Omega European Masters Tips 2022

An increase in field quality has almost exactly offset the performance of Gavin Green last week in the Czech Republic, and he’s available at a similar price this week to that of last; having ridden the highs and lows of his effort in Prague, I cannot bring myself to ignore him this week, rightly or wrongly.

Save for the odd few, the players ahead of the Malaysian in this week’s market are no more adept at converting opportunities than he is, and whilst some punters will take last week’s failure to convert a 3-stroke lead heading into the final round as a big no no, I’ll take the alternative view and hope that once the initial disappointment has passed, Gavin and his team can pluck the positives out of last week and have another stab at converting a first DP World Tour title this week.

In some parallel universe, Green could be entering this week off the back of two consecutive wins – or more likely in that scenario taking this week off. It took a 15-footer on the final hole by Nitithorn Thippong to prevent the 28 year-old from forcing a play-off in Singapore the week before last, before Max Kieffer produced a sublime short game display to pip him to the title last week. A double on the back 9 as his driver refused to stay compliant was the main issue having already reached what proved to be the winning score, however he still had a chance on the 72^nd hole with his birdie putt performing a full 360 before refusing to drop. Such are the breaks in this game.

So let’s take the positive stance on this and hope he can instantly find redemption. Certainly longer hitters can and do contend around this short, fiddly track and despite his final few holes, Gavin’s SG ranks of 17^th for Off the Tee, 6^th for Approach and 3^rd for Tee to Green are pretty compelling for this week’s task.

Finishes of 12/12/32 from his 3 attempts here are solid enough, and within that we find that sat in 8^th place heading into Sunday on debut back in 2018, lead to halfway the following year, and recovered admirably last year after an opening round of 74. In those 12 rounds he’s shot 63, 64 and 65 twice and, last week’s disappointment aside, he should be licking his lips at having another stab at this beautiful track. RESULT: T38

Swedes have won 2 of the past 5 Omega European Opens and it’s not out of the realms of possibility that Marcus Kinhult improves that ratio further this week on a course where he’s shown some aptitude in the past.

4 starts here at Crans-sur-Sierre have seen the 2019 Betfred British Masters winner finish 10^th on debut in 2015, opening with rounds of 65/66, and 12^th four years later where he closed with a pair of 65s, having scraped through the cut line. 56^th and 47^th either side of those efforts means that Marcus has banked a cheque every time that he’s played around these parts, and more prize money could be coming his way this week.

What’s noticeable from his efforts here is that he’s excelled in all aspects of traditional stats at various points without putting it all together: he was 7th for Driving Accuracy here in 2018; 6^th for GIR in 2019; 2^nd for Scrambling in 2021 and 6^th for Putting Average in 2015. If 3 or more of those stats can collide this week then he should improve on his best result here and threaten adding a second DP World Tour title to his CV.

After a tough 2021 where he recorded nothing better than a tie for 24^th all year, a return to the Nordic Golf League gave Kinhult the injection of confidence that he so badly needed with a top 10 finish then victory at the Golfstar Winter Series events in quick succession. 8^th at the Kenya Open and 3^rd at the Qatar Masters at DP World Tour level saw that momentum continue and he contended again at the British Masters before falling away over the weekend.

3^rd at the Cazoo Classic on his return to Hillside, where he won that aforementioned British Masters title 3 years ago, saw him lead the field for SG Approach and SG Tee to Green and although he couldn’t hit the same highs last week, a tie for 23^rd on that weather-affected event is no disaster meaning he should arrive here in the Swiss Alps in confident mood. RESULT: T23

Course debutants Rasmus Hojgaard and Sebastian Soderberg took the title here at Crans over the past two renewals and Marcus Helligkilde is the kind of player who I think could follow in their footsteps and make it a Nordic hat-trick.

Like Helligkilde, Soderberg was a Tour maiden when he held off Rory McIlroy et al in a 5-man play-off here before Covid struck. With both Sean Crocker and Max Kieffer making their DP World Tour breakthrough in recent weeks, seeing another talented sort get over the line here for the first time doesn’t feel out of line.

That’s not to say that Marcus has no winning experience – far from it in fact. 3 Nordic Golf League wins from 2018-2021 ultimately earned the 25 year-old a stab at the Challenge Tour and he took the bull by the horns last year, winning 3 times between August and November, including the season-ending Grand Final. One of those wins came at the Swiss Challenge, which despite its name was played just over the border in France, but certainly not a million miles away to suggest that he’s comfortable in this part of the world.

