Forest of Arden gets to renew its marriage vows this week as the Midlands resort which both prides and sells itself on its European Tour status gets to host a European Tour event for the first time in 15 years. Back in the day, they played both the British Masters and the English Open here, live on the BBC, and were rewarded with victories for some of the finest players from this side of the Ryder Cup divide: Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke, and Thomas Bjorn.
The return of the English Open, sponsored by Hero, is a welcome one, even if its rebirth was out of catastrophe. The European Tour's home is considered to be Valderrama by some, perhaps now even Dubai, but its heart is here, in the UK. These six events with which it returns are important not just to us diehards, but the rank-and-file membership who do not all have the luxury lifestyles of those playing for five-times the money in the United States.
It's on that point that I'll begin what's a speculative preview by necessity, this being the first non-seniors tournament at the course since 2005. Last week, six of the first seven home in the British Masters were European Tour winners, and I think we'll see this emerge as a trend over the next month or so for two main reasons. Firstly, this series of events will provide 10 US Open places through an order of merit, which brings with it pressure. Secondly, for all that rookies and those struggling in the spring have their cards guaranteed for 2021, remember that these players have been without pay for months. Few of them are genuinely wealthy, and even now their day job has resumed, they operate with no guarantee of earnings.
Those like Renato Paratore, Justin Harding and Rasmus Hojgaard, the three contenders come the back nine at , have no such worries. Add the extra focus on what are otherwise fairly weak tournaments, and performances like that of Dale Whitnell may well prove to be rare. The winner last week was around a 45/1 chance and while I wouldn't be drawing an arbitrary line in the betting, it could just pay to focus on those to whom winning here won't change their life, for all it may reignite their career.
All of that leads me to the front of the market, where ANDY SULLIVAN and THOMAS DETRY are my two against the rest.
Sullivan felt he wasn't at his best over the first 54 holes of the British Masters, but a bogey-free final round saw him finish fourth to make it four top-10 finishes in his last 10 starts, dating back to last October's Portugal Masters.
In truth he'd been catching the eye before that, finishing runner-up to Jon Rahm in the Irish Open during a strong run in the summer, and having also won a mini-tour event just prior to the European Tour's resumption, it's clear he's playing really nicely.
Born in Nuneaton, little more than 10 miles from here, he's got plenty of rounds at the course under his belt and has never gone far from home - he now bases himself in Stratford, just half an hour south.
Whether or not that'll mean he can stay at home I am honestly not sure, as the European Tour selected these venues based on their ability to house players on-site, but this is still clearly a home game for the former Ryder Cup man and he's entitled to feel like he's ready to go and win.
Looking through old leaderboards here, Doha stands out as one potentially good guide, and Sullivan's record there is another small boost to his chances. Granted this is a long way from Qatar, but that course is flat and exposed to wind, and it's always been a good pointer to UK form on the basis of the latter.
If you take the 17 players who've been first or second in an English Open or British Masters here, 13 of them have exceptionally good form in Doha, including the likes of Raphael Jacquelin, Soren Hansen, Greg Owen, Pierre Fulke and Christian Cevaer - fine players each of them, but hardly the cream of the crop in Europe.
Fundamentally though the case here is built around an in-form player, with winning experience, playing close to home, and seemingly primed to go close.
Eddie Pepperell would be of obvious appeal based on the Doha link, given that he won there in 2018, but it's not enough on its own and I'm slightly put off by a back-nine 42 on Sunday. Perhaps we can put that down to a lack of sharpness which revealed itself in an absence of focus once any chance for a high finish had gone, but all things considered there weren't enough positives to take 25/1.
Instead I'm keen to give another chance to Detry, a class act with a huge future and worth forgiving last week's narrow missed cut at Close House.
It was his first appearance there having missed the 2017 renewal and he just made too many stages around an idiosyncratic, undulating course which isn't necessarily the most popular venue among European Tour players.
