The Omega European Masters: Wiesberger value to make it three, says The Punter

“Berndt Wiesberger is an in-form clinical closing multiple European Tour winner and he’s far too big at 60.059/1 in this grade.”

Flushed with success after Paul Lawrie's win in Scotland, Steve takes a look at this week's European Tour action from Switzerland. Could our man pick back-to-back winners on the Race to Dubai?

Tournament History
With an illustrious list of champions that includes Bob Charles, Nick Price, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros (three times), José María Olazábal, Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, to name but a few, the Omega European Masters has a rich history dating right back to 1923.

It's been a European Tour event since 1972 and it's a bit disappointing to see a relatively weak field this week, thanks to its current slot in the schedule - opposite the second PGA Tour playoff event, the Deutsche Bank Championship, which starts on Friday. The tournament has been co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour since 2009.

Venue
Crans-sur-Sierre, Crans Montana, Switzerland

Course Details
Par 71, 6822 yards
Stroke index in 2011 - 70.55

Winding its way through the beautiful mountains of Crans Montana, Crans-sur-Sierre is a visually stunning venue. At way below 7,000 yards, it's very short by modern standards and the last three winners have all achieved a total of at least 20 under-par.

With small upturned-saucer like greens, accuracy is most certainly the key attribute and Greens In Regulation and Scrambling are the two main stats to concentrate on. Three of the last four winners ranked 1st or 2nd for GIR and the three winners between 2007 and 2009 all topped the Scrambling stats.

Although a neat and tidy short game is what usually gets the job done here, the longer hitters can take advantage of the scoring holes. The par five opening hole, measuring just 540 yards, always ranks the easiest on the course, holes 6 and 7 are drivable par fours and the back-to-back par fives, 14 and 15, also offer great birdie/eagle chances.

Useful Sites
Tournament Site
Tee Times
Weather Forecast

TV Coverage
Live on Sky all four days - 10.30am and 3.30pm on Thursday and Friday and 12pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Last Five Winners
2011 - Thomas Bjorn -20
2010 - Miguel Angel Jimenez -21
2009 - Alexander Noren - 20
2008 - Jean-Francois Lucquin -13 (playoff)
2007 - Brett Rumford -16 (playoff)

Is there an identikit winner?
As mentioned, accurate iron-play and good scrambling pay dividends - the players will be hitting an awful lot of wedges into the greens this week, setting up plenty of birdie chances so a great short game is key but its also worth noting that in-form players have fared well in recent years too.

Last year's winner, Thomas Bjorn had won the Johnnie Walker Championship seven days earlier and Edoardo Molinari finished second in 2010 after winning in Scotland the week before. And both Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez in 2010 were winning their third event of the year.

In-Play Tactics
A fast start is important at Crans. Its 14 years since any winner was worse than five strokes off the lead after day one or three back at halfway, so it makes sense to concentrate on the front of the leaderboard from early on.

The harder holes come in three sets of three - the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, the 11th, 12th, and 13th and the final three. If your pick has hit the front after playing the reachable par five pair of 14 and 15, it might make sense to take some profit before they encounter the long par 3 16th, which always ranks the toughest hole on the course.

Market Leaders
Favourite Peter Hanson makes very little appeal. His 7th placed finish at the US PGA Championship last time out was impressive but he has no course form to speak of and it's now two years since his last success.

Last week's winner Paul Lawrie is bidding to emulate Bjorn of last year and achieve the unique Qatar Masters, Johnnie Walker Championship and Omega European Masters treble. That really would be quite bizarre and I can't see him doing it. His form at Crans isn't great, although he did finish second ten years ago, and he's often a slow starter, something that will really hamper him here. I imagine he's celebrated his latest success and that won't help either.

Former winners Bjorn and Alex Noren are both respected but both are a shade short for my liking and I liked Matteo Manassero at first glance but he also looks a bit short given his poor form of late.

Selections
Nobody in the field has a more solid bank of course form than 2010 winner Miguel Angel Jimenez and he looked a more than fair price at 36.035/1. He hasn't had the greatest of seasons but he turned the corner in no uncertain terms at last month's Open Championship, where he finished in the top-ten - ranking 1st for putting. Next time out, he finished 27th at the US PGA Championship, where he ranked 4th for both Driving Accuracy and GIR and 16th for putting. A missed cut at Gleneagles last week wasn't ideal but was he only there to support his Ryder Cup captain anyway?

Miguel will be buoyed by last week's announcement that he's Olazábal's fourth and final vice-captain at the fast-approaching Ryder Cup and given he's finished inside the top-ten in each of the last four years here, it would be no surprise whatsoever if he featured again this time around.

As previously mentioned, the last two winners were winning their third event of the season when they found success here; could lightening strike for a third time? Considering he was beaten in a playoff there 12 months ago, I was quite surprised that Austria's Berndt Wiesberger wasn't in the field at last week's Johnnie Walker Championship and I did wonder if there might have been a slight problem with the recent Austrian Open winner. It seems not, he was actually acclimatising himself well for this week's event, winning the Zurich Open pro-am with two rounds of 67.

Berndt missed the cut here on his only appearance but that came off the back of that disappointing playoff defeat last year and I'm happy to dismiss it. The Austrians an in-form clinical closing multiple European Tour winner and he's far too big at 60.059/1 in this grade.

Argentines often prosper at mountain venues and I've decided to make a small play on the only two in the field this week. Ricardo Gonzalez won this event in 2001 and he'd love to emulate his fellow countryman Eduardo Romero and win it twice.

Tano Goya zipped over to Switzerland after missing the cut in Scotland last week and very nearly won. A triple-bogey at the 15th hole in the second and final round of the Zurich Open stopped him in his tracks but he still finished second to Wiesberger.

