Fresh off another good week of tips Donal ‘Doc’ Hughes from GolfCentralDaily gives his take on this week’s Open de France.
FAVOURITE WATCH
Jon Rahm makes his European Tour debut this week at the Open de France and has been installed as 11/1 favourite by the bookies. That leaves my horse for the course Francesco Molinari at a mouth watering 16/1 and WIN ONLY backers should take note. The Italian possesses the patience which Le Golf National demands as proven by three second places here since 2010. Solo second on his last visit home at Wentworth and even looks super value each way.
DOC’S TOP 5 BEST BETS
Bernd Wiesberger 20/1
Probably my favourite player on the European Tour, this a chance for Bernd to show Tommy Bjorn that he can be a real leader here at the 2018 Ryder Cup. Winner here in 2015 and four consecutive top 20’s on the course. Form wise the Austrian is simmering since his early season win in Shenzhen. A T15 at his home Lyoness Open was followed by a T16 at Erin Hills (where he led the field in fairways hit and shot two rounds of 69) and T20 at the BMW International last week. Big chances.
Ian Poulter 35/1
This is a very interesting one. If there’s one man who wants to get in the frame for the Ryder Cup it’s Ian Poulter. He burst back into life with a T2 at Sawgrass; a course which can draw strong parallels as a course management test with Le Golf National. Poults hasn’t been here since 2013 and there have been changes since but he has played here 11 times scoring four top 10s without ever missing a cut. Poults’ improvement in form is down to featuring in the top-5 in the GIR stats in three of his last four starts; more of that and another good putting week and he can contend here.
Brandon Stone 70/1
I think Brandon Stone is overpriced at 70/1 this week. The Alfred Dunhill winner was a solid T35 at the US Open and T31 in Germany last week and surely it makes sense for a South African to do well on this tough, almost linksy track. T5 here last year and can do even better this time around in the marquee pairings.
Jeunghun Wang 100/1
I’ve made the mistake before of ignoring the Asian contingent so have to give Jeunghun Wang a spot in the five this week. Misses plenty of cuts, hence the odds, but twice a winner in 2016 and again in January of this year in Qatar. T8 at the Nordea Masters in his last European start and T22 here on his debut last year.
Jamie Donaldson 66/1
Great to see one of the European Tour’s biggest characters Jamie Donaldson finding his form again and wouldn’t it be super to see a Ryder Cup hero perform well at the 2018 venue. The Welshman’s 7th at the Nordea Masters and T14 in Germany last week have been down to two top-10 GIR performances with his irons. They were also key to his T6 and T5 here in 2013 and 2014 respectively and with confidence up it will be interesting to see how Jamie performs.
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