BlogEuropean Masters Preview and Picks (updated)

The Buzz:

This is a special week in golf. First, there is no PGA Tour event, as there are 2 weeks before the tour plays in Napa. With that, this is the week’s big event, and it’s nice to see it on the schedule by itself. This event was played in Switzerland, and it has always had a tough time. Since it’s up high in the 8,000-foot range, they can’t play it much later than the last week in September because it is getting cold. So, for years, it was always a September staple, but that used to be a bad month with the FedExCup playoffs happening. Now it’s in the first week of September and a perfect time just after the FedEx Cup playoffs. The big surprise was that one player from the BMW Championship, Matt Fitzpatrick, made the 4,000-mile journey to play in this event.

We now have Player of the Year, with Scottie Scheffler winning at East Lake. I will recap Scheffler’s remarkable year in the coming days.

Ludvig Aberg

At first, I was surprised that Ludvig Aberg was not defending his title in Switzerland. Last year, his win at the European Masters was significant in getting him into the Ryder Cup, as was all that had happened to Aberg over the previous year. There is no too ways about it, Aberg is our new young star of the future. Since turning professional in the last 15 months, he has remarkably risen in the DP World and PGA tours. After finishing 16th at the Tour Championship, he was 5th in the world rankings, a fantastic climb. Yes, Aberg has been good, but I have noticed he has not been consistent over the summer. It started with him missing the cut at the PGA Championship and then missing the cut at the British Open.

I have wondered why he hasn’t gotten better and contented more, but we have finally gotten the answer. After finishing 2nd at the Masters and T-10th at the RBC Heritage, all of a sudden, a month later, he withdrew from Wells Fargo. The following week at the PGA Championship at Valhalla, Aberg was sporting a brace on his left knee, struggling with bending down properly to read putts. He ultimately missed the cut in his PGA Championship debut. But it was forgotten when he finished T-5th in his next start at the Memorial. At the same time, Aberg never mentioned problems, and even before the Tour Championship, let on that he had any physical issues. Thanks to Todd Lewis of the Golf Channel, he came out with the news that Aberg is having arthroscopic surgery in the coming days. There is no real news yet from Aberg, but he said that on Sunday after his round, he would kick up his feet, take some time off to recover, and return to the DP World Tour to play in Abu Dhabi and the DP World Championship.

That means Aberg won’t be able to defend his title this week. We all hope that he will bounce back easily.

One of the best events in golf?

The European tour moves on to Switzerland and the Omega European Masters. Let me take a few paragraphs to tell you that this is a special place and could be one of the most scenic stops in golf. Of course, you’ll 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 that makes Pebble so unique. At Crans-sur-Sierre, the scenic views of the Alps and the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc mountain tops take 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. I love watching them play golf from Dubai and Switzerland, so much that both became bucket places for me to go visit one day. In 2011, I had a chance to join my wife on a trip to Switzerland and cross one of those places off the list, Cans-sur-Sierre.

I saw Cans-sur-Sierre 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 closer I got, the more I realized they were big ten-story structures, but my 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 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 I saw from the train were the site of my bucket list location.

What strikes me about the golf course is that it’s in the middle of town. It’s much smaller than you can imagine, but lovely anyway. Walking the course, you go out to the fourth hole and feel on top of the world. There isn’t a prettier hole in all of golf; the hole sits on top of the bluff, looking southwest, way above the Rhone Valley, with the Alps in front of you. It’s just an incredible sight and something that every golfer should experience.

History of Crans-sur-Sierre and changes to the course over the years:

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 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, 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). 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.

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

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

In 2013, it was announced that the course would undergo more renovation. In the first year of a four-year project, the course’s 10th, 12th, 13th, and 17th holes have been renovated to make the course more challenging and more gallery-friendly. Water will now come into play at the 10th, 12th, and 13th greens, making them more challenging. For the 17th hole, a stream crosses the 17th fairway about at the landing zone, so drives must be more accurate. With the changes to the 13th green, there will now be room for over 3,000 spectators to look down on the action.

For the 2015 tournament, the bunkers on the front still needed to be updated, and the fairways at 1, 2, and 4 were rebuilt. The 9th hole has been redone with a new green that will handle more people and be more attractive. The 5th hole has been lengthened by 25 years, so it won’t be pushover as it was in past years. Another significant change: the 14th hole had 38 yards taken off, and the par was reduced from 71 to 70. The hole will be a brute at 559 yards.

Close to six million dollars was spent on these changes over the four years, and the course has remained the same since 2015.

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

Course information:

• Crans-sur-Sierre GC
• Crans Montana, Switzerland
• 6,823 yards     Par 35-35–70

The key stat for the winner hitting lots of greens:

