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Chris Hanson Top-10 2 points 11-2 With the likes of Joel Stalter, Mattieu Pavon and Sebatian Hiesele showing there is little gulf in class between the Challenge Tour and 'big league' there is a feeling that virtually anyone can win on the European Tour these days. The 'newbies', of course, also include winner in Denmark, Julien Suri, as well as current Road To Oman winner, Aaron Rai. Given this event has also been affected by weather delays, it is a virtual lottery when trying to pick the winner. At last year's inaugural event, accuracy off the tee and finding greens was by far the biggest key, and despite the presence of some big-hitters at the front of the leaderboard, I think that may end up being the case again. The boomers may try to dominate the course but the run-in is very tough, with five of the last ten holes ranked the hardest and even the final par-5 currently ranked 10th. Having said that, I am not sure how far down we can look for the winner given many of those in the top-20 have plenty of holes to playbefore they finish their second rounds. Current leader, Stalter has some great figures already lined up but pressure of leading a prestigious event just might take it's toll, surrounded by proven winners. The win market makes no appeal at the moment but there is a bet in the shape of Chris Hanson for a top-10 finish. The Englishman continually racks up high rankings for accuracy and finding greens, and one day the putts will fall and rewards will be given! For now though I am happy to think that if he continues his current play he will be right there at the end of the event. A double-bogey on each of the first two days has certainly cost him dear, but he was 8th round here last season after a weekend 67/69 and he has looked closer to that form the last two starts, 14th in Denmark (poor 3rd round) and at Crans, where his putting just wouldn't take off. Last year, Hanson had 3 top-10s from 21 starts and looks to be back to that sort of game. With the top-30 a mix of non-winners and rookies, I expect Hanson to rise up over the weekend, perhaps able to nick the top-10 at a generous enough price.
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