Best bets for the Betfred British Masters
South African Thriston Lawrence overturned a four-shot deficit during an eventful final day at Golfclub Munchen Eichenried, mixing eight birdies with five bogeys to post a 3-under 69 and set the clubhouse target at 13 under par to eventually win the BMW International Open at a 70-1 pre-tournament price.
Holland’s Joost Luiten had taken a three-shot lead into the final round but remained in a share of the lead until he three-putted the par-3 17th, missing a par-save attempt from three feet, which left him requiring a final-hole birdie to match Lawrence’s total before an errant tee shot and missing the green on the par-5 18th ended his chances. Luiten settled for runner-up at 12 under par. Local German favorite Max Kieffer, Adrian Meronk, Daniel Hillier and Rikuya Hoshino shared third place at 11 under par.
This week, the DP World Tour returns to England for the British Masters at the Belfry. Justin Rose (11-1) has never won this home event but did serve as its host at Walton Heath in 2018. Rose makes his 2023 DP World Tour debut this week.
Min Woo Lee (12-1) has played very good golf all season but is off a T-5 at the U.S. Open and T-9 at the Travelers Championship over the last two weeks.
Adrian Meronk (14-1) was a winner for us in early May at the Italian Open and is off a third last week in Germany and finished third on this course two years ago.
Englishman Jordan Smith (20-1) follows in the market along with defending champion Thorbjorn Olesen (33-1), Rasmus Hojgaard (35-1), who won on this course for the 2020 ISPS Handa UK Championship, Victor Perez (35-1) and Robert MacIntyre (35-1).
Last week’s top 2 in Germany, Thriston Lawrence and Joost Luiten, are priced at 66-1 and 40-1, respectively.
The Event
The Betfred British Masters was founded in 1946 as the Dunlop Masters. Dunlop was originally founded as a rubber tire company during the late 19th century and headquartered in Birmingham, England. They expanded their brand to many other areas, including the manufacturing of golf and other sporting equipment. Dunlop’s sponsorship expired in 1982, but the event continued from 1982-2008 under various sponsorships; however, a loss of sponsorship caused the event to take a hiatus from 2009 to 2014. U.K.-based bookmaker Betfred took over the sponsorship in 2019. The event returned to the European Tour schedule in 2015 with the added wrinkle of having an outstanding British golfer serve as the host of the event at a different course each year.
Here are the previous British Masters hosts:
2015: Ian Poulter – Woburn Golf & Country Club
2016: Luke Donald – The Grove
2017: Lee Westwood – Close House Golf Club
2018: Justin Rose – Walton Heath Golf Club
2019: Tommy Fleetwood – Hillside Golf Club
2020: Lee Westwood – Close House Golf Club
2021 and 2022: Danny Willett – The Belfry
The event has lost a bit of luster over the years because of constant movement in the schedule but does have a storied history as several legends of the game are multiple winners here, including Seve Ballesteros, Tony Jacklin, Bobby Locke, Greg Norman, Peter Thomson and Ian Woosnam.
Starting this year and going through 2026, Nick Faldo, the 1989 British Masters champion, will serve as the event’s host.
The Course
The Brabazon Course at the Belfry plays host this week. The Belfry has won several awards, including the World’s Best Golf Hotel at the 2019 World Golf Awards. It is rife with history as it has hosted more Ryder Cups than any other venue (1985, 1989, 1993 and 2002). It has also been the stage for several European Tour events, including the British Masters and the Benson & Hedges International Open but hosted its first European Tour event, since 2008, in 2020 for the ISPS Handa UK Championship, a one-time event created because of COVID-19.
There are three courses on the property, but the Brabazon, designed by Peter Alliss in 1977 and redesigned by Dave Thomas in 1990, will be the course this week. The Belfry is a parklands layout with water in play on half of the holes. The track measures 7,336 yards and is a par-72. It is unique in that there are 12 par-4s instead of the more typical 10, which means that there are just three each of the par-3s and par-5s. The rye and meadowgrass fairways are narrower than average and the rough is a mix of ryegrass, fescue and meadowgrass with about 1.5 inches in the first cut and 3 inches in the second cut. The greens are Bentgrass/Poa Annua and roll around 10-10.5 on the stimpmeter.
Recent History/Winners
2022: Thorbjorn Olesen (-10/278); The Belfry; 75-1
2021: Richard Bland (-13/275); The Belfry; 150-1*
2020: Renato Paratore (-18/266); Close House; 50-1
2019: Marcus Kinhult (-16/272); Hillside; 175-1
2018: Eddie Pepperell (-9/279); Walton Heath; 30-1
2017: Paul Dunne (-20/260); Close House; 66-1
2016: Alex Noren (-18/266); The Grove; 18-1
2015: Matthew Fitzpatrick (-15/269); Woburn; 33-1
​Playoff victory over Guido Migliozzi – *
Trends and Angles
A consistent statistical angle for the last two British Masters events held at the Belfry plus the 2020 ISPS Handa UK Championship, is that approach seems to matter most.
Here are how the last three winners at the Belfry ranked on approach during their respective winning weeks:
2022: Thorbjorn Olesen: 9th
2021: Richard Bland: 2nd
2020: Rasmus Hojgaard: 4th
The following is a list of the top players in this week’s field for Strokes Gained: Approach on the DP World Tour.
