The Lyoness Open powered by Sporthlife Cashback Card celebrates ten years on the European Tour this week.
It does so with a seventh consecutive visit to the Diamond Country Club in Atzenbrugg which means gamers/bettors have plenty of course form to delve into.
Local hero Bernd Wiesberger naturally has a strong affinity with the event, having first played it in 2004 as a teenager and more recently won in 2012 and lost a play-off two years ago.
With a prize fund of €1,000,000 it is comfortably the weakest pull for players in a run of European events from mid-May to late-July and the field quality suffers as a consequence.
Wiesberger’s outstanding course form (last year’s missed cut notwithstanding) and solid form make him the obvious choice at the head of the betting.
The tournament might attract weak fields, but they are not without promise. The likes of Alex Noren, Graeme McDowell, Thorbjorn Olesen, Victor Dubuisson, Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick and Rafa Cabrera-Bello, plus winners Luiten and Wiesberger, have all thrived at Diamond CC before going onto better things.
The course - Diamond CC
The par 72 layout is 35 miles north-west of Vienna and measures 7,417 yards with water in play on 13 of the 18 holes. Designed by Englishman Jeremy Pern, whose tracks also feature on the Challenge Tour (notably Toulouse-Seilh GC), it is 400 yards longer than when first used in 2010. There are two relatively short par fives in the first four holes, but then two long par fives later in the round, at 15 and 16. Both also feature island greens. DCC is one of those rare courses which closes with a par three. Miguel Angel Jimenez met his wife at the event and says of the course: “It tests every part of your game.”
Past winners at Diamond CC, Winning Scores and Stats
2015 -15 Chris Wood (DD: 51, DA: 11, GIR: 6, Scr: 3, PA: 6, AA: 14)
2014 -12 Mikael Lundberg (DD: 61, DA: 24, GIR: 20, Scr: 4, PA: 1, AA: 10)
2013 -17 Joost Luiten (DD: 22, DA: 2, GIR: 1, Scr: 31, PA: 21, AA: 2)
2012 -19 Bernd Wiesberger (DD: 1, DA: 24, GIR: 11, Scr: 3, PA: 2, AA: 1)
2011 -12 Kenneth Ferrie (DD: 38, DA: 14, GIR: 4, Scr: 1, PA: 16, AA: 4)
2010 -17 Jose Manuel Lara (DD: 16, DA: 1, GIR: 8, Scr: 11, PA: 3, AA: 1)
Notes: There have been three play-off winners at Diamond CC (Lara, Ferrie and Lundberg). Fast starts have been useful too - Lara, Luiten, Lundberg and Wood were all T2 or better after 18 and 36 holes prior to completing their wins (oddly three of the four winners of the event before it moved to Diamond CC were also T2 or better at halfway). Winners have traditionally excelled all round - good accuracy from the tee, hitting lots of greens, saving par when needed and holing plenty of putts.
The weather
The week will start warm with temperatures in the high 70s on Wednesday, but rain is expected on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Writing this Monday there is reported to be a chance of thunderstorms on Thursday afternoon. Strong wind is unlikely to be an issue, but it is predicted to change direction throughout the week, which could make it a subtle factor.
The Leading Contenders
The Austrian’s affinity for Diamond CC has never been in doubt. Prior to last year’s missed cut he had reeled off four top 15 finishes, including that win in 2012, second (losing in a play-off) in 2014 and fifth in 2011. His final round efforts underline his fondness for playing in front of the home galleries: 68-65-69-69. Maybe expectation was too high 12 months ago - he arrived fresh from missing out in the play-off in Ireland. This year he has ticked along, making eight cuts and was T15 last time out at the BMW PGA Championship. “After last year I have a score to settle with the course,” he told EuropeanTour.com, “and I will give my best to be able to play for the victory at the weekend.”
The defending champion and fresh from victory at Wentworth in the BMW PGA Championship - how could the situation be better? Well, of course his confidence will be sky high but golf is rarely as simple as saying perfect course form plus perfect current form equals winner. The victory in England came after a run of seven events when he felt frustrated with an inability to turn in a good result, despite consistency. The real question this week is how his head copes with knowing that everyone - presumably also himself - expects another excellent return.
Started the season with a relentless run of eight top 15 finishes in nine starts, during which time his long game stats were truly impressive. His putting was statistically less solid, but sometimes didn’t need to be. However the last three outings have seen him reap T44-MC-T27, with Ball Striking ranks of 7 and 5 when he made the cut but only 57 and 42 in Total Putting. Two factors suggest he might revert to the Luiten of early season this week however. Firstly he’s visited the course three times and never once finished outside the top three (T3-1-T3). Secondly he’s good friends with Chris Wood and could easily be inspired to grab the win his long game currently deserves.