Prior to it he'd shaken off some rust by playing well in Austria, after winning a strong pro-am hosted by Sullivan, and as touched upon last week his ties to England are strong. Not only did his Challenge Tour victory come at Heythrop Park, where he blitzed the field to win by 12, but he spent lockdown in Cornwall.
Detry has the Qatar form having made all three cuts there and been a shot out of second when tied for 11th in 2019, and he's bounced back from an off week plenty of times previous. Indeed the closest he's come to winning was probably the BMW International Open, a week after a missed cut, and he has since added four more top-10s in similar circumstances.
The extra par-five will help, as should a flatter, more straightforward course, where attempts to grow out the rough have been hurried, and I remain very positive as to his prospects not just for this week, but the events which lie ahead.
This short, parkland course should suit one of the most accurate players around, and anything 50/1 and upwards looks worth taking.
David Drysdale has solid course form figures of 10-WD-16 and contended here as a rookie, so I did look twice at the Scot given that he's out to 250/1 from around the 150/1 mark last week.
He missed the cut at Close House, but was bogey-free in round two, and when last we'd seen him competitively lost a play-off for the Qatar Masters - albeit at a new course. One of the straightest drivers around, if this does turn into a test of accuracy he could perform much better than his price suggests.
However, I suspect the winner will come from much closer to the front of the market and it's GUIDO MIGLIOZZI who completes the staking plan.
This youngster was prolific on the Alps Tour and, like Matt Wallace before him, quickly translated that to the European Tour, winning on parkland courses in Kenya and Belgium during a successful rookie campaign.
Before the break he contended in Oman and while there are more missed cuts on his record than you'd like to see, that's a reflection of his aggressive, youthful approach to the game - they were present even at Alps and Challenge Tour level, but didn't stop him winning when on a going week.
As to his prospects here, I'll admit hopes are largely pinned to the fact he lives with Paratore out in Dubai, and was there to greet his friend and compatriot at the 18th green on Sunday. I've absolutely no doubt success can transfer from one friend to another, and in fact when reading old transcripts from events here, there's Soren Hansen saying Anders Hansen inspired him by winning the week before, and the same with Jacquelin and Thomas Levet.
Migliozzi was up and down at Close House, mainly the latter on Sunday, but he'd been 28th through 54 holes after an excellent third round and had earlier blown away the cobwebs with a solid 69 in the Clutch Pro Tour event won by Sullivan.
He and Paratore played a lot of golf together out in Dubai during lockdown, something the latter credited as key to his success last week, and back-to-back Italian winners would not surprise me.
At 66/1 and a proven winner, Migliozzi completes the staking plan though I'll also mention two Danes starting with Nicolai Hojgaard, who was out cheering on his twin brother Rasmus on Sunday after narrowly missing the cut himself.
Though it's Rasmus who has already won on the European Tour and deserves odds of 25/1 this week, Nicolai did chase home Sergio Garcia in the KLM Open last year, which is form comparable to anything his brother has done even if he hasn't yet got his hands on a trophy.
At this stage he looks to be a little further behind in his development, but he achieved more as an amateur, and in time I doubt he'll be far off Rasmus for all that we shouldn't allow their genetic similarities to cloud the reality of what they're doing on the golf course.
The point is really that Nicolai is 250/1 here, and it wouldn't surprise me if he did pop up at a massive price and contend at some stage. He's not been far away lately, often starting well, and first-round leader punters should consider chancing him in that market at least.
Finally, I did consider Thorbjorn Olesen, who makes his return following his suspension by the European Tour.
Had this tournament taken place the week after we last saw him, when he contended for a WGC in the US, Olesen would've been clear favourite and likely at a single-figure price.
Immediately, that made him of some interest at an opening 55/1, especially as he blew away some cobwebs with a decent enough performance in the Danish PGA Championship last month.
That said, he admitted there he'd hardly played since the previous August, which is deeply concerning. It's also going to be somewhat awkward if he does play well and have to face the media, as the court case which resulted in his suspension remains ahead.
With that in mind and the fact the best prices have gone, he's left out - despite arguably being the best golfer in the field.
Posted at 1100 BST on 28/07/20
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