The European Tour continues this week with the Dutch Open at Bernardus Golf Course, Cromvoirt, Netherlands.
The 144 field will all be competing around this par 72 Heathland lay out for the €1M purse with the winner collecting the title and €149,920.
With last year’s event cancelled, Sergio Garcia, who won this tournament in 2019, will not return to defend his title due to Ryder Cup commitments at Whistling Straits next week.
Whilst we are on the Ryder Cup, just to update you all that I’ll be posting a special detailed preview at the beginning of next week.
With only ten days to go until the action begins all the excitement is already building up with the announcement of both teams already revealed. It’s going to be a thrilling three days of golf to look forward to and I can’t wait. Come on Europe! 🇪🇺🏆.
And back to this week for the Dutch Open.
The weather is forecast to be calm and cloudy for the most part with breezes expected to pick up for Sunday’s final round to make it a little more exciting.
This event will be screened on Sky Sports Golf with live coverage starting at 12.30pm GMT on Thursday.
After all the excitement at the BMW PGA Championship last week this field will be depleted with none of the Ryder Cup team in attendance.
It was yet another profitable weekend for us if you followed my selections but to be fair it could have been much better. I was going for the hat-trick after selecting the winners on the two previous weeks and it wasn’t far away from landing.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout was in the mix right from the start, taking a first round lead right up to the final hole and if it wasn’t for the three penalty strokes on the final round then he would almost certainly have won. However it wasn’t to be, can’t win them all as they say but the advised 30/1 each way still returned a decent profit with his 5th place finish.
My Nap of the tournament also won comfortably with Viktor Hovland seeing off Tyrrell Hatton in the matchbet easily. Well done to everyone who collected especially those on winner Billy Horshel, a well deserved victory for the American West Ham fanatic.
So let’s move on with this weeks selections for the Dutch Open.
Thomas Detry
For my first and main selection this week I’m going to single out Thomas Detry 20/1 EW Betfair, 1-7 places.
The young, talented 28yr old Belgian was so unlucky last week at the BMW PGA Championship when he was disqualified for signing the wrong scorecard.
He had comfortably progressed into the weekend and should have been looking forward to playing golf on Saturday and Sunday after shooting rounds of 69-70 to sit amongst the leaders on -5. However, these mistakes happen in golf unfortunately and it was just a simple human error.
If you ask me these errors shouldn’t result in a player being disqualified, not in this day and age as the mistake can easily be rectified, bit harsh in my book this still happens.
I’m in the thinking that the disappointment of last week will only spur Detry on and motivate him even more this week at the Dutch Open. I just feel he will come here all guns blazing and fired up to win that European Title that has so far eluded him.
With as many as five runners-up finishes on the European stage, if anyone deserves a victory then it’s Detry.
Two of these runners-up spots were this year at the Scottish Open, where he missed a makeable putt to win, and the other was the Porsche European Open.
He also finished runner-up on two occasions last year at the Celtic Classic and the Hero Open, with the other being the BMW International in 2017. A fairly respectable 22nd at the Olympics in Japan recently and with so many Top 10 finishes, it’s surely only a matter of time before Detry claims that maiden European Title and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was this weekend with him being not to far from home at the Dutch Open in the Netherlands.
Thomas Pieters
For my next selection I’m going to advise Thomas Pieters 12/1 EW Bet365.
This Bernardus track is all set up for the 29yr old Belgians game and he won this event in 2015. A four-time winner on the European circuit winning the D+D Czech Masters twice, Made in Denmark and the KLM Open, this talented player knows what it takes to win on this stage and with a few big names out it could open the door for yet another victory.
I watched Pieters closely on his way to a very respectable 9th place last week at the BMW PGA Championship where he played his way around Wentworth superbly. With not a single double bogey or worse on the scorecard on a tricky track.
Another Top 20 finish at his previous event, the Italian Open, sets Pieters up nicely and comes to the Dutch Open with better form than most in this field.
Thomas Pieters may well be the one they all have to beat this week so the 12/1 on offer may become huge in no time as the tournament progresses so my advice is take it while it’s available and you could well be licking your lips come Sunday evening with a winner at a tasty price.
Daniel Van Tonder
For my next pick I’m going to look for some good old value and for that reason I’m liking the look of Daniel Van Tonder 40/1 EW Bet365.
The 30yr old South African has won seven times on on the Sunshine Tour and at the start of this year he broke his European duck when winning his maiden European Tour Title, bagging the Kenya Savannah Classic.
I just feel there could be one more European crown before the year is done for Van Tonder and it could well be the Dutch Open this weekend.
Van Tonder is a self-taught golfer and has never had a coach believe it or not. He does all his swinging training accompanied by caddie, the girl on the bag being his wife Abi to keep him right.
He recently played in his first Open Championship at Royal St George’s and finished inside the Top 40, not bad for a debutant and at his first ever major also this year at The PGA Championship he finished inside the Top 50, again superb golf for a debutant.
The South African has been on my radar recently and although not lighting it up he has been in the background. I think that 40/1 represents decent each way value with only a place returning a tidy profit if not winning outright.
Thomas Pieters v Branden Grace
For my final selection it’s the customary matchbet and this week I’m advising Thomas Pieters 10/11 Nap Betfair to beat Branden Grace.
Dutch Open Tips
- Thomas Detry 20/1 EW Betfair
- Thomas Pieters 12/1 EW Bet365
- Daniel Van Tonder 40/1 EW Bet365
- Thomas Pieters to beat Branden Grace 10/11 Nap Betfair, 72 hole matchbet.
The post Golf Tips: Dutch Open Preview & Predictions appeared first on MrFixitsTips.