4^th on his last start at Galgorm Castle ticks the fairly stark recent form trend I highlighted in the preamble, and SG ranks of 10^th for Off the Tee, 8^th for Approach and 5^th for Tee to Green all bode well ahead of this week’s task. 5^th for Scrambling also encourages in an event that’s favoured both GIR merchants and short game wizards over the years.

8^th and 13^th in the co-sanctioned Barbasol and Barracuda Championship events is strong form also with GIR ranks of 3^rd and 11^th suggesting that Marcus has every aspect of the game in his locker, and the week he puts it all together may well see him walk away with his first title at this level. RESULT: T29

Another Tour maiden who captures the attention from his recent efforts is Julien Guerrier, however unlike Helligkilde there’s a little tangible course form to add to his justification.

Recent form first though and 3 top-10 finishes in his last 7 starts suggests that the Frenchman’s game is in the right place for another stab at breaking his DP World Tour duck, having won twice on both the Alps Tour and Challenge Tour over the years. 3^rd at both the Cazoo Classic (Hillside) and Cazoo Open (Celtic Manor) rate amongst his very best career efforts, and in interview it’s clear that the 37 year-old is continuing to learn and use these lofty finishes as good experience for the next time the door is ajar on a Sunday. 54- and 36-hole leads in those events respectively have both resulted in disappointing finishes, however we’ve seen time and again how players can build on these types of experiences and perhaps it will be third time lucky if he can get in the mix here this week.

Switzerland has been a fairly positive county for the La Rochelle man to ply his trade in over the years, with a missed cut here way back in 2006 the only time that he’s failed to make the weekend at all levels. 3^rd and 4^th in 2009 and 2010 on the Challenge Tour is positive, and he was 2^nd heading into the weekend at the 2013 Swiss Challenge too.

23^rd and 56^th here at Crans at the upper level in 2018 and 2021 respectively doesn’t tell the whole story as Guerrier opened with rounds of 65 on both occasions to sit in a very handy position before fading, however with his game in a much stronger place right now I suspect he’d make a better fist of staying in contention if he can get himself off to a good start this week. RESULT: MC

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A couple of rank outsiders to complete my team this week, the first of whom is Ross McGowan who’s shown enough sporadic form over the past couple of years to suggest that he’s still capable of surprising a few of the youngsters on the right course and when everything aligns.

At 40 years of age and languishing in 140^th place in terms of Driving Distance for the season to date, competing on modern courses against players hitting it 40 yards past him on each hole limits the Englishman’s chances, yet a course like Crans-sur-Sierre offers some form of equalisation. Longer hitters can and do contend around these parts, that much is clear, but the track also offers another route to success that players like Ross can leverage.

4^th here last year ranked as McGowan’s best finish of the season by some stretch and backed up more distant efforts here of 3^rd and 7^th back in 2008/9 to reinforce my point that this layout suits the Essex man’s game. Back in those days Ross notched up a few wins at various levels, including two on the Challenge Tour as well as the Madrid Masters in 2009 on the main Tour, however it’s only been in the last couple of years that we’ve seen enough to suggest that he’s still competitive at DP World Tour level.

Having dropped all the way down to the MENA Tour at one point, a 2019 win at the Challenge Tour’s Czech Challenge signalled a turnaround in fortunes, backed up by his first win at the top level at the Italian Open in October 2020. With nearly 2 years gone by since that point, perhaps now’s the time for another reminder of his talents. RESULT: MC

Finally I’m going to take a speculative punt on Andres Romero who hinted very subtly on the Latino-America Tour at the end of May that he might still have some good golf left in him when he finished 9^th at the Jalisco Open.

Of course, you need to take that effort in context given its level, however with 16 missed cuts from 23 starts at all levels since the beginning of 2020, it undoubtedly sticks out. We know that this is a player who can surprise when the stars all align, and usually that’s pretty much out of the blue, so a form line of 38/MC/MC since doesn’t overly concern me.

Victory at a similar price at the 2017 BMW International Open came with season form of 4 straight Missed Cuts, however given that we’re playing at Crans-sur-Sierre this week there’s at least a little more to work with in terms of justifying what is otherwise essentially a hopeful guess that he finds his game this week. 9^th here in 2017 came off the back of 4-event form of 67/70/70/MC and a play-off loss here in 2019 was similarly non-descript with incoming results of MC/MC/51/MC – if anything you could argue that he’s in slightly better nick this time around.

21 wins globally, including another win in Europe back in 2007 plus a PGA Tour title at the Zurich Classic in 2008, as well as 4 top-8 Major finishes, puts the Argentinean on a different level career-wise than most here this week, even if much of the best golf came over a decade ago. Nevertheless, at the age of 41 there’s scope for more I’m sure and given the price on offer I’m happy to see if he can rekindle some of his best golf here this week. RESULT: MC