Maybank Malaysia Championship 2016

This week's event on the Europeantour sees us in Malaysia for the inaugural Maybank Malaysia Championship which is not the same as the Maybank Malaysia Open!!(yeah right so) It's a new event being played on the Old Course at Selangor GC, a course first opened in 1893 but for this week its a relatively "new" course for the vast majority of players. We do have a fairly decent field too where Danny Willett heads the betting market from Major Champions, Oosthuizen & Kaymer.(Darren is also in the field too).The course is just 6700 yards with only 3 par-5s on offer for the week and by all accounts will reward long drivers off the tee who can find fairways. Willett is sure to go well again and Oosty may just find his game, but I'm swerving Martin Kaymer for this as his game doesn't appear to be anywhere near his best at the moment. In all there is a bit of value in the field but given the uncertainty of the course characteristics and the threat of thunderstorms which is the norm in these parts, I've opted to side with a couple of players that just may find things to their liking this week. Both selections have early starts on Thursday which may end up being a blessing if the said mentioned thunderstorms do materialize come the afternoon according to the forecast.

In the outright market, I have to play Alejandro Canizares @ 45/1 where his accuracy should help his cause around this track. To boot, the Spaniard has been in excellent form this season posting two TOP10s in the Desert Swing (Abu Dhabi & Dubai) where he posted three sub-70 rounds in Dubai last time out. Canizares was T3rd in Malaysia this time last year and has another TOP10 from the Malaysia Open in 2011 so he's quite comfortable playing in this neck of the woods and can do so again here this week where he arrives in obviously good form. He last won in Morocco in 2014 on a course that rewards accuracy, has decent form at the KLM Open and in general on courses where accuracy is key and he makes my staking plan for win and TOP20 for Selangor.

My second and final selection for this week for a TOP20 finish @ 5.00 is last weeks selection David Horsey who duly obliged in the same market for us in South Africa. Horsey has been steady the past few weeks and is showing a strong weekend trend in those weeks and should he get a more positive start he may just kick on and he's kept on the staking plan to do that given that his accuracy is ideal for Selangor. From his four starts this year, the Englishman has finished no worse than 36th (Dubai) and his strong Sunday finish at Pretoria on Sunday should see his confidence improving. Like Canizares, Horsey has good Morocco form and indeed solid form on the tight tracks (Denmark) and Selangor may just be up his alley but @ 5.00 for a TOP20 finish on offer this week to back up his TOP15 last week, I can't abandon him just yet.

Selections:

0.75 pts WIN A. Canizares @ 45/1

3.0 pts TOP20 A. Canizares @ 2.80

2.75 pts TOP20 D. Horsey @ 5.00