Robert MacIntyre finished 12th in the Masters at Augusta last month, showing he is growing in confidence on the world stage, and the Scotsman tops the betting for the British Masters at The Belfry, hosted this year by Danny Willett.
MacIntyre can be backed at 12/1 and the popular left-hander seems sure to gain plenty of support from his increasing army of supporters.
The 24-year-old, 2019 European Tour Rookie of the Year, claimed his maiden title in the Cyprus Showdown in November, but it should be noted that the event had a quirky format. Scores were reset after the second and third rounds, so the Cyprus success was not a conventional 72-hole strokeplay victory.
MacIntyre has never even won a standard event on the Challenge Tour, so his status as market leader for The Belfry is based on his potential rather than his achievements. MacIntyre is jetting off to the US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, on Saturday night, so there must be a chance his mind wanders forward to the second Major of the year.
Hojgaard Returns to Scene of His Summer Joy
Rasmus Hojgaard won the last European Tour event staged at The Belfry – the UK Championship last summer – and the 20-year-old Danish dude may be the man to beat again.
Last year's host
This year's host
Good luck @Danny_Willett hosting the @british_masters this week
pic.twitter.com/hVUT94aA6X
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) May 11, 2021
Hojgaard can be backed at 18/1, which seems a fair price when you consider his all-round quality and scope for further improvement at such a young age. He finished strongly for 12th place in the Austrian Open – his last European Tour outing – and there was no disgrace in his recent PGA Tour forays.
Starts in the Zurich Classic pairs event (with Vaughn Taylor as a partner) and the Valspar Championship both ended in a missed cut by a shot, but he was taking on world-class opposition while making his debut at two well established PGA Tour venues.
Hojgaard, who carried Taylor in the Zurich first-round fourballs, carded a solid second-round 69 in the Valspar and there is every reason to believe he will return from the States ready to rumble.
Horsfield Warming to His Hat-Trick Bid
Sam Horsfield, like Hojgaard, is another hugely promising youngster who is enjoying a downgrade this week from the PGA Tour to the European Tour.
Horsfield missed the cut by a shot in the Valspar, but seems one of the most likely Belfry champions. The first of his two Tour titles came at the Forest of Arden, which is only a 20-minute drive from The Belfry, and his second was at Celtic Manor in Newport.
The 20/1 about Horsfield will do for many this week as he had been feasting on birdies since returning from a back injury at the end of March. Eighth place in the Kenya Open was followed by third spot in the Savannah Classic, 15th in the Austrian Open and fourth in the Gran Canaria Lopesan Open.
With soft, relatively calm conditions expected at The Belfry, the powerful and attacking Horsfield can make merry.
*All odds correct at time of writing