After three weeks of DP World Tour inactivity for Europe’s rank and file, two Spanish jaunts lead into The Belfry and the first tournament on UK soil, the British Masters, at the start of next month.
First stop in Espana is a new port of call, the Lakes course at Infinitum in Tarragona, a Greg Norman design south of Barcelona, short by today’s standards at 6963 yards, a par 70 curiously assembled with no par five until the 16th, then two in the last three holes.
As the name suggests, there’s mucho agua with water coming into play on 13 holes. The dogleg par-five 18th is the pick, having a lake on the right for the drive and a long stream to the left to catch a wayward second, plus a sandy waste carry off the tee. Par fours of 509 and 514 yards look formidable but with two risk-reward short par fours as well, we can expect plenty of birdies in a week of variable weather but finishing with a warm, bright Sunday.
Spaniards always play with pride and feel comfortable in their home country and that old fox Pablo Larrazabal, already a winner at Pecanwood in South Africa, will be hard to beat. As that sixth tour victory was preceded by third place at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic and was followed by a fifth in Qatar on his latest outing, that adds up to a tip-top start to the campaign by the 2008 Rookie of the Year, one of the tour’s real characters.
Larrazabal’s form stands up well against market leaders Bernd Wiesberger and Rasmus Hojgaard and I prefer him to Wiesberger who has been replaced by Sepp Straka as top Austrian after the latter’s February breakthrough victory at the Honda Classic.
Some are proving impossible to win with so for the final pick go for a youngster who can only get better, Matti Schmid, top amateur at the Open at Sandwich last year, then runner-up at the Dutch Open shortly after turning pro. The ambitious German hasn’t quite hit his stride yet this year but third place in the Steyn City Championship in South Africa, a new event on the DP World Tour, was a step in the right direction.
ISPS Handa Championship in Spain Golf Betting Tips 2022
- 2pts each-way Rasmus Hojgaard at 18/1 (Betfair) 7 places
- 1pt each-way Pablo Larrazabal at 25/1 (William Hill) 6 places
- 1pt each-way Sihwan Kim at 50/1 (Betfair) 7 places
- 1pt each-way Haotong Li at 66/1 (William Hill) 6 places
- 1pt each-way Matti Schmid at 60/1 (William Hill) 6 places
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