This week's European Tour action sees the BMW Italian Open from Royal Park Golf Club in Turin, where Matteo Manassero and Francesco Molinari will be looking to delight the locals.
The duo are undoubtedly the class acts in the field this week and bookmakers have priced them up accordingly with Manassero no bigger than 8/1 (Totesport), closely followed by Molinari at 11/1 (Boylesports). Next in the betting is last week's Wales Open joint runner-up Gregory Bourdy at 18/1 (Totesport).
The key to success on the 7,282-yard layout is staying out of trouble off the tee as the fairways are tree-lined and there are numerous water hazards. That said, it was putting that won the day for Fredrik Andersson Hed 12 months ago with the Swede needing only 101 putts to secure a two-shot victory over David Horsey.
My Three Against The Field:-
David Horsey @ 28/1 William Hill
Of the three principals, Bourdy has the best record here, having finished tied-22nd last year, although there are only two years' worth of course form to go on and Manassero is a different player to the one who finished 25th as an amateur in 2009. The young Italian made his professional debut in this event 12 months ago (29th) and has since won twice on Tour, the latest coming in Malaysia in April, which was followed by a highly creditable seventh in the Tour's flagship event, the BMW Championship. For all that, he thoroughly deserves to be 8/1 favourite and is impossible to leave out of the staking pan, if only as a saver.
For each-way purposes, I much prefer Horsey, who shared seventh place with Manassero at the BMW only to miss the cut in last week's Wales Open when carrying my money. I'm going to stick with him, though, as the Stockport man has been in good form for a while now with a win in Morocco - his second Tour victory - and a fifth place finish at the Open de Espana all coming since early April. Even more relevant to this week is his second place in this event 12 months ago when, like the winner, he needed just 101 putts, and that department of his game continues to be impressive (ranked sixth on Tour for Putts Per Round).
Peter Whiteford @ 40/1 Stan James
The Scotsman was also in my staking plan last week (each-way at 100/1) and, while I didn't pick anything up, he still performed creditably in eighth place - with hindsight, I should have also backed him at 10/1 for a Top 10 Finish. This week, I'm having to take that for a place but I'm convinced he will win of these lesser events before long and he was in contention here 12 months ago going into the final round (finished 13th). The fact he qualified for the US Open in Monday's qualifier at Walton Heath is just the fillip he needs coming into this week.
Gary Boyd @ 150/1 Totesport
The final pick was also in action at Walton Heath and qualified in some style with rounds of 65 and 66, although he didn't perform as well as Whiteford here last year (52nd) and he's missed his last three cuts. Still, it wasn't so long ago that he was contending for titles, pushing Peter Hanson close at last year's Czech Open and running a close third in the Castello Masters, won by Manassero. Given those missed cuts, there's more than a chance he'll flop again this week but Monday's qualification might be the confidence booster he needs and his outright odds are big enough to compensate for any doubts. The 12/1 (Victor Chandler) for him to finish in the Top-10 looks good business too.
Recommended Bets:-
Matteo Manassero 2pts @ 8/1 Totesport
David Horsey 1pt each-way @ 28/1 William Hill
Peter Whiteford 1pt each way @ 40/1 Stan James
Gary Boyd 0.5pt each-way @ 150/1 Totesport / Top 10 Finish 1pt @ 12/1 Victor Chandler
