This Championship is now part of The Rolex Series and that means that we should start looking at the cream of the entries. Open Champion, Shane Lowry defends this week and he warmed up nicely last week by finishing runner-up to Wade Ormsby in Hong Kong. The Irishman has a Major, a WGC and a Rolex Series win under his belt and his goal this year is obvious....make the Ryder Cup European Team. He won't be the only player motivated to get a good result here and grab as many points as possible and they'll have to compete for those points against some high competition, including an American invasion in the Middle East in the shape of Patrick Cantlay, Brooks Koepka, Bryson de Chambeau towards the head of the betting market. Of these three, it's Cantlay I'd prefer, but @ 10/1 I'd rather look for a bit of value down further. I'll do so,well aware that these Rolex Series events are being taken out by the leading golfers about, with just a couple of exceptions to date.
From my shortlist, I looked long and hard at Matty Fitzpatrick,Bernd Wiesberger,Danny Willett, George Coetzee,Ryan Fox, Rafael Cabrera Bello and Pablo Larrzabal. Of these, the price that stood out most for me was that of 75/1 - 80/1 about George Coetzee. Bernd Wiesberger's price is slightly better then expected, only just whilst the kiwi, Fox's @ 110/1 - 7 places was better than my 100s. Coetzee is my selection in the each way market here @ 75/1 - 8 places. Coetzee showed a gradual return to form towards the end of 2019 following time off through injury and he played nicely last week in Johannesburg to finish 6th. He recorded two TOP-25s in Mauritius & the Alfred Dunhill previous to that. I actually had him @ 55/1 for this week. He did miss the cut here the last two years and whilst there have been course changes over the recent years, he does hold Middle East Form and indeed posted 3 TOP-10s between 2012 -2014 here.Well capable in the wind, big George is a play at the price.
The aforementioned Ryan Fox arrives fresh for the new season, so it remains to be seen if he can hit the ground running. His last three visits yielded 27-39-19. A brace of TOP-30s in December though at the Australian Open & PGA championships suggest that his form is decent enough and he won't arrive totally cold, and hes taken in the TOP-20 market @ 5.50 to maintain that sort of form for a return.
Selections:
1 pt e/w George Coetzee @ 76.00 - 8 places
3 pts TOP-20 Ryan Fox @ 5.50
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