Open De Andalucia - European Tour

[Dougal]

Couldn't see a thread for this week, so thought I'd better start one :ok After a month’s absence the European Tour returns, with the first event of the year that is actually in Europe. With no golf for so long I think form goes out of the window and with this tournament being played at Aloha Gardens for the first time since 2008 there’s not a lot of course form to go on either. David Horsey 1pt e/w @ 100/1 Bet365 With this event falling between the WGC events and the Masters it’s not a great field with all the best European players choosing to remain in the US. Horsey is a player I tipped last time out in India and while he made the cut he never threatened to win. Since then he’s spent some time in Dubai working hard on his game. This is a course where plotting your way around is the key and hitting the ball in the right parts of the fairway and greens, this is where Horsey’s strengths lie so the course should suit him (he’s not played here before) With two wins in the last two years he’s a much better player than these odds suggest and he’s going to find his form sooner rather than later, hopefully it will be this week. Lorenzo Gagli 1pt e/w @ 90/1 Bet365 Another player I’ve already backed this year a couple of times. Five top 10 finishes in his rookie season showed his talent and like Horsey, he’s a short but accurate hitter who should suit the course. While he has no course form here he finished 2^nd in Madrid last year so he has a liking for Spanish soil. He’s a very talented player and one who is on an upward curve, hopefully the break will have done him good and allowed him to find his best form Fredrik Andersson-Hed 1pt e/w @150/1 I was pretty stunned when the big Swede won the Italian Open a couple of years ago as he was a player who I always thought lacked the bottle to hold on to a lead, but the first win is always the hardest and there may be another around the corner for Fred. He’s one of the few players with any course form having finished 2^nd to Lee Westwood back in 2007. As the odds would suggest he’s very much a streaky player, he’s quite capable of producing some stunning low rounds and equally likely to shoot 78. In a field as weak as this I think he’s too big a price and hopefully he’ll have one of his good weeks.