ISPS Handa Wales Open preview

The European Tour remains in the UK this week and travels to the Celtic Manor Resort for the ISPS Handa Wales Open. Alexander Noren of Sweden is the defending champion.

Alex Noren defends Wales Open (Getty Images)
Fergus Bisset
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Lowdown: The European Tour remains in the UK this week and travels to the Celtic Manor Resort for the ISPS Handa Wales Open. Alexander Noren of Sweden is the defending champion. The Wales Open was first contested at Celtic Manor in 2000 and since then there have been some notable winners, including Paul McGinley, Paul Lawrie, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Robert Karlsson. Last year Sweden's Alex Noren prevailed by two strokes over Gregory Bourdy of Fance and Denmark's Anders Hansen. There's a new sponsor for this year's Wales Open. The International Sports Promotion Society has taken over from Saab as part of a three-year agreement. ISPS, chaired by Japanese philanthropist Dr Haruhisa Handa, is a key supporter of the International Blind Golf Association and the group works hard to raise the profile of blind and disabled golf around the world. A strong field has assembled for this event as players strive to collect Ryder Cup points and climb the table in the Race to Dubai. Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal will be teeing it up this week so it's a good opportunity for a player outside the automatic qualifying positions to grab his attention.

Venue: The Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, Wales Date: May 31 - Jun 3 Course stats: par 71, 7,378 yards Purse: £1,800,000 Defending Champion: Alex Noren (-9)

TV Coverage: Thursday 31 - Live on Sky Sports 1 from 10.30am Friday 1 - Live on Sky Sports 1 from 3.30pm Saturday 2 - Live on Sky Sports 1 from 1pm Sunday 3 - Live on Sky Sports 1 from 12pm

Player Watch: Paul Lawrie - The Scot is in superb form, a semi finalist in the World Match Play then runner-up in the BMW PGA Championship. He's now second on the European Ryder Cup points list and could all but secure his place at Medinah with a victory here. He's also a former winner of this event.

Francesco Molinari - Few are better than the Italian from tee to green and he's playing well at the moment with a victory in Spain and a top-10 last week. Currently 14th on the European Ryder Cup points list, he could do with a boost here.

Jamie Donaldson - The talented Welshman is yet to live up to his full potential on the European Tour and grab a victory. This, his home Open, could be the place to change that.

Key hole: 15th. This is a brilliant risk and reward par-4 that measures 377 yards on the card but is driveable if the players opt to take the line straight from tee to green. The strategic way to play the hole is to lay up to the corner of the dog-leg and pitch on but, by carrying the ball all the way to the putting surface in one, eagle chances can be the result.

Where next? PGA Tour - The Memorial Tournament preview

Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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