Germany currently hosts two European Tour events, both powered by big-name sponsors from the world of motoring, both attracting some big-name players as a result. Three weeks ago, Paul Casey defended his Porsche European Open crown and brought Abraham Ancer along for the ride, with Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele all past entrants. Now we get something similar in the BMW International Open, where Louis Oosthuizen, Sergio Garcia and Viktor Hovland stand out in both the field and the betting.
For many, the first name off the list will be Oosthuizen, who was second yet again in the US Open. That's now six runner-up finishes in major championships, and while he tends to brush them off quite well, two in the space of a month must surely hurt. The fact that he did very little wrong and lost by a stroke to Jon Rahm and a pair of birdies which will go down in history may only intensify the pain. He's advised not to watch the highlights.
That said, when you've been runner-up in five of them, perhaps number six is actually easier to stomach. And there is precedent for Oosthuizen taking out his frustrations on a different set of opponents straight away, because after he lost a play-off for the 2012 Masters, he flew to Malaysia and won by three. On his first visit to Eichenried for 12 years, he's arguably the man to beat and would be a popular champion, if not with punters then with golf fans in general.
Kaymer won here in 2008, defying a late wobble to bag the second title of his burgeoning European Tour career. Since then, returns home to Germany have either gone very well (seven top-25s, including four top-10s and a narrow runner-up finish in this event) or very badly, with six missed cuts including earlier this month at Green Eagle.
Eichenried accounts for half of those failures, but he was 16th here on his last visit, leading at halfway having been sent off a 14/1 chance generally. In the end, deep-rooted struggles around and on the greens came back to haunt him and his excellent ball-striking, which saw him rank fourth in strokes-gained approach, went unrewarded.
Before that, he produced an outstanding 36 holes of iron play in the PGA Championship, where he missed the cut narrowly just as he had in the Byron Nelson, and it's only a bizarre first round in Tenerife which I could hold against him since he won in Qatar. Otherwise, his form all year has been very strong, and as far as the European Tour goes he's won two of his last eight starts and played well in all bar one of the other six.
Ian Poulter's one-time protege is further down that line after a pair of wins last summer, and thanks to massive strides in his approach play has done everything but add another trophy to his collection since returning from injury in Kenya, where he ought to have been involved in a play-off for the Savannah Classic.
He's the player I referenced who triumphed here on debut, probably the pick of four European Tour wins, and he's since underlined his affection for Eichenried with a blemish-free run which includes finishes of 18th, 11th and 26th.
Horsey certainly appears to prefer this course to Gut Larchenhof, which shares hosting duties in alternate years, and it might just be the spark he needs to return to the form he was producing late last summer, which included 10th at Valderrama, 13th at Wentworth, and several signs that he was close to his best once again.
More recently, he's shown flickers of a new-dad bump having become a parent two months ago, first finishing a staying-on 31st in Denmark, then 25th at an unsuitable course in the European Open to add to a strong record in Germany as a whole.
Last time out he missed the cut by a shot, but an opening 67 in Sweden confirmed that he's in decent nick and his approach play and putting, both sure to be important if he's to contend again here, were as good if not slightly better than in previous weeks.
If he can find small improvements off the tee and dial in those approaches then there's a big performance in him, and I like the fact he was part of the 2007 Walker Cup side as a little mental boost. That may seem a little odd but three members of that team, Rory McIlroy, Caldwell and John Parry, have won during the last six weeks, leaving Horsey and Danny Willett as the only exceptions.
Fisher was a big letdown at Green Eagle a couple of weeks ago, shooting himself out of the tournament with a shocking round of 81 under conditions which were hard but not impossible on day one.
That is obviously a worry, but perhaps he went chasing after a poor start, which can be a recipe for disaster at the longest course on the European Tour and also among its toughest. At least he managed a level-par second round, despite an eight on the card, and ended the event firmly on the front foot for all his chance to make the cut had long gone.
Crucially, and somewhat remarkably given he shot 81-72, Fisher actually drove the ball as well as he has all season on a round-by-round average. His approach play was similar to the very high standards of both the Belfry and Denmark, which had been part of the case for him, but he gave away eight strokes on and around the greens, meaning anything even close to field average and he'd have sailed through to the final round.
The putter is an ongoing issue he's far from certain to have solved, but he's capable of a decent week on the greens and boasts an excellent record both here, and in Germany in general, with Green Eagle increasingly looking like the exception.
His Eichenried record is bookended by two missed cuts, but in the middle is a run of 26-12-2-9-18-11, and it would be fair to say a parkland course suits him best. With the fundamentals of his game looking strong, he's taken to follow Bland's lead and carry the badge of The Wisley to victory.
Posted at 1900 BST on 21/06/21
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