Fantasy Golf Predictions – 2016 Hong Kong Open

European Tour Fantasy Golf Picks and Predictions for the UBS Hong Kong Open

The 2016 UBS Hong Kong Open Fantasy Preview

Following the first events of the 2017 European Tour season is the Hong Kong Open; a tourney first established in 1959, while not joining the biggest tour until 2001.  Last week’s Alfred Dunhill Championship kicked off the new campaign in a big way with South African Brandon Stone dominating the field by seven strokes behind his score of 22-under-par.  He became the sixth South African in as many years to take home the trophy in his home country.

The players will attempt to add to their Race to Dubai resumes this week at Hong Kong Golf Club in New Territories.  The venue features a par-70 layout with 6,699 yards of fairways and has created plenty of very close finishes over recent years.  Just like last week, the event is co-sanctioned with the host country’s premiere tour as the Asian Tour will have a heavy presence.

Although this outing is played very early on in the season, plenty of top notch golfers have seen their names etched on the trophy.  Just last year it was Official World Golf Ranked No. 15 player, Justin Rose, who defeated Lucas Bjerregaard by a single stroke.  His 17-under mark was the lowest since Ian Poulter’s tournament record-tying score of 22-under par back during the 2010 installment of this event.  From then to now, only Rory McIlroy’s two-shot win in 2011 has seen the champion own a margin of victory greater than a single stroke.

Since the tournament began on the European Tour in 2001, there have been three playoffs and another nine weeks that ended with a mere single stroke between first and second place.  As mentioned above, big names are common place on top of the leaderboard at week’s end, and the most dominant of those has been Miguel Angel Jimenez who owns four trophies when teeing it up here (2005, 2008, 2012, 2013).

True to past form, the names will be impressive once again this week and will be headlined by Ryder Cup participant and No. 8 golfer in the world; Patrick Reed.  He is out to defeat recent champions, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter, as well as some of Europe’s elite in Danny Willett and Rafael Cabrera-Bello.

Others that are getting strong odds out of Vegas include the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Thongchai Jaidee, Jeunghun Wang, Scott Hend, Gregory Bourdy, and Kiradeck Aphibarnrat who are receiving odds of 33/1 or better.  The top player in the field from last week’s first Race to Dubai tournaments is Andrew Dodt out of Australia who is currently third in the season-long competition after a runner-up performance at the Australian PGA Championship.

With overseas golf getting plenty of exposure in our neck of the woods thanks to daily fantasy, it is important to do your research and know who to watch out for each week.  Below are our selections from each salary tier who we believe will stand out this week in both tournaments or cash games.

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The UBS Hong Kong Open Fantasy Picks and Predictions

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The UBS Hong Kong Open Fantasy Picks

Patrick Reed – $12,100 – Reed has not participated in too many European Tour events over his career, but has always done well when he does.  In 33 European TOUR sanctioned events, including majors and WGC tournaments, this extremely talented golfer has made it into the money in all but four outings and has nine top-10s; including a victory at the WGC-Cadillac Championship.  Last season he was one of the best on the PGA TOUR with a final standing of third in the FedExCup standings and jumped into the winner’s circle for the fourth consecutive year.  The 26-year-old gained an average of 1.026 strokes on the field (14^th on Tour) and keeps himself in the mix week in and week out thanks to a flat iron which gained 0.280 strokes (40^th on Tour).  He has no real weaknesses to his game and is by far the most complete player making his way to Hong Kong this week.

Gregory Bourdy – $8,400 – Bourdy is coming off a rough go of things in his first event of the year, but finished off the 2016 campaign with a nice string of solid outings; playing all four rounds in each of his last nine starts.  Overall he made it into the money on 23-of-28 chances (82%) and earned four top-10 finishes with a career-best average position of 35.70.  The Frenchman is one of the most accurate golfers out there with 67.5% of fairways hit (12^th on Tour) while getting onto greens in regulations 71.4% of the time (25^th on Tour); all of which led to a stroke average 70.91 (38^th on Tour).  His consistent season showed that he can be competitive every week that he is out there and that last week should prove to be more of an outlier than the norm.

Julien Quesne – $7,500 – Fellow Frenchman Quesne makes this list thanks to another consistent season in which he earned himself five top-10 finishes over 28 starts.  His average finishing position of 52.08 wasn’t enough to surpass his career-best, but was one of his better marks thanks to some nice performances at bigger events such as the European Masters and BMW PGA Championship.  The 36-year-old knows what it takes to get to the top of the leaderboard as he has done so four times over his career, twice on the Challenge Tour and twice on the European Tour, with his last coming back in 2013.  The putter is his best club in his bag, allowing him to go for 1.764 putts per GIR (42^nd on Tour), but he will need to improve off the tee if he is ever to get back into first place.  With the ability to navigate any green, he should always have a leg up on others and is a nice cash game play at this price.

Jorge Campillo – $7,400 – In his 165 career events, Campillo has yet to earn a victory, but he has come close nearly every year and seems prepared to do so very soon.  At 30-years-old, the Spaniard has spent the past five full seasons on the Tour and has made it into the money at least 19 times in each of the last four years.  Over that stretch he has nine top-10s, including one runner-up, and ended up with five such results in 2016.  Overall it was his best year with an average finish of 46.28 in 30 tournaments played and ended up ranked in the top-50 in stroke average (70.86, 31^st on Tour), driving distance (293.3, 47^th on Tour), putts per GIR (1.759, 38^th on Tour), and putts per round (28.9, 24^th on Tour).  With his well-rounded game, Campillo should be able to beat out a majority of these players on this short course and come out in a better finishing spot than expected.

Renato Paratore – $7,300 – Paratore will still be in his teens when this event ends, celebrating his birthday next week, and looks poised to be a nice addition to the European Tour for years to come.  During his second season, the Italian-born golfer jumped all the way up to 57^th in the Race to Dubai from 109^th in his rookie year and had an average finishing position nearly 25 spots better.  Paratore made it into the money 71% of the time (24-of-34) and even played his way into the top-10 on three occasions.  To finish off the 2016 season, the youngster nailed down a top-30 in six of his last seven starts thanks to a big drive (295.7 yards per, 31^st on Tour).  Paratore has a bright future with multiple victories to come and the beginning of the season is as good a time as any to prove just that.

David Drysdale – $7,000 – The senior of this list comes in at a very cheap price as David Drysdale makes his 409^th career start following a strong beginning to the new season.  The veteran has yet to get into the winner’s circle over that time, but has a total of 26 top-10s, including two runner-ups, and has been in the money 19 times during each of the past three years.  In his first start of the year at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, Drysdale played his way into a tie for 11^th after carding a score of 10-under behind a Saturday round of 64.  As with many of the older players, Drysdale does not possess the distance that he once did, but he makes up for that with a top-15 ranking in both driving accuracy (69.6%, 6^th on Tour) and greens in regulation (74.4%, 11^th on Tour).  Although we highly doubt he has it in him to win it all this week, Drysdale provides nice salary relief and is a solid, cheap option in your cash lineups.

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Cover photo via Instagram