In a week where the PGA Tour has all eyes on its season-ending Tour Championship, the European Tour can boast its own stellar field.
The tour moves on to the largest country in Northern Europe – Sweden – as we follow on from last week’s Czech Masters where Thomas Pieters was victorious. Here are our Scandinavian Invitation betting tips.
The details
Date: August 22-25, 2019
Venue: Hills Golf Club
Course stats: Par 70, 6,900 yards
Course summary: The course has been around since 2005 and has features a combination of wide, but sloping fairways and small, protected, greens. There are plenty of trees lining fairways and water has a big presence throughout the opening holes.
Purse: €1,500,000
Defending champion: Paul Waring (-14)
TV coverage
Thursday: Sky Sports Golf, 10am and 2pm
Friday: Sky Sports Golf, 10am and 2pm
Saturday: Sky Sports Golf, 12pm
Sunday: Sky Sports Golf, 12pm
Scandinavian Invitation betting tips: Joe’s players to follow
South Africa’s Haydn Porteous is an attractive prospect at 50/1.
The 25-year-old has two European Tour wins to his name but hasn’t been able to get over the line since 2017, so he’s due another.
This season he’s been pretty consistently making the cut and has a good few top-30 finishes but, of late, seems to have found something which has enabled him to move closer to the business end of leaderboards.
A tied 34th finish at the Scottish Open kick-started some good play and he bridged the gap of the European Tour’s summer break by heading home and playing on the Sunshine Tour, where he finished tied for 9th.
When the main tour returned in Prague, he shot three rounds in the 60s to take a share of 11th.
He seems to be bubbling nicely along and he could well burst out with another good performance. Last year, he finished tied-6th in this event so there is plenty to suggest a big week ahead.
Last week, I liked the look of Lee Slattery and, for the most part, he was in with a shot of returning a place were it not for a poor final round.
I’m sticking with the Englishman as his form is strong enough to suggest he could have another shot at victory at odds of 80/1.
He settled for a share of 39th at the Czech Masters but a top-10 on his previous outing is a positive sign, and his course form also makes good reading.
This event was here in 2018 and Slattery played his way into the top 10. The course clearly suits his eye and I’m hopeful he can break into at least the places this time around.
- Tour Championship betting tips
- What happened last week on the European Tour?
- Who won on the PGA Tour last week?
An intriguing each-way pick is Rikard Karlberg. He has returned to playing regularly on the European Tour this year but has also been dipping his toe into the Challenge Tour every now and again.
His recent form in any competition is hard to better in this field and he has won before on Europe’s elite tour, although that was back in 2015.
He finished tied 5th in Prague and, before that, played twice on the Challenge Tour – finishing tied 4th and 6th.
Born in Gothenburg, just 20 minutes away from Hills Golf Club, he should feel right at home playing here. While I feel this is reflected in his price, 60/1 still looks good to me for a place.
For those looking for a real outside chance, consider Robert Karlsson at 125/1.
The Swedish veteran is without a European Tour victory for almost a decade but played some nice golf last week and clearly enjoys competing in his home country.
A tied 10th finish last time out, and a tied 17th here 12 months ago, leaves me wondering whether there could be a little more to come this time around.
A few pounds each-way looks to be enough for this bet, but that would return handsomely if we’re lucky.
Finally, there’s one for the big outright backers.
Erik van Rooyen has enjoyed an outstanding season and, while 12/1 is a little short for me, he could be a wise investment coming off the back of a top 5 last week.
For the latest prices, visit bet365.