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Last week’s event showed two things in a dual-ranking event. First, it has been a long four months since the Tour was last in operation and there were clear signs of competitive rustiness. Plenty of players were able to play well in parts during the week, but none were particularly consistent. Second, for all the young guns who threatened to win on Sunday, experience still matters. Rustiness should be less of an issue this week, while the second feature is still likely to remain in force this week. The event starts on Wednesday ahead of the six-week British leg of the European Tour which starts next week and there is no TV coverage. That is a real shame, not only from a betting point of view, but also from a golfer’s point of view. This course is lauded as one of the best and most scenic in Europe. It would have made for great TV even if the field is not world class. The course has been used previously for this event on the Challenge Tour in each of the last two years, the Adamstal Open on the ProGolf Tour in 2016 and 2017 and the MAN NO Open on the Challenge Tour between 2006 and 2008. That means that a good proportion of the field have played on this course previously, but there are no stats for these events which makes identifying the reasons for past good performance here rather difficult. That said, the course is very short at 6,473 yards in length and that length is reduced further by being at altitude – the course is 1,135m above sea level. Built at the foot of the Unterberg mountain, the sloping fairways meander through clearings though densely wooded areas and rock formations. This course isn’t easy. The cut line has been at even-par in the last two years here and was +7 in both Adamstal Opens of 2016 and 2017. Here are a few angles to identify players who should contend. Angles to consider: 1. Crans-sur-Sierre form will be relevant Both the location and the course description lead to one obvious comparison: Crans-sur-Sierre, the home of the European Masters. That course requires ball control, particularly from the tee, as evidenced by the game strengths of course specialist, Matthew Fitzpatrick. Other than events on the Alps Tour, this is the course on which past experience will be particularly helpful in terms of coping with the elevation changes within holes and the impact of altitude on ball flight. 2. The driver will be the important club this week The sloping fairways require control from the tee and the fact that the scoring has been relatively high in previous years suggests that the penalties for poor driving are costly. This has been borne out by golfers’ reviews of the course who suggest that the fairways are narrow and the rough challenging. This is also the case at Crans-sur-Sierre, but that course shows that, for the Tour pros, it is important not to focus solely on driving accuracy overall driving. 3. And so will the short game Golfers’ reviews of the Championship course at Adamstal also refer to the fast, undulating greens. Again, there is a clear parallel with Crans-sur-Sierre where scrambling is another important statistic. This cannot be borne from any of the stats from the Challenge Tour events played here, but hitting greens is challenging from steeply undulating fairways and the undulating greens make the short game more difficult. Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players have been selected. Adri Arnaus Sticking with Arnaus for another week. There were clear signs of rustiness in his game last week as he played well in parts, but dropped back over the weekend. He finished 6th in his debut in the European Masters last year (one shot out of the playoff) and, before that, had a spectacular season on the Alps Tour in 2017, winning twice and finishing 2nd twice in nine events. He leads the Tour in strokes gained: off the tee and ranks 8th in strokes gained: around the green (33rd in scrambling), so looks to have the perfect game profile for this course. Assuming that he is less rusty than last week, he should feature very strongly this week. Lorenzo Gagli While Arnaus had finished 6th in the European Masters last year, Gagli finished 2nd after losing out in a playoff to Sebastian Soderberg. Like Arnaus, he is very strong from tee-to-green and fits the course profile well – he ranks 36th in driving accuracy, 5th in strokes gained: approach the green, 17th in greens in regulation, 48th in strokes gained: around the green and 46th in scrambling on the European Tour this season. He had finished in the top-15 in the last two events before the Tour hiatus and he finished 25th last week to show that his previous form was still being maintained. Like Arnaus, he is a likely and obvious contender this week. Sebastian Heisele Heisele missed the cut last week, but is maintained for this event. As last week, in terms of the World Rankings, he is the 7th best player in this field and has showed that he can be very competitive in these fields - he closed last season with four top-3 finishes in his last seven starts, including one win. He ranks 13th in strokes gained: off the tee and 55th in scrambling, which are good stats in this company and show that he should have the game to be very competitive on this course. Tips 0-3; -6.00pts 1pt e.w. Adri Arnaus 16/1 (Bet365, Skybet 1/4 1-2-3-4-5) 11th 1pt e.w. Lorenzo Gagli 16/1 (Bet365, Skybet 1/4 1-2-3-4-5) 9th 1pt e.w. Sebastian Heisele 33/1 (Skybet 1/4 1-2-3-4-5) 24th
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