Ben Coley bagged bumper each-way profits with 400/1 and 70/1 tips last week, and now has six selections for the Omega European Masters.
- Last week's tips included 400/1 Jake McLeod, who finished sixth, and runner-up Gavin Green at 70/1. Get Ben Coley's full tipping record here.
Golf betting tips: Omega European Masters
2pts e.w. Adri Arnaus at 50/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Guido Migliozzi at 50/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Andy Sullivan at 55/1 (Coral 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Marcus Kinhult at 66/1 (Betfred 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7)
1pt e.w. Lee Slattery at 125/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
0.5pt e.w. Oliver Wilson at 250/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
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Three of the top 10 in the Race to Dubai are in Switzerland for the Omega European Masters, a fabulous event on a unique golf course and one which marks the turning of the tide after a post-Open lull. From here through Denmark and on to Wentworth, it's a big run for the DP World Tour, and with Ryder Cup venues and a return to St Andrews soon afterwards, the next six weeks will make for fabulous viewing.
For now of course it all happens without the genuine superstars, who are still scrapping for the FedEx Cup, but to be frank it could be a satellite tour event and Crans-sur-Sierre would still be worth tuning in for. This is as good as it gets when it comes to backdrops, whatever trigger-happy DP World Tour social media staff might tell you during the Middle East swing, and a quirky, fun golf course serves as the perfect canvas for one week only.
Anywhere else, and Crans would risk being a little bit silly. It's a course made up of a collection of driveable par-fours which threaten to randomise things a little too much, and there are good shots which get punished by a bounce or a tree branch here and can cause a good deal of frustration. So too can greens which are small and perched up, demanding precise approaches, sharp short-games, and the forgiveness of the mountain air.
With a picture-postcard town offering something for everyone, it's fair to say this is an event many players have circled in the calendar from the minute a schedule is released. And, for Ryan Fox, Robert MacIntyre, Adrian Meronk and Rasmus Hojgaard, it's also one which allows them to ease back into competitive action as they set their sights on the BMW PGA Championship which is now just a fortnight away.
All of them have the potential to rip apart this course, even if it's no pushover and may be toughened up by a spot of rain and cool conditions. But with MacIntyre unable to capitalise on a hot putter so far this summer, Meronk's short-game still a worry and Fox having perhaps gone off the boil in what's been a draining season already, only defending champion Hojgaard makes serious appeal among the quartet who make up the very top of the market.
Last year's smash-and-grab to pip Bernd Wiesberger showed how effective he can be here, 10th place in Scotland two starts ago is a very strong piece of form and it's unlikely this first proper title defence is a problem, but he has struggled to put four rounds together all year and that's enough to put me off at odds of 25/1.
Instead, the headline vote goes to ADRI ARNAUS, who strikes me as hugely overpriced at the 50/1 quoted in bet365's Each-Way Extra market, which has him alongside a collection of lesser players.
Arnaus is 20th in the Race to Dubai having enjoyed a breakthrough campaign, winning his first title in the ISPS Handa Championship having gone close in Saudi Arabia and South Africa before that.
His improved approach play and putting have matched up with his prodigious length to make him one of the very best players on the circuit, something we all knew he was capable of becoming. He ranks sixth in this field in strokes-gained total and unless he arrives at an event like this amid a terrible slump, the days of 50/1 and 20th in the betting really ought to be behind us.
The reason we're getting these odds – and to be clear, he'd be a bet down to 33s as I believe he belongs up with Hojgaard and company – is that on the face of it, he is in what you might call a post-win slump. But three of his seven starts since that Spanish victory have been in majors, another in a world-class event on links turf, and it's not at all surprising that his results don't look especially impressive.
Look beyond them and you'll see that he hit more greens than anyone in the Open, where he ranked eighth in strokes-gained approach but was abysmal with the putter. That had also been true in the previous week's Scottish Open, where this time his driving was elite only for slow, links greens to throw his improved putting completely off course.
He was a 40/1 chance back then but returns in better form and at bigger odds, having finished eighth in the Cazoo Classic, down the field purely because of his putter in the Hero Open, and then third at Celtic Manor when pretty much everything came together.
It was nice to see further improvements in his approach play, Sullivan producing his best figures of the year to rank ninth, and the same is true of his driving which had been good for a while but stepped up a notch. It was his best ball-striking performance since 2020 and says much about the direction his game is heading.
Back when he was a top-class amateur, the Swede shot 65-66 to lie fourth at halfway here in Crans, and since returning with a card in his pocket he's made all three cuts regardless of the state of his game. Last year for instance he finished 47th which was his best finish in 18 starts until he signed off the year on a more positive note, while in 2019 he finished 12th to finally get back to form four months after his win.
Kinhult shot back-to-back rounds of 65 over the weekend of that renewal so we know he can score at the course, and what I particularly like about his play in 2022 is that the best of it has coincided with a return to places where he'd succeeded in the past.
At Hillside, scene of his first DP World Tour win, he led the field in strokes-gained tee-to-green and finished third. At Muthaiga, a course where he'd been 12th on his sole visit five years ago and one which correlates with Crans, he finished eighth. At Doha, where he threatened to win when third on debut, he matched that effort despite a slow start.
It's been a difficult year for the Italian, who has had to adjust to wearing glasses on the golf course which really seems to have set him back. However, having managed zero top-50 finishes from January to May, he's managed 10th, 14th and 18th over his last seven starts, so things are definitely looking up.
His driving remains a problem and that's a concern, especially as it's the club he leaned on to take seventh place here last year. However, everything else he did at Galgorm Castle last time was very good and there's been a significant upturn in his iron play lately, with his performance last time out his best for almost a year.
With his short-game very good in general and the putter having fired often enough, I wonder if he might just find something off the tee under these very different conditions. For the most part at Crans, which is at 3,000ft above sea level, players can hit irons off tees, and there's a certain freedom which comes with thrashing driver towards the green at holes like the par-four seventh.
Sixth here in 2017 and 13th last year, Slattery has a good record at the course and there are signs he's getting more and more comfortable with every visit. Stretching back to a second-round 62 five years ago, his last 15 rounds here show an average of 68.1, with two of the three payers who dip below 68 having won this title.
Slattery's 13th place a year ago was his best finish throughout the whole of 2021 and came courtesy of the sort of approach play we've seen from him again recently, ranking 11th last week, 17th in the Cazoo Open, 20th in the Cazoo Classic, and on course for similar only to miss the cut in his other two starts during this run.
At his best, Wilson contended here in four of his first five visits, his two missed cuts coming when his game was in disarray, and an outstanding short-game certainly helps explain why he'd like it here. Wilson remains top-notch in that category (top five in this field) and he's highly capable with his approaches too, as we saw when ranking second at the Hero Open and 20th last week.
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