We head to Germany for the second time this season on the European Tour with the Porsche European Open taking centre stage.
This is an event that was revived back in 2015, now basing itself away from it’s home of many years, the K Club in Ireland.
However this year’s edition is making its debut near Hamburg at the stunning Green Eagle Golf Course.
So we do have a distinct disadvantage when it comes to working out course form and layout, however there’s enough info to make some wise decisions…
As a 7,582 yard par 72, we can straight away tell this has got some meat to it. It’s certainly one of the longer tracks on tour and there is pretty much water facing the field on every hole making it a rather unique and difficult challenge.
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Drone footage and pictures give it similarities to the final stretch at the French; water, natural grandstands and spectacular bunkers, with length and accuracy looking like it’ll be a premium.
Interestingly it’s not the first pro tournament it’s hosted, with the ECCO Tour Championship being played here in 2010.
There weren’t too many low scores, which, at that level is rare. Definite proof of its bite and for us meaning you’ll need to be in some sort of decent knick to tame this beast.
⛳ Porsche European Open Tips ⛳
By Lewis Pacelli
- Thorbjørn Olesen (20/1 – add to your betslip): ‘The 3rd favourite is finding form again’.
- Alexander Björk (50/1 – add to your betslip): ‘He’s a no-brainer this week’.
- Chase Koepka (66/1 – add to your betslip): ‘He’s in arguably some of the better form of anyone here’.
- Brandon Matthews (long-shot): ‘He could thrive – equally he could sink’.
PORSCHE EUROPEAN OPEN TIPS
Thorbjørn Olesen (20/1 – add to your betslip)
Wouldn’t be surprised if some find Olesen’s price too low and that is understandable, but the 3rd favourite is finding form again and has the distinct advantage of playing in that ECCO Tour Championship in 2010. He finished T12 at produced a couple of decent rounds which makes it far too obvious to not take a punt on the Dane.
At the end of the day this is a guy with 4 European Tour wins under his belt and the sort of pedigree that makes you understand the price.
We saw him spring back to life over in China several months back when he finished T8 and then followed it up a few weeks later with an impressive T4 at the Nordea. But it was in France, where he really shone. A strong finishing 65 and some really exciting tee to green play makes him very intriguing. He putted well throughout the four days, so adding that to the fact he’s one of the few to have played well here, you can’t not take him seriously as a big contender.
Alexander Björk (50/1 – add to your betslip)
Seeing these odds for a rapidly improving Swede, it was a no brainer this week. Again, like Olesen, he showed some true class in France, particularly impressing with this very calm and relaxed aura that many of his compatriots seem to possess. Maybe it’s just a Swedish thing?!
Seriously though, this guys irons were dialled in from the get-go, never finishing outside the top 4 for Greens In Regulation on any day. Yes he didn’t push on and win but that experience will only have given him the world of confidence and we can’t really say there was a ‘bottle’ in there, eventual winner Tommy Fleetwood was simply too good.
Added with the fact he’s had a further four top 15 finishes this season, in a pretty poor field Björk could really shine this week.
Chase Koepka (66/1 – add to your betslip)
The Koepka family dynasty is on the rise after the major breakthrough of Brooks, younger brother Chase is, well, chasing his sibling to find some glory of his own. And he’s doing it identically.
The US Open champion started out on the Challenge Tour before a ridiculous streak of three wins in less than two months paved his way to the European Tour and eventually beyond. Now Chase, 4 years his junior has been battling away on the same lower tour, finding some mightily impressive results. T2, T27, T52, T5, MC, T3, T16 is arguably some of the better form of anyone here even though it’s not on the main Tour.
He may not hit the ball as far as his brother, but there is definite similarities with his sumptuous irons so why can’t this be his own big breakthrough?
Brandon Matthews (long-shot)
A massive outsider that will be unknown to most, Brandon Matthews is definitely worth chucking a few coppers on for what will be his first trip to a European Tour event. Obviously that means he comes with the complete unknown and he could either thrive or sink in a big tournament like this, but when you look at him you understand why he merits a punt.
He only turned pro late last year after a fairly decent amateur career and has been plying his trade on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica circuit where he won in just his third outing at the Molina Canuelas Championship. Admittedly some poor results followed by last time he out he shot what was apparently an eye-catching -13 to finish T3 in the Dominican Republic.
Matthews shouldn’t be fazed by the course itself, he’ll be used to long, water-dominated tracks back home but his main appeal and why we have him on our radar is he is proving to be one of the monster hitters to join the pro elite recently. And that’s saying something by today’s standards. He’s been average, yes averaging, 337 yards Stateside and if he brings that across the pond, we could be in for a rather surprising treat.
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CHEEKY DOUBLE –
Combining the PGA Tour tips, which can be found HERE, it’s always worth a cheeky double because you just never know…
Two to look at this week would be –
- Tony Finau (28/1) and Thorbjørn Olesen (20/1) = 608/1
- Charley Hoffman and (20/1) and Alexander Björk (50/1) = 1070/1
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