• I don’t know if anyone noticed, but in the last 14 years that stats have been available for the European Masters, 3 of the winners have led that category (Alex Noren in 2009, Thomas Bjorn in 2011, and Richie Ramsay in 2012). Now, four other winners have been in 2nd in this category (Last year’s champion, Ludvig Aberg, David Lipsky in 2014, Danny Willett in 2015, and Mathew Fitzpatrick in 2018.), while in 2021, Rasmus Hojgaard was T-3rd.
• Greens hit is still an important category because even though Alex Noren was T-26th in Greens hit when he won in 2016, for the year, he was 18th on the European Tour. But that didn’t hold up with Sebastian Soderberg in his 2019 win. He was T-33rd for the week but 136th in Greens in Regulation for the year. In 2022, Thriston Lawrence was T-11th in Greens hit in Switzerland and 26th for the year. Still, 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 an issue on this course since, at just under 6,850 yards, it’s one of the shortest on the European Tour. But of those at the top of the leaderboard the last ten years, hitting fairways has mixed results, with four players in the top ten, with 2018 champion Matthew Fitzpatrick leading that stat. But last year’s winner, Ludvig Aberg, was T-31st while 2022 champion, Thriston Lawrence, was T-63rd in that stat. The course is tight, with many 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 8,000 feet, so the ball will travel about 10 to 15% further than sea-level courses. So the 6,823-yard figure is misleading; the course will play close to 6,200 yards 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 its location, and several past events have had fog problems. This year’s weather will be rainy on Thursday and then good on Friday and Saturday, with highs in the mid-60s and no rain. We will see some change on Sunday, with showers and temperatures in the low 70s, but there will be thunderstorms. So look for a sturdy winner who can play under all conditions.
• Nine events are left before the tour ends at the DP World Tour Championship in mid-November.

DraftKings tips

*Here are the guys that cost the most on DraftKings this week:

• Matt Fitzpatrick – $10,900
  Rasmus Hojgaard – $10,400
  Matt Wallace – $10,200
  Bernd Wiesberger – $10,000
  Thriston Lawrence – $9,800
  Erik Van Rooyen – $9,600
  Nicolai Hojgaard – $9,400
  Sebastian Soderberg – $9,300
  Matteo Manassero – $9,200
  Laurie Canter – $9,100
  Guido Migliozzi – $9,000

There are many choices, but most players are way overpriced. A perfect example is our first pick, Matt Fitzpatrick, at $10,900, yes he probably has the best record of anyone in the field at Crans-sur-Sierre, but his record for 2024 shows that he may get a top ten but nothing worth the price you have to pay for him. As for Rasmus Hojgaard at $10,400, he is playing well, with a 3rd last week at the British Masters and won the Euro Masters in 2021. But he missed the cut in 2022 and last year; I don’t think you can get enough bang for your buck with Rasmus. Matt Wallace at $10,200 is also a no. Yes, I was 2nd at Crans-sur-Sierre in 2022 but was T-24th last year, and yes, I was 8th last week but could have been better in 2024. Bernd Wiesberger at $10,000 is a big no for me. Yes, he was 2nd in his last Euro Masters finish in 2022, but he hasn’t played since and is a LIV golf member. His 2024 record on that tour is not good, his best finish was 11th in Jeddah, and in his last start at Green Brier, he was 13th, so pass on him. Thriston Lawrence at $9,800 is my first choice; he won at Crans-sur-Sierre in 2022 and is the hottest Euro player right now with his 2nd last week, 4th at the Open, and T-2nd at the European Open. Erik Van Rooyen at $9,600, is a thought, he has played well at Crans-sur-Sierre, including a T-8th last year. He could have been better on the PGA Tour, but he has this one great event in every ten starts, like his T-6th at the Rocket Mortgage, to make you think he is worth a pick. Nicolai Hojgaard at $9,400 is a no for me; the cost is too high even though he was T-5th last year at Crans-sur-Sierre. Sebastian Soderberg’s $9,300 is also a thought; he won in 2019 and has been great the last two months. But buyer beware; his back has been bad all summer, forcing him not to play. Matteo Manassero at $9,200 is a no. His record at Crans-sur-Sierre has been terrible since finishing 3rd in 2010, and yes, he played ok over the summer, but not enough to pick him. Laurie Canter at $9,100 is a no for me, only played once in Switzerland and was T-16th six years ago. His record this summer shows why you want to avoid picking him. He has a lot of top-25 finishes but could be better. Guido Migliozzi at $9,000 is a toss-up; he has made four cuts in four starts, including a T-7th in 2021, but has struggled since his KLM win in June.

*Players in that $7,500 to $8,900 price range, which ones are worth the money?:

Jorge Campillo at $8,700 is a thought; he has played well in Switzerland the last couple of years and has been ok on the European Tour. Romain Langasque at $8,600 is worth looking at. Was runner-up in the Danish Golf Championship and 3rd in the Scottish Open, has struggled at times in Switzerland, but still can do well, as shown with a T-7th in 2016. Connor Syme at $8,100 is worth it, was T-3rd last year at Crans-sur-Sierre and has been solid all summer. Same with Joost Luiten at $8,000, was T-5th last year and been solid all summer. Gavin Green, at $7,900, has made five cuts in Switzerland, including a T-8th last week. Has also been solid all summer including T-9th last week at Belfry. The same with Antoine Rozner at $7,900, he was T-4th in 2022 and been solid this summer. Alexander Bjork at $7,800, is a perfect pick, he played great at Crans-sur-Sierre, including runner-up last year, but missed his last two cuts back that was a month ago. Adrien Saddier at $7,700, is a big yes for me, he has been solid in Switzerland and was T-3rd at the Czech Masters and T-5th at the Danish Golf Championship.

*Some of the “bargains” this week at the Tour Championship, those under $7,500

We are looking for those with good records at Crans-sur-Sierre who make many cuts. Fabrizio Zanotti at $7,300, fits that bill, has been solid in Switzerland, including a T-3rd in 2017, and will find a way to make the cut. Scott Jamieson at $7,300 is priced well and has done well in Switzerland, including a T-4th in 2022. But has struggled the last few months including missing the cut his last three starts. But still think he is good in this event. David Micheluzzi at $7,200 is worth the risk, playing in Switzerland for the first time, but he makes a lot of birdies and cuts. Darren Fichardt at $6,500 is a pick because he has made the cut in his last six starts in Switzerland.