Porsche European Open betting tips and preview
Information
Venue: Green Eagle Golf Course, Hamburg, Germany
Dates: July 26-29, 2018
Course stats: Par 72; 7,583 yards
Purse: €2,000,000 (£1.78m)
Defending champion: Jordan Smith (-13)
TV Times
Thursday: Sky Sports Golf from 10.00am
Friday: Sky Sports Golf from 10.00am
Saturday: Sky Sports Golf from 12.00pm
Sunday: Sky Sports Golf from 11.30am
Porsche European Open preview
With the links swing over after the conclusion of last week’s thrilling Open Championship, the European Tour heads to Hamburg for the Porsche European Open – and there’s a trio of PGA Tour players headlining the field.
Patrick Reed, Paul Casey and Bryson DeChambeau have all cleared their schedules to tee it up here at Green Eagle Golf Courses, presumably to fill an event quota to maintain their European Tour memberships.
Coming in at a whopping 7,500 yards, this modern layout boasts an unusual five par 5s, so it was no surprise to see the big-hitting youngster Jordan Smith get off the mark on the European Tour here last year when the Englishman defeated Alexander Levy in a play-off.
Porsche European Open betting tips
Green Eagle made its debut on the European Tour last year, but I’m pretty sure we’ve seen enough to draw some conclusions about what is needed to win on this course.
You don’t necessarily need to drive the ball a long way – see Siddikur Rahman finishing 3rd last year – but you do need to take advantage of the five par 5s, with three of those long holes coming in the final four.
Lucas Herbert (80/1, 6 places) is a rapidly improving youngster who has all the capabilities of going close here.
The 22-year-old averages 4.5 on par-5s over the past three months which makes him one of the leading players in that category in this field.
The Aussie made the cut last week in his first Open Championship with borrowed clubs, and he already has two 3rd place finishes this season in Sicily and at the World Super 6 in Australia.
You never quite know what you’re going to get from Scott Hend (50/1, 6 places), but he is one of the longest players in world golf and if anyone is able to take advantage of the plethora of par-5s, it’s going to be the 44-year-old.
Hend will be making his debut at this course, but he’s coming off the back of a 14th place in the strong field at the Scottish Open, so he’s quite clearly in good form and this venue will be the perfect opportunity for him to continue that.
Finally, Richard Sterne (50/1, 7 places) has been playing some remarkably consistent golf of late, and a 14th place finish in Scotland last time out points toward an overdue week of contention.
The South African has missed just one cut in almost a year, and he is bound to make that step up and get in the mix on a Sunday sooner rather than later.
He ranks 6th in par-5 scoring average in this field, and having finished 19th on debut here last year, he’s expected to make a significant improvement and give us a good run for our money at 50/1.
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Tom Irwin
Tom is a lifetime golfer, now over 30 years playing the game. 2023 marks 10 years in golf publishing and he is still holding down a + handicap at Alwoodley in Leeds. He has played over 600 golf courses, and has been a member of at least four including his first love Louth, in Lincolnshire. Tom likes unbranded clothing, natural fibres, and pencil bags. Seacroft in Lincolnshire is where it starts and ends.
