Fantasy Golf Predictions – Trophee Hassan II

European Tour Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the 2017 Trophee Hassan II

The Trophee Hassan II Fantasy Preview

After more than a month off to allow for the various co-sanctioned events and, of course, The Masters, the European Tour is back and, well, not exactly with a bang with this Trophee Hassan II event but at least it gives daily fantasy players a chance to flex their muscles a little.

Forgive our belligerence towards the event, but if you thought the post-Masters lull was bad on the PGA TOUR then you’ve seen nothing yet.  The headline acts in Morocco will be Jeunghun Wang, the defending champion and fresh from his maiden Augusta jolly, Brandon Stone, Joost Luiten, and Tshwane Open winner Dean Burmester.  See, it’s not exactly an elite field.

The Trophee Hassan wasn’t even a European Tour event until 2010, and even more annoyingly for stat fans it hasn’t been hosted at this Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salem since then.  It returned last year, but even then the data reported was mixed: the European Tour failing to record Wang’s winning numbers.  Happily, they did record the stats for 15 of the first 20 players home.

The Korean picked up the first European Tour win of his career here 12 months ago; the first of what is now a haul of three titles to his name.  With such a decent year behind him, Wang deserves favoritism with the sportsbooks here.

But he didn’t have things all his own way here last year, and in fact he needed three playoff holes to see off Nacho Elvira.

And even that was fraught with nerves.  Wang drained an 18-foot putt on the 72nd hole to force extra time, and then he downed an outrageous 50-footer to keep the tournament alive at the first playoff hole.

Nacho must have thought the golfing gods were against him, and so it proved when Wang putted the lights out again on the third extra hole – this time from 20 feet – to take the spoils.

Conditions had not been easy all week with squally rain and heavy winds disrupting proceedings, and the winning mark of -5 is reflective of that.

The Red Course is one of the longer stretches on the European Tour at 7,487 yards, and with prevailing winds it played a lot longer last year; the likes of Clement Berardo, Nino Bertasio, Renato Paratore, and Adrien Saddier – all huge drivers but little else – finishing inside the top 20.

The track is made up of Kikuyu fairways, and so you might think this would have given the South Africans in the field the edge.  But no: only one player from the country finished inside the top-25.

And the greens were thought to be slow at around 10.5 on the stimp, but with winds and a slick, rather than soaking, top it was no surprise to learn that nine of the first fifteen players home ranked top-20 for Putts Per Round.

So realistically, we’re looking at long drivers who can putt well this week.  We have little else to go on after all!

That said, here are six guys who should do a decent job for your daily fantasy teams this week:

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Our Trophee Hassan II Fantasy Picks and Predictions

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The Trophee Hassan II Fantasy Picks

Dean Burmester – $11,700 – Living in the shadow of many of his South African countrymen in recent years, Burmester finally struck out on his own at the Tshwane Open back in March.  That was his first European Tour level triumph (he’s a prolific winner on the Sunshine Tour), and what we really liked about it was that he showed no sign of nerves or finishing line fever as he got closer; carding a final round of 65 – the best of anybody on the day – to win by three shots.

That winning feeling will come in handy in a field as sparse on obvious talent as this, and the fact that he finished T14 here 12 months ago – so few in the field have even played a competitive round at this course – bodes very well indeed.

Huge off the tee, Burmester ranks sixth on tour for Putts per Round and tenth for Scrambling; that could well prove to be a winning formula this week.

Jorge Campillo – $9,100 – We are regular supporters of the Spaniard and for good reason: even if he doesn’t always finish that high on leaderboards, his rounds are stacked with birdies.

In fairness, Campillo has started to improve upon his consistency and was second to Burmester in that Tshwane Open edition last month.  He missed the cut at the Hero Indian Open but we’re not too fussed about that; now there’s an event that was almost impossible to predict.

He’d made six straight cuts prior to that with four of those being top-25 finishes, and Campillo’s game looks ideally suited to this Red Course: he averages over 300 yards with the long stick, ranks 55th on tour with the short stick and finds an average of 70% of his greens in regulation.

Campillo also has a pair of top-25s in Trophee Hassan renewals held at the former course, too.

Roman Langasque – $9,000 – You sense that it will only take a few fleeting moments of brilliant golf to win this tournament, in which case we have to have Langasque on board.

This is his first full season on Tour, and yet he has made seven cuts from seven; with three top-20 returns and a T21.

His first round of 69 at the Indian Open – while everyone else was happy go round in 75 – highlights the special talent that this Frenchman has; let’s hope he harnesses this week in a strong showing.

Mike Lorenzo-Vera – $8,100 – It’s a surprise that the Frenchman hasn’t performed better on the European Tour, in truth.

Despite possessing an outstanding short game to go with his booming 304-yard average drive, Lorenzo-Vera has never won on the European Tour, although his most recent form prior to the break – T4 at the Qatar Masters, T19 at the Dubai Desert Classic, T7 at the Maybank – suggests he is moving in the right direction.

Indeed, at the Qatar Masters he finished one shot behind eventual winner Wang despite finding the water on the back nine of his final round.  Could he best the Korean in Morocco?

Mikko Korhonen – $7,900 – Another favorite of ours is Mikko Korhonen, and like Campillo he looks a good match for this test based on the little information we have to go on.

The Finn was runner up in the Tshwane Open in his last start after carding four 60s, and that continued a fine run of four cuts made in as many starts in strokeplay events, which includes a T20 in the competitive Maybank Championship and T7 at the South African Open.

A T22 return here 12 months ago is pleasing on the eye, and if the greens play as tricky as they did then, well, few in the field are as well-equipped as Korhonen to cope: he averages just 28.85 putts per round.  He has the length to get in the mix as well (297.30 average drive).

Aaron Rai – $7,100 – Let’s hope that Rai sneaks under the radar a little bit this week, given that he isn’t the most ell established name in European golf.

Why are we so sweet on him this week?  That’s simple: so few of the players in this field have played competitive golf of late, but Rai was out at the Kenya Open as part of the Challenger Tour at the end of March.

And he won it by three clear shots from the rest of the field; a fantastic glimpse into this fine young talent.  Don’t forget he finished T7 on his last European Tour start at the Jo’burg Open as well.

His lack of length (average drive 280 yards) may inhibit him here, but this is a guy who hits 88% of fairways and 80% of greens; if conditions play rough in Morocco, those numbers will prove a huge help.

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Cover photo via Instagram