BlogKLM Open Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

Fresh from the Walker Cup, Irish amateur Kevin Phelan has turned professional and will make his debut this week in Netherlands.  The 22 year-old who won two out of three points last week in New York, has made his home in Florida and attended the University of North Florida.

Many may wonder what about defending champion Peter Hanson, he isn’t able to defend his title due to a back injury which has hampered him for most of the year.

One person in the field that has had a special experience in the KLM Open is Simon Dyson, who has won the title three times including the last time that the KLM was played at Kennemar in 2009.  Dyson’s KLM win in 2011 was his last, he has struggle since as his best finish was 5th at the French Open three months ago.  Since then in five starts have finished T28th Johnnie Walker, his worst finish as he was T12th at the Scottish Open, 9th at the Russian Open, T18th at the Wales Open and T22nd last week at the Omega European Masters.

A number of Dutch players are in the field, but the one with the best shot is Joost Luiten.  He came close to winning this title in 2007 at Kennemer when he finished 2nd to Ross Fisher, he also finished 6th in 2011.  The year has been a success for Luiten with a win at the Lyoness Open, he also was runner-up at the Irish Open.  For the year he has six top-tens, last week in Switzerland he finished T44th.  The last Dutch player to win his national championship was Maarten Lafeber in 2003.

What about Kennemer Golf & Country Club:

The course is located in Zandvoort, a popular Dutch seaside town about 30 miles outside of Amsterdam.  This is a gem of a course, a links course that was founded in 1910.  The original nine was moved to it’s present location in 1927 when Harry Colt laid out a 18 hole course in towering dunes. In 1985 Frank Pennink was hired to add another nine holes and today Kennemer is 27 links holes in which a composite course is used for the tournament.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the KLM Open:

Key stat for the winner:

Look for the player that can control his game in windy, wet conditions.  The weather has been poor the last couple of day with rain and will be that way until Saturday when sunshine will take over for the weekend.  So look for a player that will be able to drive it in the fairway and be able to bump and run it on the green.  Now with the course being a links nature that means slow, flat greens so those that aren’t great putters have a bit of a edge.

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

• So what does Simon Dyson, Darren Clarke and Ross Fisher have in common?  They have won the last four KLM’s played at Kennemer and they are all from Great Britain who learned to play their golf on seaside courses.  So look for someone that does have lots of links experience as a player that will do well this week.
• There are five 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 will play a part so look for a poor weather player.  Also length will help with soft fairways so the winner will be above average in hitting it long.