Selections:
Miguel Angel Jimenez @ 36.035/1
Berndt Wiesberger @ 60.059/1
Ricardo Gonzalez @ 200.0199/1
Tano Goya @ 400.0399/1

The week's other event, the Deutsche Bank Championship doesn't start until Friday but I'll be back tonight or early tomorrow with a preview.

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The Punter's picks for the Omega European Masters and the Deutsche Championship

The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 31 August 2011 / Leave a Comment

Jason Day – Runner-up last year, can he go one better?

“I tried very hard to stop myself from backing Jason Day but failed. Last year’s runner-up impresses almost every week and it’s highly possible that he’ll be bobbing around the top of the leaderboard come Monday night.”

Steve looks to the Spanish contingency for success in the Alps. Whilst in the States, is it going to be Jason's Day on Monday?

The picturesque Crans-sur-Sierre course hosts the Omega European Masters for the 65th time this year and the event, now co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour, has attracted one of the best non-major line-ups of the season.

A strong case can be made for any of the first three in the market. Rory McIlroy should have won his maiden event here in 2008, and he finished 7th a year later. Lee Westwood won here way back in 1999 and he's been in tremendous form of late (until he gets to the green and putts!) and Matteo Manassero will win this event at some stage. His third placed finish last year could very easily have been better and his game clearly fits the venue perfectly. But are any of them a value price?

We've not seen Rors since his crazy wrist-wrecking tree root trick at the PGA Championship. Westwood's putting is atrocious, and his form here hasn't been as spectacular as the views since his win anyway, and Manny is not in great form, though he was the closest to inclusion.

I was tempted by Francesco Molinari, who like Manny has the game for Crans, and had he been a fraction bigger I'd have taken a chance on the out-of-form Italian. And Alex Noren and Seung-Yul Noh were both also on the shortlist but in the end I've left them all out.

My first pick is last year's winner, Miguel Angel Jimenez, at what could be a huge price. This is the popular veteran's 23rd consecutive appearance and he has ten top-ten finishes here. His last three year's figures read 3-4-1. He hasn't been himself since breaking his putter in Bahrain but with a course record so strong, he simply had to be backed. Besides, I envisage a bit of Spanish inspiration this year...

The late Seve Ballesteros will be on the minds of many this week and there's a strong Spanish contingency. Crans was the scene of one his most wondrous shots and a marble plaque on the 18th commemorates it. He made numerous course changes back in the 1990's and if there's an event the Spanish will want to bag this season, it's this one, so I've backed a number of them.

There are few players in the field (if any) in better form than South African George Coetzee and after coming up close with him last week in Scotland, I've again supported him here. There's every chance he could bounce after last week's near miss but if he doesn't, with its drivable par fours and reachable par fives, George could just get on a roll.

I've detailed the case for Thorbjorn Olesen and Brett Rumford in this week's Find Me a 100 Winner piece and I've also backed the 2001 champ, Argentine Ricardo Gonzalez at a monster price.

Selections:

Miguel Angel Jimenez @ [40.0]
George Coetzee @ [50.0]
Thorbjorn Olesen @ [120.0]
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano @ [170.0]
Brett Rumford @ [180.0]
Pablo Martin @ [260.0]
Alejandro Canizares @ [300.0]
Ricardo Gonzalez @ [310.0]

The ninth staging of the Deutsche Bank Championship, which doesn't start until Friday, is the second FedEx Cup playoff event. It's Labor Day on Monday in the States and this event traditionally finishes up on Monday.

Charley Hoffman was a shock winner twelve months ago but most years a really class-act picks up the prize. Five of the eight winners to date have been ranked in the top three in the world rankings at the time of their victory and in contrast to the European Masters, I don't think trawling through the players at big odds will pay dividends and all four of my picks are relatively short.

Given he's only chalked up one win so far, I tried very hard to stop myself from backing Jason Day but failed. Last year's runner-up impresses almost every week and it's highly possible that he'll be bobbing around the top of the leaderboard come Monday night.

Olin Browne and Steve Stricker have both won here so you don't necessarily need to bomb it off the tee but it certainly helps. Where it lands doesn't appear to matter too much though- Driving Accuracy isn't an important stat. The stats that do count at TPC Boston are Par 5 performance, Greens In Regulation and Birdie Average.

Five of the eight winners have ranked first for Par 5 Performance and two have ranked second. Seven of the eight winners have ranked in the top-10 for GIR and making lots of birdies is essential - Hoffman made 28 last year!

Webb Simpson looks the perfect fit. He currently ranks second for Par 5 Performance, 14th for GIR and third for Birdie Average. His first round 71 at The Barclays was just too poor to see him go back-to-back after his maiden win at the Wyndham Championship a fortnight ago but he finished like a train with rounds of 66 and 63. He's plainly in good heart, has the game for the venue and at [40.0], he was a no-brainer pick.

Another of last week's selections, Camilo Villegas, gets another chance. He's going in the right direction all of a sudden with two top-10's in-a-row and he was third here in 2008. And finally, Bubba Watson ranks in the top-12 for all three key stats and he could just bounce back to form at a big price.

Selections:

Jason Day @ [26.0]
Webb Simpson @ [40.0]
Camilo Villegas @ [65.0]
Bubba Watson @ [70.0]

It's been a good week for Steve, as Dustin Johnson wins a sprint in New Jersey and Thomas Bjorn eventually secures victory in a Scottish marathon......

With a win in the bag in the States already, our man takes a detailed look at the state of play at Gleneagles and it's a case of Bjorn again for Steve......

Rock steady Robert gets the nod in Scotland and Rose is taken to bloom in New Jersey. Read the Punter's preview of this week's golf action here......

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