Omega European Masters:
The PGA Tour concluded its season Sunday at East Lake in Atlanta with Scottie Scheffler winning the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup. This week, the PGA Tour is off before the FedEx Cup Fall starts in Napa Valley next week. Therefore, the DP World Tour takes golf’s center stage in the Swiss Alps for the Omega European Masters.
Matt Fitzpatrick (9-1) finished 40th in the FedEx Cup points and returns to Europe as this week’s favorite having been a two-time winner of this event in 2017 and 2018 and the runner-up in 2015.
Thriston Lawrence defeated Matt Wallace in a playoff here two years ago. Both are priced at 18-1 along with 2021 event winner Rasmus Højgaard. Rasmus’s twin brother, Nicolai, is also in the field at 20-1.
Bernd Wiesberger (22-1) was the runner-up to Rasmus here in 2021.
At 25-1 are Erik van Rooyen, who was a top-10 finisher here last year, and Matteo Manassero, who broke a 10-year winless drought earlier this spring in South Africa.
Sebastian Söderberg (28-1) outlasted four other players, including Rory McIlroy, to win a playoff here in 2019.
Ludvig Åberg will not defend his European Masters title this week, but fellow Swede Alexander Björk (60-1) was last year’s runner-up.
The Event
The Omega European Masters was founded as the Swiss Open in 1923. The tournament was prefixed with European Masters in 1983, before dropping Swiss Open from the title in 1992. The event has been a fixture on the European Tour since the tour’s inception in 1972 but ended its streak in 2020 when the tournament was canceled due to COVID-19. The tournament has an extensive resume of notable winners, including major champions such as Seve Ballesteros (1977, 1978, 1989), Bob Charles (1962, 1974), Nick Faldo (1983), Nick Price (1980), Craig Stadler (1985), Jose Maria Olazabal (1986), Ernie Els (2003), Sergio Garcia (2005) and Danny Willett (2015) in addition to many other modern-era top European Tour players like Matt Fitzpatrick, Alex Norén, Thomas Bjørn, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie.
The Course
Crans-Sur-Sierre Golf Club in Crans Montana, Switzerland, (about a two-hour drive east of Geneva) has played host to this tournament since 1939. In 1997, the legendary Seve Ballesteros redesigned this track, which was created in 1908 and designed by Harry Nicholson. The course is a par-70 of 6,823 yards and is played at altitude in the Swiss Alps. It is a tree-lined, undulating test with tiny and slower (10-6 on the stimpmeter) Bentgrass/Poa greens that are guarded by bunkers and run-off areas.
The course is played at altitude and reduces the yardage by around 5%, so it will play more like 6,500 yards and change.
Four of the par-4s measure less than 400 yards, whereas two stretch over 500 yards, plus there are five par-3s between 175 and 235 yards. However, with the undulation changes and altitude, the holes don’t necessarily play as lengthy as the card would indicate. The front nine contains three of the sub-400-yard par-4s from the stretch from the fifth to the seventh. Back-to-back reachable par-5s at the 14th and 15th also present opportunities.
Here is the scorecard for Crans-sur-Sierre GC courtesy of the DP World Tour:
European Masters Recent History
2023: Ludvig Åberg (-19/261); 16-1
2022: Thriston Lawrence (-18/262); 30-1*
2021: Rasmus Højgaard (-13/267); 45-1
2020: No tournament due to COVID-19
2019: Sebastian Söderberg (-14/266); 275-1**
2018: Matthew Fitzpatrick (-17/263); 12-1***
2017: Matthew Fitzpatrick (-14/266); 30-1****
2016: Alexander Noren (-17/263); 18-1*****
2015: Danny Willett (-17/263); 16-1
2014: David Lipsky (-18/262); 125-1******
2013: Thomas Bjorn (-20/264); 40-1*******
2012: Richie Ramsay (-16/267); 80-1
2011: Thomas Bjorn (20/264); 55-1
2010: M.A. Jimenez (-21/263); 18-1
Playoff win over Matt Wallace – *
Playoff win over Lorenzo Gagli, Rory McIlroy, Andrés Romero, and Kalle Samooja – **
Playoff win over Lucas Bjerregaard – ***
Playoff win over Scott Hend – ****
Playoff win over Scott Hend – *****
Playoff win over Graeme Storm – ******
Playoff win over Craig Lee – *******
Trends and Angles
- 9 of the last 13 winners arrived with a top-7 finish recorded in their previous event.
- 13 of the last 13 winners had at least a top-10 finish in their 10 previous starts.
- The last 4 winners here have been debutants.
Selections
Bernd Wiesberger (22-1, DraftKings)
Wiesberger has had a successful full-time return to the DP World Tour having finished in the top 25 for 11 of 15 starts, including a runner-up at the European Open.
He ranks fourth on the DPWT for Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green, fourth for Greens In Regulation and seventh for Strokes Gained: Approach.
The Austrian was runner-up here in 2021 to Rasmus Højgaard.
Erik van Rooyen (25-1, Superbook Sports)
EVR has experience winning at altitude, having won the Barracuda Championship near the Sierra Nevada mountains in 2021.
He was eighth here last year.
Jesper Svensson (40-1, BetMGM)
Svensson won his maiden DPWT event at the Singapore Classic in March.
He is sixth on the DPWT for Driving Distance.
Swedes have had success here in recent years with Åberg, Söderberg and Noren all as winners.
Jorge Campillo (40-1, BetMGM)
Campillo was sixth last week at the British Masters and led the field for Driving Accuracy.
Two of his three DP World Tour wins have followed a top-10 finish on his previous start and one of those wins was at altitude in Kenya.
Marcus Kinhult (100-1, BetMGM)
Kinhult nearly won his second DPWT title in June before losing in a playoff to Guido Migliozzi at the KLM Open in the Netherlands.
The Swede has never missed a cut here in six appearances.
Jacob Skov Olesen (175-1, Caesars Sportsbook)
Olesen was the first Dane to win the British Amateur Championship earlier this year.
He also finished fifth two weeks ago at the Danish Golf Championship.
