Outright Picks - European Tour

Tipster: Stanley

Odds: Outright

Open de Madrid

The HSBC World Match Play Championship is being covered here

Outright plays (total stake per play: 1pt)

Steve Webster to win 28/1 e.w. @ ToteSport  mc
It was a very impressive return to the Tour after an injury lay-off last week - he led the event after the opening round and was still in 3rd place with one round to play. He did fade on Sunday, but he still ranked 4th in greens in regulation for the week and that is impressive after a break in Tour golf. If he can carry that form into this event, he should at least be able to repeat his top-10 finish in this event last year and particularly against a field that has seen a very large number of withdrawals at the start of the week. He has won on Tour before and had been re-dedicating himself to his game this summer before the injury layoff, so he may hold onto the lead this week.

Fredrik Andersson Hed to win 33/1 e.w. @ Victor Chandler and Coral  14th
He has yet to win on this Tour, though he has won on the Challenge Tour, so the odds do look a little skinny for the win, but he has proven himself capable of having good runs of form. In April/May, he finished 6th, 3rd and 2nd in consecutive weeks and that included two events in Spain and in his last three events he has finished 5th, 16th and 4th before taking a week off last week. So with finishes of 11th, 6th and 2nd in his last three European Tour events in Spain, there appears to be some decent trends pointing to another high finish this week.

Charl Schwartzel to win 50/1 e.w. @ Ladbrokes  mc
Form figures of 78/mc/mc on this Tour are hardly inspiring for a 50/1 shot, but there was clear evidence that his form was returning last week when he opened with rounds of 70 and 68 to lie 25th at the start of the weekend. He opened with a double-bogey on Saturday and never recovered, but he still managed to hit 78% of greens in regulation last week and that looks good when compared with the winner, Nick Dougherty, who hit 83%. And now that he is returning to warmer climes, he should play better this week. His three top-3 finishes this year have all been in warm weather: the Telkom PGA Championship in South Africa, the Estoril Open de Portugal and the Open de Espana, which he won and was played on the outskirts of Madrid. These odds are too high for a player who was ranked inside the top-40 of the World Rankings a few months ago, has shown in increase in form recently and won just a few miles from this course earlier this year.