BMW International Open. The Nord-Eichenried course is a maturing course and last year the rough was allowed to grow up to penalise poor tee shots and make scoring more difficult. It worked to some degree, but this is still a course that favours long drivers. The big flat greens are easy to putt on and poor putters can compete. Despite it being an ‘easy’ course the trend has been for well established ‘name’ players to win. Players returning from the U.S. Open will find this a piece of cake compared to the brutal Oakmont course they had to endure last week and those players that did well there can be expected to enjoy themselves this week. Players like Casey, Dougherty and Fasth should be in the mix but despite his run of good results, can you trust a player like Dougherty who finds it hard to win, on a course on which he has never had a top 20 finish? Casey’s round of 66 at Oakmont has been hailed as one of the greatest U.S. Open rounds in history. Casey will have enjoyed the adoration heaped upon him and will come here full of confidence. After last years U.S. Open were he finished 15th, he went straight to Gleneagles to win the Johnnie Walker Championship, and with his distance off the tee he could shoot some seriously low scores on this course. His course form figures are impressive 7/7/3/3/mc/13 and while his odds are short, he must have a leading chance. 2 points e/w Paul Casey @ 12/1 generally available. lost 2 points Fasth does have a 4th place under his belt from 2005, is very much a confidence player and has won twice on tour in both 2005 and 2006, so he knows how to win. He is long enough off the tee (averaged over 304 yards at Oakmont) and has a good all round game. 1 point e/w Niclas Fasth @ 25/1 generally available. won 31.25 points Alejandro Canizares is really starting to show impressive form, with five top 20 finishes in his last seven events. He was an impressive 25th here last year and can be expected to be higher than that this year. He is not particularly long off the tee but there is no weakness in his game. Anders Hansen had that big win in the BMW Championship at Wentworth, but the rest of his season has been very ordinary. Outside of that win (on a course that he has won on before) he has just 1 other top 30 finish from 14 starts. His course form is equally unimpressive with three missed cuts from 5 starts and never better than 28th. 5 points Canizares to beat A. Hansen @ 10/11 with Ladbrokes. lost 5 points Ernie Els run of rather indifferent form continued with a never sighted 51st at Oakmont and he now has just one top 20 finish from his last 5 events (15th at the Memorial). He has played here 3 times with a best placed 5th in 2000 and looks to be worth opposing with in form course expert Casey. 5 points Casey to beat Els @ 10/11 with Skybet. lost 5 points Travelers Championship 1 point Ryan Moore @ 40.0, 1 point place @ 9.00 with Unibet lost 2 points Last years runner up, a good all round game, in good form (2nd two weeks ago at the Memorial). Missed the cut in the U.S. Open, but that may be a blessing in disguise. |
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