Gregory Bourdy
The neat Frenchman had a strong record at Diamond CC coming into last year’s event, having finished T18 and T8 in 2012 and 2013. He duly backed that up with rounds of 65-67-69 to take the lead after round one and maintain it through Saturday evening. But a final round 78 saw him cede the advantage and eventually wind up T6. Arrives off the back of 7 weekends of golf on the bounce, with T10 in Ireland and T15 at Wentworth most recent. If the scars are not too vivid, an obvious candidate.
On his course debut twelve months ago his first round didn’t suggest he was going to be a good fit, as he took 74 swipes to be T96. But he followed with 69-68-70 to end the week T11, so he arrives this week as something of a dark horse. His recent form shows lots of promise without the final check to confirm it. Four times in his last five starts he has been in the top ten at some point through the week, but only at the China Open did he end the tournament that way, when T6. There’s an intriguing link with Toulouse-Seilh GC, that Jeremy Pern course used by the Challenge Tour. Wiesberger and Luiten are both winners there (as here) and Ramsay won there in 2008.
Since contending all week at the Open de Espana before finishing T4 there’s been a sense that the Englishman is close to another win, or at the very least another strong performance. That’s down to this time of year having plenty of his favourite events on the schedule and yet it’s not quite happened. He’s made 4 of 5 cuts since Spain, but has a best of T10 in Ireland. Missed the cut at Diamond CC in 2013 and was T32 in 2014.
Not flying quite as high as last season when he notched five top tens on his way to 34th in the Race to Dubai, but a sign of his standing on Tour is that he can appear slightly off his game and still be 65th in the rankings. His T3 at the China Open is his seasonal best and was T20 last week in Sweden, with a strong 67 on Friday. A course debutant, his only experience in Austria was a missed cut on the Challenge Tour in 2011.
The Englishman’s year, course and country form are all as one this week. He’s 12-for-13 for the season, including three top tens: T7 in the Qatar Masters, T6 in the Maybank Championship Malaysia and T3 in the China Open. Five times he’s played at Diamond CC, five times he’s played the weekend and he was T8 in 2012. He’s also 12-for-12 at all Austrian venues played on the Challenge and European Tours, with a best of T4 in this event in 2009. Every thing is solid, in other words.
Sebastien Gros
No course experience to speak of, but the promising Frenchman did make a first Austrian start at the end of May last year - and it was a decent effort too. He carded 35-71-64-65 to finish T3 in the Kärnten Golf Open, his first top ten finish at that level. It prompted the run of form which won him his main tour card and he’s thrived as a rookie, pegging T4 in his first start at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, adding T10 at the Irish Open and T23 last week in Sweden.
Thomas Bjorn
The Dane has only played at Diamond CC the once and with some success. Back in 2013 he started the week 70-71, but had a Moving Day to remember, scorching the track to shoot 64 and race through the field. He added 68 on Sunday to finish second behind Joost Luiten and led the Putting Averages for the week. After his season was disrupted by injury he made a promising return at the Open de Espana, but has followed that with MC-T52-T78. His long game stats don’t make pretty reading at the moment, as he struggles to rank top 50 for anything prior to hitting the greens.
The Next Rung
In two seasons on the Challenge Tour the Englishman clocked up ten top ten finishes, including T7 at the 2015 Madeira Islands Open, a co-sanctioned event with the main tour. If those results hinted at promise, his rookie year on the European Tour has added to it, as he’s gone 7-for-9. More notably, in the last few weeks he’s threatened a really good week. He was T2 after 54 holes at the Shenzhen International, T13 at the Trophee Hassan II, T8 at halfway in the Irish Open and opened with a 69 last week in the Nordea Masters. More of that in this field could see him land the result to rubber stamp his potential.
Jordan L Smith
The 23-year-old Englishman leads the Challenge Tour rankings this season, going 7-for-7, including a maiden victory in Egypt and second in the Czech Republic. A member of the 2013 GB&I Walker Cup team he won the third tier EuroPro Tour last season to earn his Challenge Tour stripes and might feel nostalgic for the venue - it was the scene of his main tour debut back in 2014 on invite, when he finished T32.
It’s been a frustrating season for the Scot, whose best result is no better than T19 in the Thailand Classic. In recent weeks it has been yet more irritating as he has promised to deliver the goods, but slipped away quickly. He led the Irish Open heading into the weekend, before trailing in T23, then held a share of the lead in Sweden last week after 18 holes before limping home T65. T56 and T21 at the course.
The South African came to the attention of gamers with two wins late in 2015 on the Sunshine Tour. The victories have dried up in 2016, but the consistency didn’t to start with - and more importantly he transferred it to the European Tour co-sanctioned events, notching four top 15 finishes at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, South African Open, Tshwane Open and Hassan II Trophy. But his schedule - which has taken on Puerto Rico, China, Zimbabwe, Morocco and Mauritius in recent weeks - might have taken its toll a bit. Disqualified in the Swiss Challenge Tour event last week, but a few weeks rest before that might have rejuvenated him.
