Austrian Open 2010

Bank Balance after KLM Open & BMW Championship + 226.37

Another great winner for the blog last week with Martin Kaymer winning easily at the KLM Open. If the greens had been better then he most likely would have won by more then the 4 shots in the end but the ease of the win was incredible(sure I had the winnings spent Saturday evening !!!). Seriously though, its back to the drawing board this week and its not easy to find the blogs 6th winner in 3 months at the Diamond Course in Austria. A new course with loads of water, so none of the players will be familiar except home favourite Markus Brier. He actually went well last week and could ride local support for a good showing which is crucial for him as he lingers around the 115 spot on tour and will hope to use the home advantage to boost his chances of keeping the card. Bookies have him priced too low for a player of his calibre so its not a bet for me. On paper, it looks as if Jiminez is the man to beat, its a strange choice to play this week as prizemoney is small enough and the 7/1 on offer doesn't appeal to me. I have selected 3 players who I do expect to go very well this week, one in particular I have high hopes.

TIP 1: 1 pt e/w T.Hamilton @ 50/1 (Ladbrokes). Former Open champion is settling in well in Europe and has been playing fairly well. He may have done better last week if he could have handled the greens a bit better. This course looks like accuracy will be key and Todd definitely has the game for a course like this. 50/1 is bit overpriced in my opinion and the American could be quite dominant on the leaderboard this week. Big hope for this week.

TIP 2: 1pt e/w Jose Manuel Lara @ 66/1 (Boylesports). The Spaniard is languising down the order of merit and is some €30K behind the 115 spot to ensure a card for next year. He went very well last week finishing in a tie for 4th and collecting €70K. Another top 5 this week is very much within his capabilities as the field is probably the weakest all year. Its the time of year when these players at the wrong end of the order of merit grind out the prizemoney.

TIP 3: 1 pt e/w D.Willett @ 28/1 (Betpack). This tip was a toss up over Richard Green, Damien McGrane and Robert Rock, who were all in the 25-33/1 price bracket. Course will suit the Irishman down to the ground but his putting has let him down lately whilst Willett is finding form again. But for his 75 last Saturday he could have been Kaymer's nearest challenger. Its on that showing that he gets the nod and he can dust himself down again for this and will be confident of a good showing.