Preview & Tips

The European Tour returns to the U.K. for a series of four events. The first is the re-arranged Irish Open following its postponement in May. That event had been scheduled to be played at Mount Juliet Golf Club, a parkland course in Kilkenny, and the European Tour have retained that course style with the replacement venue of Galgorm Castle Golf Club in Ballymena.

This week’s venue has hosted the Northern Ireland Open on the Challenge Tour since 2013 with the exception of 2019. That year, it was replaced with the ISPS Handa World Invitational which was a dual event for men and women competing at the same location, similar to the Victorian Open. Galgorm Castle and Massereene Golf Club were the two venues for that particular event. Galgorm Castle even hosted the 2020 Northern Ireland Open three weeks ago and this week’s field include the winner that week, Tyler Koivisto, as well as Garrick Higgo who won last week and finished 7^th here three weeks ago.

There may be eight years of course history, but the lack of any stats other than scorecard data for Challenge Tour events presents a problem in profiling this course. But it is a very open parkland course with water and trees not a particular problem for anyone other than the very erratic and the greens are generally acknowledged to be very good.

With a caveat about the lack of stats in previous events at this venue, here are a few angles that can be used this week.

Angles to consider:

1. Form continues to be important since the Tour re-start

The first angle seems to write itself each week. This has been a regular feature since the Tour re-start and with strong reasons. With the exception of Romain Langasque’s win in the Wales Open, all winners since the Tour re-start at the Austrian Open had secured a top-15 finish within the previous three starts. Last week, Garrick Higgo won to continue that angle after finishing 7^th in his last outing – the Northern Ireland Open played at this venue. It was a frustrating victory as he had been tipped at 150/1 just a few weeks ago.

2. Playing in the U.S. Open doesn’t harm chances the following week

Last year, it was the BMW International Open – another open, parkland track – that followed the U.S. Open. That week, 17 of the field had played in the U.S. Open and that included Matthew Fitzpatrick who lost out in a playoff in Germany that week, as well as Rafa Cabrera Bello and Matt Wallace who both finished 3^rd. In total, five players who competed in the U.S. Open finished in the top-10 the following week and they made up eight of the top-20. It was a similar situation with the winners in 2017 and 2016 having also played the previous week in the U.S. Open, while two of the top-3 in 2018 had played the previous week in the U.S. Open.

3. Length off the tee helps on this course

There are no stats from the Challenge Tour to back this up, but this is a very open parkland course that doesn’t particularly penalise the wayward. There are only two par-5s, both on the back nine, but there are also two short par-4s in the opening four holes, measuring less than 340 yards. Three weeks ago, as well as last year, the winner ranked 2^nd in par-5 scoring and 4^th in par-4 scoring (and outside the top-20 in par-3 scoring). There may be only two par-5s, but this also supports the notion that length off the tee is an advantage on this course.

Selections

The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following player has been selected.

Lucas Herbert

This will be Herbert’s first start in Europe since the Middle East Swing when he won the Dubai Desert Classic. Last week, he finished 31^st in the U.S. Open which is the best performance of any of the eight players playing in this event who competed at Winged Foot. He hasn’t played in enough European Tour starts to feature in this year’s official stats, but last year he ranked 25^th in driving distance to show that he has the power as well as the form to be very competitive this week.

Connor Syme

Syme also played last week and while he didn’t make the cut, he has been in excellent form recently with top-10 finishes in each of the last three European Tour events before last week. Admittedly, he had held the 54-hole lead in two of those three weeks and failed to win on either occasion, but he is now playing at a level that sees him rank inside the top-10 for scoring average on the European Tour. He is very good off the tee, both in terms of length and accuracy, and also in terms of greens in regulation. Overall, he is a very good fit for any course and Galgorm Castle is no exception, as he showed when finishing in the top-10 here last year.

Dean Burmester

Burmester didn’t play last week, but he has shown good form since the re-start, particularly since August. He is also one of the longest-hitters on Tour, ranking 2^nd in driving distance on the European Tour this year (he has ranked 2^nd and 4^th in this category in each of the last two years). As often seems to the case, he is also an extremely good putter, ranking 1^st in strokes gained: putting. That is the sign of an attacking player and that should be rewarded on this course.

Tips  1-2; -1.60pts

1pt e.w. Lucas Herbert 28/1 (Skybet, Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook, Boyle Sports 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8)  7th

1pt e.w. Connor Syme 25/1 (Skybet, Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8)  mc

1pt e.w. Dean Burmester 55/1 (Paddy Power, Betfair Sportsbook, Boyle Sports 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8)  22nd