Twice T4 this season (at the Qatar Masters and Shenzhen International), the Englishman missed the weekend in both his most recent starts at the Irish Open and BMW PGA Championship, but was boosted by winning a spot in the U.S. Open Qualifier at Walton Heath. He enters the reckoning thanks to a solid bank of course form. He’s 4-for-4 at Diamond CC, including T9 in 2013, T4 in 2014 and even last year, when he ended up T32, he was T10 at halfway.
Back in 2012 the Frenchman announced himself to the Challenge Tour with victory in Austria, at the Kärnten Golf Open. He’s never quite replicated that form at Diamond CC, but he’s getting closer every year. He was T52 in 2013, T25 in 2014 and last year found himself T2 at halfway before ending the week T9. He’ll need all the good vibes he can muster because this year he has just one top 50 finish (T18 in the Dubai Desert Classic) n his 11 starts.
There is a slight element of boom or bust about the Spaniard’s trips to Diamond CC. In 2013 and 2014 he walked away with T7 finishes, but either side he was T40 in 2012 and missed the cut last year. Struggling this term, he has just the one top 20 finish, although it was recently at Wentworth when he was T15. Closed his race last weekend at Bro Hof Slott GC with a poor 79-78 however.
After claiming his debut European Tour victory in last year’s China Open Wu showed little interest in main schedule forays, but that has changed this year. He went 3-for-3 in the Desert Swing and made the cut in the Irish Open and Nordea Masters either side of a free weekend at the BMW PGA Championship.
It’s been a rough couple of years for the three-time winner on the 2006 schedule. He lost his card in 2013 and has struggled to regain it. Even when winning on the Challenge Tour in 2014 his consistency the rest of the season was not enough to earn main tour rights. Last week’s T10 earns him a start this week and offers hope. It’s his first 72-hole European Tour top 10 finish since late 2011. He’s 0-for-3 on the course, but did peg a round one 68 last year (albeit adding a round two 83).
He missed the cut at Diamond CC in 2014, but was T6 twelve months ago so will have good memories to feed off this week - and it could be said that he will need them. As the BMW Masters champion of last year he has strong standing in this field, but that is based on his reputation rather than any recent form. In fact in his last 8 starts he has a best of T38 in the Shenzhen International and was T74 last week in Sweden, spending the weekend shooting 76-81.
Back in 2010 the Swede shot 69-68-68 to be T3 with 18 holes to play, but a final round 73 saw him slide to T11. Subsequent visits in 2012 and 2015 have reaped nothing better than MC-T70. But go back to 2008 and 2009 and he has more event form: T3 in the former, T10 in the latter. He was T5 in the Thailand Classic but not made a top 30 in six outings since then and has broken 70 just once in his last 20 rounds.
Worth considering on the rebound theory. Made a big splash when finishing fourth at the Irish Open, in so doing securing his card for 2017 and earning redemption following testicular cancer surgery in 2015. The adrenalin rush and subsequent added responsibilities made the BMW PGA Championship preparation something of a circus and he missed the cut. A week’s rest, reset expectations and less media focus might see a return to the form of The K Club. T52 at the course in 2013.
A major winner (2009 PGA Championship), a WGC winner (2006 HSBC Champions) and three times in the top ten on last season’s European Tour. Toss in that he was the halfway leader two weeks at Wentworth in the BMW PGA Championship (indeed was a leading contender at the turn in the final round). All good and yet he’s a little under-appreciated - especially in this field - by the bookmakers and other observers. No course form, but he has a bit of class.
The winner of the 2015 Challenge Tour rankings arrived on the main tour with a strong reputation. So far he has hinted at the promise rather than confirmed it. His place at 103rd on the Race to Dubai is about right, with a T7 at the Qatar Masters his best yet. But this is the sort of event he might easily break out at. And at the risk of stretching a point too far his record in middle Europe on the Challenge Tour was strong: a winner in Germany, T2 in Switzerland, T2 in Slovakia, T6 in Austria.
Who’s On The Team?
Bernd Wiesberger, Chris Wood and Joost Luiten have all the credentials: form, course wins and long term quality.
Gregory Bourdy joins them despite last year’s final round meltdown - I’ll take the longer term trend of his repeated good scores here.
Richie Ramsay is flashing on the radar because he looks close to his best and I like the Jeremy Pern clue.
Young bucks Gros and Smith are vying for a place too. I’ll reveal my full six-man line-up for the European Tour fantasy game in Tuesday’s Playing The Tips feature.
One To Fade
Kristoffer Broberg looks a bit bereft of ideas at the moment - he really does look stuck in a rut.