Fantasy Golf Picks & Predictions – Omega European Masters

European Tour Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the 2017 Omega European Masters

2017 Omega European Masters Fantasy Preview

We managed to make it two straight winners in a row on the European Tour last time out with the excellent Haydn Porteous taking the honors at the Czech Masters in a titanic battle with Lee Slattery.

It was a case of the confident young gun besting a wily old veteran who has been there, done it and got the t-shirt, but a lengthy tour career that has yielded just two wins tells its own story. The battle-scarred often get a little twitchy with the winning line on the horizon, and Porteous – young of age and carefree of attitude – was able to take advantage and claim his second European Tour trophy.

Can we make it a hat-trick this week?

We’ve certainly got a stunning location at which to enjoy the Omega European Masters, with Crans-sur-Sierre genuinely one of the most beautiful golf courses you could ever wish to see. As it snakes its way through the Swiss Alps, players are afforded stunning views even if they are struggling to catch their breath – this course is situated some 5,000ft above sea level!

A player putts with the Alps in the background during the second…

A player putts with the Alps in the background during the second round of the Omega European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club on July 24, 2015 in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images

It’s an eye-catching backdrop, and the opportunity to play in such surroundings are partly the reason this event has attracted such a high quality field in the past (that and the €2,700,000 prize fund).

Former winners here include Alex Noren, Danny Willett, Thomas Bjorn, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, and Sergio Garcia have all won here in the past, so this week we’re looking for classy sorts to make their presence felt on the leaderboard.

It’s a seriously short course at just 6,848 yards for its Par 70, so nobody can be discounted from the reckoning. Indeed, this is the sort of stretch where the shorter hitters can thrive, with tree-lined fairways and small, upturned-saucer style greens providing the venue’s key protection from low scoring. But, with an average mark of -17 in the past few years, those efforts have been only partly successful.

That said, giving it a bump off the tee could be an advantage: holes six and seven are both driveable Par 4s, with nine eagles made at the latter in 2016 and 13 a year prior to that.

But the key to success at Crans doesn’t come off the tee. Finding Greens in Regulation is essential, as is Scrambling: Noren, Lipsky and Bjorn, who were champions here in 2016, 2014 and 2013 respectively, ranked either first or second for this metric. Clearly, with the greens being difficult to locate, getting up and down from the fringe is essential.

Oh, and we’re certainly favoring those with previous course history as well. Noren and Bjorn are both two-time winners at this stretch, Miguel Angel-Jimenez has five top-10s here, Danny Willett three, while the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Tyrell Hatton have recorded back-to-back top-10s in recent times. Basically, if a player has done the business at Crans in the past, there’s every chance they will do so again.

Now we have some idea of the kind of players we should be drafting this week, who makes the cut in our European Tour fantasy lineup? Let’s have a look…

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This Week’s Omega European Masters Fantasy Picks & Predictions

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This Week’s Omega European Masters Fantasy Picks

Tommy Fleetwood – $11,300 – We’ve spoken about the cream rising to the top at Crans in the past, and after the year he’s had we can firmly categorize Tommy Fleetwood in that camp.

A two-time winner on the European Tour in 2017 alone, he’s already recorded his first ever top five in a major and finished solo second in a high quality WGC event, so you could forgive Fleetwood for having something of a spring in his step at the moment.

The 26-year-old has played well at Crans before, as course form of 49-MC-5-9-19 attests, and even in his T49 effort last year he ranked fifth for our adjusted Strokes Gained: Tee to Green stat that is cobbled together from the European Tour’s miniscule amount of data (so an average of Driving Accuracy, Distance and Greens in Regulation). Fleetwood’s putter has been hot this year, and you don’t finish T4 at a US Open unless you can scramble with the best of them.

The most in-form player in the field at a course he enjoys? Yes please.

Jamie Donaldson – $8,800 – The former Ryder Cup ace has been playing some good golf in the past few months, and at a course he has enjoyed in the past it is well worth getting him on side.

Three top-10s in his last five visits to Crans certainly ticks that course form box, and with the Welshman coming into the event hot with a formline of 25-9-16 we clearly have to draft Donaldson at a decent value price.

His game is set up perfectly for this assignment, ranking tenth for Scrambling and returning a season-long GIR stat of a shade under 70%. Expect Donaldson to go well once again in the Swiss Alps this week.

Scott Hend – $7,800 – Given his brilliant effort here 12 months ago, we’re more than happy to have Scott Hend on side this week.

He lost out in a playoff to Alex Noren, but still ranked first in our adjusted SG: T2G metric and also played the Par 4s better than anybody else in the field.

The two-time European Tour champion started his year with a T10 at the Australian PGA Championship, and while his form has been up and down since he has shown green shoots of recovery of late: not least the T10 at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational in his penultimate outing.

Mike Lorenzo-Vera – $7,200 – This stylish Frenchman has been knocking on the door of his first European Tour victory, and he is certainly getting closer all the time.

Third in his native Open de France in July, Lorenzo-Vera was back in form at the Czech Masters last week. In 13 starts in 2017, he’s now racked up four top-10s and a T11.

A decent return of T12 here last year caught the eye – particularly an opening round of 66, and two other sets of numbers add the icing on the cake: Lorenzo-Vera ranks third on tour for Scrambling, and won four times on the Alps Tour from 2006-09. That is the kind of local knowledge we need in an unusual high altitude setting.

James Morrison – $7,100 – In the first half of 2017, Morrison’s form was excellent, and while he tailed off somewhat in what me bill the European Tour’s ‘Links Leg,’ he returned to his best with a T5 finish at the Czech Masters last time out.

Combine that with a course form run of 15-25 in his last two trips and we’re already getting excited about the Englishman’s chances, and those are enhanced yet further when we note that he is an excellent scrambler (eight on tour).

Morrison is a two-time European Tour winner, which kinda ticks that ‘class act’ box to some extent, and his lack of length will not hurt him in Switzerland – a penchant for finding greens will certainly aid his quest.

Matt Wallace – $7,000 – This is something of a curveball pick given that we have no course form to work with, but Matt Wallace won six times on the Alps Tour in 2016 – yes, six times – and that is eye-catching stuff.

The good news keeps on coming as well with Wallace banking his first European Tour win at the Open de Portugal, plus a return to form in his penultimate start with a T6 at the Made in Denmark event.

As if it’s almost too good to be true, Wallace even ranks 24th on tour for Scrambling. Could this prolific winner add some more silverware to his cabinet this week?

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