The focus of the European Tour turns to Paris and the French Open this week. This tournament list one of its key sponsors and consequently has slipped down the pecking order in terms of value and importance, hence it’s being played now rather than in the heat of the summer.
The tournament will be played at Le Golf National, the venue for last year’s Ryder Cup. We saw the how difficult the course could be, with thick rough set to trap wayward drives (much to Phil Mickelson’s chagrin). That said, the reduction in prize money has limited the turnout of the number of the players from the upper echelon of Europe’s golfers.
Favourite this week is Alex Noren. The Swede did us a favour a couple of years in winning this, and he did win his singles here in the Ryder Cup. We’re tempted, but don’t think he’s playing well enough at the moment for us to take a favourite’s price.
Instead we’re going to side with Joost Luiten. The Dutchman has been playing consistently well tee to green and is one of the highest ranked in the field. True his putting has been a little iffy of late, but we’re hoping that the toughness of the course will mean the competition becomes more about pars and less about birdies.
Our second selection is Jamie Donaldson. The Welshman is a steady player with plenty of solid form around this course, including a fifth and a sixth. He’s a nice price for an each way bet.
Recommendations:
Luiten to win, 1 pt, at 16/1, bet365
Donaldson 0.5 pts each way at 80/1, 1/5 the odds for the first seven places, SkyBet
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