European Tour Fantasy Golf Predictions – Porsche European Open

2018 Porsche European Open Preview

Three of the last five British Open winners have been European with Francesco Molinari following Henrik Stenson and Rory McIlroy into the winner’s circle at Carnoustie on Sunday.

Comfortability on the Links is one thing but grace under pressure is quite another, and the Italian displayed plenty of both as he claimed the Claret Jug in relentless fashion on a pulsating final Sunday in Scotland.

Molinari didn’t make a single bogey in his closing stanza of -2, and that was enough to see him home with Xander Schauffele breathing down his neck out on the course and Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy sat poised in the clubhouse.

Of course, Links golf isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, and that’s why we can ignore a slew of missed cuts recently on various players’ resumés; some just need trees and less wind to prosper!

The European Tour enters its mid-summer lull period now, with gamers having to make do with a sparse card that includes a couple of non-inspiring alternate events.

The good news is that this week’s event, the Porsche European Open, is a decent one at a track that offers plenty of clues, and even accounting for the paltry prize money on offer a decent field has assembled.

Paul Casey, Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau and Pat Perez have decided to hang around Europe for a while longer, and that quartet adds a bit of magic dust to a field otherwise lacking in star quality.

They will be greeted by something of a beast this week, with the Green Eagle course in Hamburg, Germany one of the longest on the European Tour rotation at a whopping 7,583 yards.

There are five par 5s here – three of which measure over 650 yards, as well as four par 4s that measure 475 yards or more.

Usually, we would consider that to be a sure sign of a bombers’ paradise, and yet names inside the top-10 of this event last year include Ashley Chesters, Siddikur Rahman and Mikko Ilonen; by no means long hitters.

Indeed, with the heatwave that much of Europe has enjoyed these past few weeks, Green Eagles is looking almost as parched as Carnoustie last week, and there we saw the incredible ball-run on the fairways keeping all parties interested.

That said, there is a clear advantage to being long and straight here, with Jordan Smith and Alexander Levy – who duked out a playoff – ranking third and seventh and tenth and fourteenth for Driving Distance/Accuracy respectively. So, if you can go long and keep the ball in ply you are onto a winner.

Smith certainly was on to a winner as he claimed his first European Tour title here 12 months ago, and while he couldn’t convert a 54-hole lead he did manage to get the job done at the second play-off hole: birdieing the par 5 eighteenth with Levy only managing par.

The Links are behind us and it’s back to a traditional continental parkland lay out this week, so who makes our six-man draft?

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This Week’s Porsche European Open Fantasy Picks & Predictions

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This Week’s Porsche European Open Fantasy Picks

Paul Casey – $11,600 – It has been nearly four years since Paul Casey won on European soil, and after seeing off Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed in the Valspar Championship earlier this year you might think a victory on his home tour is long overdue.

You suspect Casey himself might agree, and on a track that supports his main strength of long, straight hitting perhaps that barren run is set to end this week.

The Englishman never quite got into the British Open but he still made the cut, and that continues a fine run of form which saw him finish second in the Travelers Championship in his penultimate start ad T16 in the US Open just prior to that.

Casey typically gobbles up par 5s for fun on both sides of the Atlantic, and while he has some high-quality opposition at the top of the market here he still represents the pick of the value given his point to prove to European followers.

Adrian Otaegui – $9,300 – If long and straight hitting is the aim of the game at Green Eagle then Otaegui has to be of value.

The Spaniard wasn’t overly enamored with the Links campaign, despite finishing T12 at the Open de France, and a return to the parkland courses where he thrives should suit.

Remember, he won as recently as May on the European Tour, and that came in his next start after finishing second in the China Open. That event is played at a Topwin layout that Alex Levy has won at and Jordan Smith has contended at; China and Germany may be a long way apart, but we have to take these omens where we can find them.

Otaegui finished tied for fifth here 12 months ago after sitting three shots back with a round to play.

Zander Lombard – $7,600 – After finishing T6 in the Irish Open, Lombard was well in the mix at the British Open last time out with a round to go and, five shots back, may have had dreams of lifting the Claret Jug had a number of factors gone his way.

He struggled in the wind on Sunday, but the realistic South African will be reflecting on a job that was three-quarters well done.

So there’s some decent form in the tank ahead of a trip to a layout where he finished T5 last year, and that is very enticing.

The 23-year-old is huge off the tee, and with a bit of extra room to send it out there Lombard may fancy lifting his maiden European Tour trophy; a feat he was close to a year or so ago when losing out in a play-off at the Rocco Forte Open.

Lucas Herbert – $7,400 – There are still plenty of question marks about the Aussie, although he has shown plenty of upside in some decent performances this season.

He was T28 heading into the final round of his debut British Open performance – not bad for a guy who was playing with borrowed clubs after his usual set were lost in transit.

Like Lombard, he fell away as the wind got up on Sunday, but Herbert too can take plenty of positives from his exertions.

It’s been a great year for the 22-year-old with a top-10 finish in the Australian PGA Championship, a semi-finalist at the Golf Sixes and a T3 return at the Rocco Forte Open, and his goal of securing a European Tour card can come a step closer with a decent showing at a layout that should suit his aggressive style.

Edoardo Molinari – $7,200 – It’s a bit of a leap of faith this one, but after watching your brother be crowned British Open champion it must surely have some kind of motivator effect.

There will have plenty of champagne and perhaps even a bottle of Italian red or two consumed to toast the victory, but ‘Dodo’ will surely have been given a sense of perspective from his younger sibling’s triumph.

It was a tough Links campaign for the older Molinari, but a T16 finish at the BMW International Open and T9 at the Sicilian Open suggests that all is not lost.

And let’s not forget he took advantage of a weak field to win the Trophee Hassan in 2017 too.

Max Kieffer – $7,100 – Another player who experienced three missed cuts during the Links events, don’t toss Kieffer to the curb just yet; his T12 at the BMW International Open came on his native German soil.

He will send the ball long, and ranks inside the Tour’s top-25 for SG: Off-the-Tee – the key building block to success at Green Eagle.

The German’s best performances tend to come on the mainland of the continent, and while he’s not a player who we expect to win the Porsche European Open a top-20 is certainly possible; not bad at this lowly price point.

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Cover photo via Instagram