BlogOmega European Masters Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

The tour moves on to Switzerland and the Omega European Masters.  Let me take a few paragraphs to tell you that this is a really a special place and could be one of the most scenic stops in golf.  Of course your going to say that Pebble Beach isn’t bad, but the Golf Club Crans-sur-Sierre has a special appeal that makes it as pretty as Pebble.  It’s the Pacific Ocean which makes Pebble so special, at Crans-sur-Sierre it’s the scenic views of the Alps and the mountain tops of the Matterhorm and Mont Blanc that takes your breath away.

Ever since the Golf Channel started showing European Tour golf in the late nineties, I have been a fan of several events but the two that I have loved the most were the Dubai Desert Classic and the Omega European Masters.  Love watching them play golf from Dubai and Switzerland and they became bucket places for me to go visit one day.  Two years ago I had a chance to join my wife on a trip to Switzerland and cross off one of those places off the list, Cans-sur-Sierre.

I saw it for the first time by accident.  I took a train from Venice to Geneva and when the train was traveling between the Alps in the Rhone Valley I saw what looked like structures at the top of one of those 8,000 foot mountains.  The closure I got, the more I realized they were big ten story structures, but by feeble mind didn’t know what they were.  I asked the train conductor and he said it was the ski resort Crans Montana, but that never really registered in my mind that it was the community of Crans-sur-Sierre.  A couple of days later my wife and I journeyed to see Crans-sur-Sierre and that was when it hit me that those buildings that I saw from the train was the site of my bucket list location.

What strikes one about the golf course is that it’s in the middle of town.  It’s much smaller than you can image it being but lovely anyway.  Walking the course you go out to the fourth hole and you feel on top of the world.  I don’t think there is a more prettier hole in all of golf, the hole sits on top of a bluff, looking to the Southwest way above the Rhone Valley with the Alps in front of you.  Just an awesome sight and something that every golfer should experience.

Changes to the Crans-sur-Sierre course:

The history of golf at Crans-sur-Sierra can be traced back to 1905. Arnold Lunn, who owned the Palace Hotel, was persuaded that the pastureland to the west of the hotel was ideal for a golf course. Two Englishmen Freemantle and Gedge were commissioned and the first nine holes were opened in 1906 to be followed by the second nine in 1908.

The golf course was abandoned during World War I but was reopened in 1921 thanks to hoteliers, Elysee Bonvin (Hotel du Golf) and Albert Bonvin (Beausejour). In 1924 the Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club was founded, with Rene Payot as its first President. Shortly after the opening, architect Harry Nicholson was commissioned to add improvements.

A large number of greens were remodelled and additional bunkering, thus creating the overall layout at Plan-Bramois which remained unchanged until 1997. In 1995 Severiano Ballesteros was commissioned to make it more challenging to the professionals on the European Tour and even more attractive for the many golfers that visit this resort.

After two redesigns, the course opened with new greens with various contours and slopes, new tee boxes installed and obstacles added or modified.

Last year it was announced that the course would undergo more renovation.  In the first year of a four year project, the 10th, 12th, 13th and 17th holes of the course have been renovated to make the course harder and more gallery friendly.  Water will now come into play at the 10th, 12th and 13th greens making all of them more challenging.  For the 17th hole a stream crosses the 17th fairway about at the landing zone, so drives will have to be more accurate.  With the changes to the 13th green, it now will have room for over 3,000 spectators to look down on the action.

Close to six million dollars is being spent on these changes over the four years, with the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 9th holes getting renovated for next year’s event.

Other sad news from the European Tour:

Seems that Bernhard Gallagher, who was three time captain of the Ryder Cup team including the winning squad in 1995 is fighting for his life in a hospital in Aberdeen, Scotland.  Little is know other than some are saying that he was due to give a after-dinner speech last week in Aberdeen but collapsed before and was rushed to the hospital.  Little is being released but some papers in England are saying it was a heart attack.  Bernard’s nephew Stephen Gallacher, said to the Mirror paper “I understand that he is critical but stable. My family is in disarray at the moment and it is obviously a worrying situation. We are all anxious.”

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Omega European Masters:

Key stat for the winner:

I don’t know if anyone noticed, but three of the last four winners led the greens hit category, Alex Noren in 2009, Thomas Bjorn in 2011 and Richie Ramsay last year.  In 2010 Miguel Angel Jimenez was T32nd while Rory McIlroy, who finished 3rd that year led in greens hit.  So I have to think that hitting a lot of greens is very important for this week.

Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:

Length is not the issue on this course since at just under 6,900 yards it’s one of the shortest on the European Tour.  But of those at the top of the leaderboard the last four years, hitting fairways is important.  The course is tight with a lot of trees running along the fairways, so if you miss the fairway the odds are you will be behind a tree, so yes you have to be straight.

Another thing to think about.  Crans-sur-Sierre is at 5,000 feet so the ball will travel about 10 to 13% further than sea=level courses.  So the 6,900 yard figure is misleading, the course will play closure to 6,200 yards for this year.

Water hazards come into play on 6 holes all of the back nine.  The course does have a lot of undulation and winds do pop up in the afternoon coming up the valley.  Weather can change drastically because of it’s location and several past events have had fog problems.

There are six events left before the four tournament playoff series so this will be a perfect week for many to pick up more race to Dubai money.

The weather looks like it’s going to be wet and very cold all week.  Look at the Weather.com forecast not only is it going to rain but by Sunday it will only be a high of 43, so only the brave apply for this week.  I see the Swedes and those that learn to play golf in Northern Scotland with an advantage over those from Spain.

This is another one of those tournaments that no one player or players have dominated.  So it’s best to look for those that have done well in the last month instead of looking at past performance of this tournament.