Preview & outright plays:
With apologies to my Continental European colleagues, or for that matter, those of Africa, South America, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, this is the REAL start of the 2001 European Tour. A top quality field and a course that is just as good; this is a much anticipated event. Only the PGA Tour residents, Jesper Parnevik and Sergio Garcia, are missing this week from the last European Ryder Cup team. A fitting remark as this is the venue for this year's Ryder Cup matches and Curtis Strange, the US team captain, is one notable teeing it up this week.
The course was the scene of Europe's landmark Ryder Cup victory in 1985 when Sam Torrance sank a putt the width of the 18th green to win to Cup. He will return as European captain later this year, but the course is already showing the changes introduced for those matches. The fairways are much tighter than last year and with the wet Spring, the rough will be quite problematic. It has always been a shot-maker's course, and was even lambasted before the 1985 Ryder Cup for being too American in its setup, but this year accuracy off the tee will be more important. Olly will find it difficult to make it two wins in two weeks and two wins in two years in the same event.
With the market dominated by the five players Torrance would love most to have on his team, the best value lies just beneath them in the markets. This week's outright selections are Bernhard Langer, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Angel Cabrera. Both Langer and Jimenez have chosen to concentrate their early season events on the PGA Tour rather than follow the trans-continental European Tour and for both players it has been a success. Langer's last three events have yielded finishes of 3rd (TPC), 6th (Masters) and 3rd (WorldCom Classic). Bar Tiger, that type of form is matched only by Mickelson. Generally regarded as one of the best shot-makers in the game, he returns to an event in which only he and Olly can become triple-winners of this title. He won in 1991 and 1997 on different courses and but for an opening round 76, would have finished much higher than 18th last year on this course. Difficult to see him out of the top-10.
Jimenez did struggle at times on the PGA Tour, but got his game together to finish 10th at the Masters and on his return to Europe he finished 3rd in his home Open. Like Langer, he opened with a poor 76 last year, but he recovered strongly to finish 9th. The emphasis on both accuracy off the tee and shot-making ability is perfect for Jimenez's game and he should feature strongly during the week.
It would seem strange that while emphasizing the importance this week, the 3rd choice would be longest hitter on the Tour, Angel Cabrera. In truth, this is a course that does reward attacking play, not least at the signature 10th hole which is a drivable par-four over water which requires a high fade. The penalties are harsh, but ignoring the farce of last week, Cabrera is in the form of his life having finished in the top-10 of five of his previous six starts. The stretch included a home in the Open de Argentina, a top-10 at the Masters and the only failing (26th) was at the TPC. He even recorded another top-10 in this event 12 months ago and albeit on a different course, was 2nd two years ago. Having secured his maiden Tour win, it will be no surprise if he picks another three or four titles this year.
Outright plays:
Bernhard Langer to win 25/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes [5 places option]
Miguel Angel Jimenez to win 25/1 e.w. @ Surrey or Victor Chandler
Angel Cabrera to win 33/1 e.w. @ Victor Chandler
With apologies to my Continental European colleagues, or for that matter, those of Africa, South America, the Middle East, Asia and Australia, this is the REAL start of the 2001 European Tour. A top quality field and a course that is just as good; this is a much anticipated event. Only the PGA Tour residents, Jesper Parnevik and Sergio Garcia, are missing this week from the last European Ryder Cup team. A fitting remark as this is the venue for this year's Ryder Cup matches and Curtis Strange, the US team captain, is one notable teeing it up this week.
The course was the scene of Europe's landmark Ryder Cup victory in 1985 when Sam Torrance sank a putt the width of the 18th green to win to Cup. He will return as European captain later this year, but the course is already showing the changes introduced for those matches. The fairways are much tighter than last year and with the wet Spring, the rough will be quite problematic. It has always been a shot-maker's course, and was even lambasted before the 1985 Ryder Cup for being too American in its setup, but this year accuracy off the tee will be more important. Olly will find it difficult to make it two wins in two weeks and two wins in two years in the same event.
With the market dominated by the five players Torrance would love most to have on his team, the best value lies just beneath them in the markets. This week's outright selections are Bernhard Langer, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Angel Cabrera. Both Langer and Jimenez have chosen to concentrate their early season events on the PGA Tour rather than follow the trans-continental European Tour and for both players it has been a success. Langer's last three events have yielded finishes of 3rd (TPC), 6th (Masters) and 3rd (WorldCom Classic). Bar Tiger, that type of form is matched only by Mickelson. Generally regarded as one of the best shot-makers in the game, he returns to an event in which only he and Olly can become triple-winners of this title. He won in 1991 and 1997 on different courses and but for an opening round 76, would have finished much higher than 18th last year on this course. Difficult to see him out of the top-10.
Jimenez did struggle at times on the PGA Tour, but got his game together to finish 10th at the Masters and on his return to Europe he finished 3rd in his home Open. Like Langer, he opened with a poor 76 last year, but he recovered strongly to finish 9th. The emphasis on both accuracy off the tee and shot-making ability is perfect for Jimenez's game and he should feature strongly during the week.
It would seem strange that while emphasizing the importance this week, the 3rd choice would be longest hitter on the Tour, Angel Cabrera. In truth, this is a course that does reward attacking play, not least at the signature 10th hole which is a drivable par-four over water which requires a high fade. The penalties are harsh, but ignoring the farce of last week, Cabrera is in the form of his life having finished in the top-10 of five of his previous six starts. The stretch included a home in the Open de Argentina, a top-10 at the Masters and the only failing (26th) was at the TPC. He even recorded another top-10 in this event 12 months ago and albeit on a different course, was 2nd two years ago. Having secured his maiden Tour win, it will be no surprise if he picks another three or four titles this year.
Outright plays:
Bernhard Langer to win 25/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes [5 places option]
Miguel Angel Jimenez to win 25/1 e.w. @ Surrey or Victor Chandler
Angel Cabrera to win 33/1 e.w. @ Victor Chandler
