Swiss Challenge

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Bernd Ritthammer - 1 point each-way @ 50-1 (BetVictor)

It is a shame that the Swiss Challenge takes place directly opposite The Open as it deserves a bit of attention. As well as being one of the pictureque courses in the country, there is added interest with both Moritz Lampert and Jake Roos going for their third win of the season and thus automatic promotion to the European Tour. Whilst they have probably amassed enough points/Euros to grab one of the 15 cards available, I'm sure that either would love the chance to join recent 'autos' in Benjamin Hebert,Kris Broberg and Brooks Koepka in Challenge Tour history. Whilst that is going on, current rankings leader Jordi Garcia Pinto needs to get a move on and return to form or it will be easy enough for a few of these in-form players to go past him - again, it may only be a number but hugely important for the esteem when they arrive on the first tee next season.

Lampert is the man to beat as always and whilst he may have been a bit laboured in his 12th place finish a couple of weeks ago, this event will be won with low scoring and his continued brilliance with his approaches and putts has to see him right there. 10-1 isn't horrendous in the context of the event but I'd be looking for at least 12-1 in a full-field event where he has no previous form, though anyone who saw the highlights of the final day in Scotland may rush to take any double-figures.

When looking at regular haunts, it is useful to see what type of player was picked last year and fortunately this column was able to select eventual winner Victor Riu at 40-1. Working on the same thoughts, Ritthammer came high on the list and fits the profile at 50-1.

Recent winners Benjamin Hebert and Victor Riu both showed promise on the Tour before winning their maidens here in 2011 and 2013 respectively, whilst Gary Stal made this his second win in a month in 2012. Clearly the angle is the French or mainland European players who have shown definite ability on the third-level events and indeed both Hebert and Riu had done so on the Alps Tour, the former winning and Riu being runner-up twice. The younger Stal had been thrown into the deep end after a brilliant amateur career and this year both he and last year's Swiss Challenge winner have made eye-catching progress on the main Tour this year whilst Hebert was to use the win as a springboard to two further successes including the prestigious Rolex Trophy.

On top of these qualifications, both Hebert and Riu had played this course at least once with the latter having form of 19/mc/28 before he won whilst Riu had shown in recent form that he was 'due' one if he could just hold it together for a full four rounds. Going along with that process, Ritthammer has played here four times with form figures of 13/mc/52/mc with last years effort of only one round over 69 and has shown recent promise with a closing 3rd in Germany (final round 65) and a 29th in Slovakia on a similarly low-scoring course. That effort last week was even more admirable given he stood outside the top-100 after a day one 75, yet launched himself up the board on the cut-line before a weekdn 69/68.

Ritthammer is a winner on the EPD Tour, winning the OOM in 2009 and has already shown that he can compete in higher grade with a best-ever 22nd in the 2013 BMW in Munich. Currently 35th in the OOM he is set to have his best ever season having been 37th in 2013, and having built up a steady series of top-20s over the last couple of seasons needs to move his career in an upward direction. At what is considered to be the right age to start progressing at full maturity as a golfer (around 30), the German can continue the record of 'new' winners at the course.