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After Justin Thomas picked up the $10 million FedEx Cup prize in Georgia last week, the end-of-season blues are starting to sink in for golf fans across the globe. Like a great Hollywood film (or a rubbish one, for that matter), the PGA Tour climax has been reached and all that's left now is to iron out the details to ensure even the lesser minds in the audience understand what happened. In this case, it's the Americans making sure everyone knows they're the best via this week's Presidents Cup. I have no doubt this will be a smooth resolution for them. However, like any good Hollywood film, there is another enticing plot in the form of the European Tour. This plot is far from over. This week we will see the British Masters present an exciting field of golfers which includes the likes of Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia and reigning champion Alex Noren.
Lee Westwood will host some of the world's finest on the Colt Course of the Close House Golf Club he helped design. The Newcastle golf club presents a course of less than 7,000 yards over 160 acres, but you won't want to miss too many fairways due to punishing roughs. With holes ranging from 157 to 504 yards and a wide variety of different layouts, there will be opportunities for all players to pick up points on the par-71 course.
As I said before, the tournament will feature some big names from the world of golf. Rory McIlroy accepted an invitation to the tournament after failing to qualify for the FedEx Cup's TOUR Championship finale, whilst Sergio Garcia will be looking to emulate Sandy Lyle's 1988 Masters double by adding the British Masters to his Masters victory at Augusta National earlier this year. Understandably, the two powerhouses go into the tournament as favourites. I can see why, but I disagree. Any golf-gamblers will be licking their lips at some of the prices being put up for the rest of the field, with McIlroy & Garcia the only ones priced in single figures. With 2016 champion Alex Noren at 14/1, 2016 runner-up Bernd Wiesberger at 20/1 & 2015 champion Matthew Fitzpatrick at 22/1, I can't help being suspicious of the bookies. I mean, yeah, McIlroy is one of the best golfers of his generation, and, yes, Sergio Garcia already has one Masters title this year, but surely the three best finishers since the tournament's 2015 reinstatement deserve more credit than that.
I have a good feeling about Wiesberger this week. The Austrian took T9 in his last outing- the KLM Open- and, as I mentioned previously, he finished runner-up in this event last year. I could probably fabricate a stronger case for him but, in truth, it’s partly just a hunch. I know how that sounds, but let’s face it, when does golf follow logic? Alex Noren, who edged Wiesberger to last year’s crown, is another man in with a shout. His last appearance was a T6 in the Omega European Masters in week 36, but he does only have a single win to his name for the year (week 21 BMW PGA Championship). A win here would help him recover some of the ground he’s lost in the world rankings this year, having slipped from ninth to fourteenth, so he’s got a fair chance. One more player that I want to single out prior to this tournament is England’s Chris Wood. Despite a winless season (so far) seeing him slip more than forty places in the world rankings and behind fellow Englishmen Ian Poulter and Jordan Smith, Chris Wood is a good price at 40/1. He loves playing at home (his last win came at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last year) and comes into this week off the back of a top-ten at the KLM Open. This is Wood’s chance to boost his rankings and maybe put together a string of decent results on the tail-end of the season.
To wrap up, Wood and Wiesberger are my big tips for the 2017 British Masters. Noren also has the potential for back-to-back wins in this tournament. I won’t rule out Garcia entirely, but he’s not cracking my favourites list for sure. There’s a reason Rory McIlroy is playing in this tournament. It’s an exhibition to him; a practice tournament of sorts (a financially lucrative one, I’m sure). He won’t care about winning until after his scheduled break. There are, of course, plenty of other potential winners I would love to put under the microscope (Haotong Li, Martin Kaymer, etc.) but that’s the shortlist I’ve gone for this week.
Written by Joe Carabini
