European tours and after Luiten and Molinari both won in their own countries I’m sure he will be as eager as ever to get the win here!
Will also be on Hend ew and Richard Bland 33/1 ew who is another knocking on the door of a win. Has been in contention going into the last day for 3 weeks in a row now and although I am slightly worried of him being tired you cant knock his consistency with just 2 missed cuts all year.
R Bland 30/1
T Jaidee 35/1
Both ew