Written by @Matt_Cee for @Hollywoodbets. Follow them both on Twitter and Facebook now!
The Hong Kong Open | Thursday 16 October – Sunday 19 October | Hong Kong Golf Club
There’s a lot of golf being played this week as the Grand Slam of Golf and the Volvo World Match Play have been added to the schedule and amidst the excitement of these ‘novelty’ tournaments it is pretty easy to forget that there are other tournaments on the go at the same time. The Hong Kong Open is one such tournament and despite being a co-sanctioned event, it looks like it could be an intriguing contest. A number of crowd favourites have made the journey to Hong Kong to participate in this event, which is to be hosted at the Hong Kong Golf Club. These include Miguel Angel Jimenez, a four-time winner, Ernie Els, Nicolas Colsaerts and a handful of others who on their day can prove to be difficult to beat.
The course has hosted this event for over a decade and is a 6669 yard par 70 which consists of short, narrow fairways and small greens. Despite the fact that the course is so short, it’s notorious for punishing wayward tee shots. Accuracy off the tee is key and it’s usually the tee to green specialists who fare well here. I’m surprised to see Nicolas Colsaerts available at 16/1 because it doesn’t look like this is a course that’s going to suit the bombers. I’m definitely going to be staying away from the ‘Muscles from Brussels’ and suggest you do the same. So where does the value lie? Let’s have a look.
To Win Outright
Miguel Angel Jimenez 10/1
Ernie Els 12/1
Nicolas Colsaerts 16/1
Anirban Lahiri 25/1
Gregory Bourdy 25/1
VALUE BETS
Anirban Lahiri (25/1 a win, 11/2 a place)
Anirban Lahiri will arrive in Hong Kong refreshed after taking a well-deserved two week break and should be ready to attempt to deny Jimenez his fifth win in this tournament. He’s had a pretty decent year thus far and that is mainly due to the fact that he has really come into his own over the last few months. He did well at the Omega European Masters where he finished T13 against a strong field and has been improving since then, first with a T4 at Yeangder TPC and then with a solo third at the Worldwide Selangor Masters. His only victory of the year came at the Indonesian Masters but it looks like he’s gearing up for another one soon. Each way is the bet for me here.
Adilson Da Silva (60/1 a win, 13/1 a place)
Here’s a little known fact: Brazilian born Adilson Da Silva currently lives at Prince’s Grant on the KZN North Coast. He also looks like he may have a real chance of at least finishing in the Top 5 this week. We haven’t seen much of him on the European Tour of late as he has been plying his trade in Asia and on the Sunshine Tour, but he has a string of good finishes under his belt and finished second last time out. He’s a very accurate driver and is known for his ability from tee to green, a skill probably honed at his home course. All in all, Da Silva looks a great value bet this week, have him each way.
Raphael Jacquelin (35/1 a win, 77/10 a place)
I’m tipping two Frenchmen this week, which is probably foolish, and first up is the talented but inconsistent Raphael Jacquelin. He’s one of the more accurate drivers out there and generally performs well on these tighter courses and he’s also known as an accurate iron player, an ability that will come in handy when approaching tight greens and trying to avoid strategically placed bunkers. Jacquelin is definitely a confidence player and will hopefully arrive here knowing that he has it in him to do well on the course, as he finished T5 here a few years ago. Each way is my bet here.
TOP BET: Gregory Bourdy (25/1 a win, 11/2 a place)
I said earlier that I was going to avoid Colsaerts so with him out of the picture and Ernie Els not posing much of a threat, the door has been left wide open for Gregory Bourdy, who looks like he has a very real chance of winning if he can edge out Jimenez. He’s had an up-and-down couple of weeks but looked to be back to his best in Portugal where he was hitting a lot of fairways and eventually ended up in seventh. I have the feeling that position could have been a bit better if the tournament hadn’t been so badly affected by the rain but despite that, the way he was playing last week made it seem like he would fare well on tight course such as this one. 25/1 is a great price considering the company Bourdy is in, so get on.
