At a time when the DP World Tour is under serious threat, the re-emergence of the Belfry as a regular part of the schedule has no doubt been a source of comfort to many. The Brabazon might not be the best course in the United Kingdom, far from it in fact, but it's among the most recognisable, and as a four-time Ryder Cup venue there is history and heritage running through it.
Not that such things matter much when it comes to attracting star names, whose focus is on the PGA Championship in a fortnight. Scheduling and a relatively modest purse means that British Masters host Danny Willett has only really been able to call upon Lee Westwood to add a sprinkling of stardust, with the newly-minted Adri Arnaus officially the highest-ranked player on show having climbed to 52nd in the world.
Arnaus now has his major debut to look forward to, but for a handful in this field that remains a key goal. As of Monday, the top 100 ought to all be receiving invites to Southern Hills and it's notable that so many are within sight of that target, with Daniel van Tonder, Justin Harding, Laurie Canter, Ryan Fox, Sam Horsfield, Adrian Meronk, Rasmus Hojgaard, Jordan Smith, Thomas Detry, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Hennie du Plessis all ranked between 104th and 126th as of now.
That's a lot of players with big incentive and most of them feature towards the top of the betting, but it's ROBERT MACINTYRE who looks the man to beat and I'm really keen on his chances.
This time last year, MacIntyre was priced up between 12/1 and 14/1 after a good Masters. The strength of field back then was identical and I felt the Scot was a little short in the betting, something I feared I might well regret when he birdied the first five holes in round two and ended it tied for the lead.
Still joint-favourite heading into the final round before fading slightly to finish eighth, MacIntyre coped well with the spotlight and the fact he was making his debut at the Belfry. It was the first time he'd been the top-ranked player and clear favourite coming into a DP World Tour event and he was very much the focus of conversation as his seemingly inexorable rise continued with that Masters 12th.
One year on and it's interesting that he feels his game is actually in a better place, something he mentioned in the run-up to the Masters where this time he didn't putt as well but hit the ball similarly for a good share of 23rd. Since then he's carried the load as he and Martin Laird failed to capitalise on a strong start to the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, MacIntyre making a hole-in-one during the first round before they faded in the foursomes.
A popular pick in the Catalunya Championship for very good reasons, the Frenchman failed to kick on from his eighth place a week earlier and narrowly missed the cut. However, he was on course to make it until a bogey-bogey finish and, with his iron play remaining strong, it could just pay to take a forgiving approach.
Like MacIntyre, Perez is a classy young player who has won at this level and spent last year battling to make the Ryder Cup side. Now able to draw a line under that and forced to focus more on the DP World Tour than had been the case, he shouldn't take long to re-establish himself as one of the best operators around and that process will speed up if he continues to putt as well as he has been.
Like Perez, he missed the cut on his sole previous appearance at the Belfry but there are similar excuses. In Scrivener's case, he arrived here last May for his first start since February, a rust-shedding exercise for the PGA, and he played OK following an understandably slow start.
This time he's been far more active and 9-72-64-27-10-18 is solid form, 27th place in Qatar promising more before a welcome 10th in the Zurich Classic alongside Jason Day. From there he came back to Europe and got better with each round to finish 18th in Spain last week, making just one bogey across the final 36 holes at a very tricky course.
Scrivener ranked fourth in strokes-gained tee-to-green in the process, his best return since capping a run of top-10 finishes at last summer's Irish Open, played on a similar parkland course. His season-long stats of 20th for greens hit, 37th for strokes-gained approach and 24th for driving accuracy make him a classic Belfry type on paper, and any course where power isn't a prerequisite brings him into the conversation the way he's been playing.
Campillo was seventh here in 2020, hitting his irons well, before missing the cut on the number a year ago. That however requires context, as he'd missed the cut in seven of his nine starts from January through to May and had only once finished better than 60th, so he was in hopeless form.
Now, he's made nine cuts in 10, his accuracy has returned, and in three of his last six starts he's been in the top-five for ball-striking. Third in greens hit last week, his strokes-gained stats were also strong (19th off-the-tee, 29th approach) and that's despite Catalunya definitely favouring longer drivers than him.
Third place at Eichenried last year is a really nice additional tie-in given that Bland had been second there in 2017 and is far from alone in playing well at both courses, and while Campillo is far from flashy he's a good player to have on-side under these conditions. Indeed both wins came when pars meant something and that's always true at the Belfry, perhaps more so given we've had a pretty dry spring in the UK.
Molinari could've won this for us at 250/1 last year but has been well found in the market at closer to 50s this time, whereas EDDIE PEPPERELL has (with good reason) gone the other way and now looks overpriced.
Pepperell was the 54-hole leader only to struggle on Sunday and it's notable he was a 50/1 chance, largely because he'd finished 12th in Spain the week before. Prior to that he'd offered very little from a results perspective, admitting during this event "I've been awful, to be honest", but it was clear his iron play was at last beginning to purr.
That's what he needs to compete as he's loathe to hit driver and does have a big miss in him off the tee, and it's why I see similar encouragement in his play recently. Two starts ago, again in Spain, Pepperell ranked third in strokes-gained approach and produced a confidence-building weekend to finish 15th. Last week, while missing the cut I'd say he ought to have again drawn encouragement not just from his iron play, but what he did off the tee, too.
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