Soudal Open Tips 2022

With 9 players at 33/1 or shorter with the vast majority of bookmakers, finding one of the leading players with markedly better credentials than the others is a challenge.

Bernd Wiesberger has Rolex Series wins to his name, yet hasn’t justified his position at the head of the betting in these sorts of low-level DP World Tour events so far in 2022 to justify taking what would need to be a decent plunge given his price.

Thomas Pieters returns to Europe after a largely unsuccessful foray Stateside following his early-season success in Abu Dhabi, yet a record of MC/MC/39/39/MC on home soil hardly excites and I can leave him alone this week also.

The last 2 efforts on that string of form for Pieters came here at Rinkven for the Belgian Knockout, and one player with fond memories of his time here is Adrian Otaegui who won the 2018 edition.

8^th after 36 holes to prove that the hard work wasn’t all done when the tournament shifted to its 9-hole Matchplay format, the 29 year-old also made the weekend when defending his title a year later, eventually finishing 26^th. 20^th and 12^th prior to those efforts on Belgian soil on the Challenge Tour suggests he’s comfortable in this part of the world and with pleasant, sunny conditions expected this week, the Spaniard should feel almost like he’s playing closer to home.

3^rd at the Ras al Khaimah Championship, 5^th at the Qatar Masters and 2^nd at the ISPS Handa Championship so far this calendar year, the 3-time DP World Tour champion is looking increasingly likely to add to his silverware collection sooner rather than later. 27^th last week saw him putt nicely on the Bent/Poa putting surfaces at The Belfry, ranking 11^th for SG Putting, as well as continuing to demonstrate that his short game is amongst the best on display in this kind of company. 16^th for Par-4 scoring is also an interesting stat given the nature of the card here at Rinkven, and that’s clearly no fluke given he ranked 15^th on the same count for the whole of last season too. RESULT: T15

While we’re on the subject of Par-4 scoring and how that might prove to be critical in a week where the course is pencilled in to have 13 of 18 holes in that category, Oliver Bekker also appeals. 11^th on that stat for the season to date should earn him a spot on everyone’s shortlist this week I would say, given what we know of the layout here.

Now taking a chance on a DP World Tour maiden at a price that’s only marginally longer than a number of players with far stronger credentials at this level may not sit comfortably with some punters and I understand that, however there are plenty of reasons to suggest that he’s more than capable of putting that particular record straight.

A pair of 9^th place finishes at Ras al Khaimah at the start of February was followed by 8^th at the Kenya Open, 11^th at Pecanwood, 3^rd at Steyn City, 10^th in Tarragona and 2^nd in Catalunya as he’s continued to knock ever louder on the door.

27^th last week at The Belfry needs to be taken into context as the South African was 6-over through his first 10 holes on Thursday. To his credit he recovered from there to post a respectable 4-round total and had he played the same 10 holes around level par instead he’d have been right in contention, so it’s not all doom and gloom.

7 wins on the Sunshine Tour is also a decent haul for the 37 year-old who at 89^th in the OWGR is currently sitting at a career-high – that’s a decent platform to push on and potentially start competing in some of golf’s biggest events. RESULT: T4

With limited course form here at Rinkven International, finding any links to other courses on the circuit – even tenuous ones – isn’t easy, however Diamond Country Club, home of the Austrian Open/Lyoness Open/Shot Clock Masters in recent years, does stick out as one to explore further.

2010 Rinkven winner Lee Slattery has 4^th and 9^th place finishes to his name at Diamond CC; 2018 winner Adrian Otaegui finished 2^nd there in 2016 and runner-up Benjamin Hebert also finished 6^th in 2012; 2019 winner Guido Migliozzi hasn’t played Diamond competitively, however runner-up Darius Van Driel was 4^th there on debut in 2020. Maybe something, maybe not, however I’ll roll with that angle and happily add 2016 Lyoness Open winner Ashun Wu to this week’s team.

A good all-rounder who suits shorter tracks, the Chinese star sits 24^th for Par-4 scoring for the season to date which is also a positive, plus he’s recently added a 4^th DP World Tour title to his name, capturing the Magical Kenya Open a little over 2 months ago by an impressive 4 strokes.

That recent success came at Muthaiga rather than Karen Country Club. which is shame when trying to link Guido Migliozzi’s win at the latter venue to the 36 year-old’s success, however they’re close enough in style and geography to not dismiss the correlation out of hand. 4^th for the SG Approach and 4^th for SG Tee to Green were the main drivers that week which is encouraging, however we also saw a spark with the putter last week at the Belfry where Wu topped the SG Putting charts on his way to a tie for 27^th. RESULT: T44

Another winner in Kenya to potentially tie into Guido’s success both there and here at Rinkven comes in the shape of Daniel van Tonder.

Where Ashun Wu’s Kenya success was a little more tenuous, van Tonder’s maiden DP World Tour win last year came at the same Karen Country Club track as Migliozzi’s, so him completing the same double here this week wouldn’t come as complete surprise if that form line is followed. Not should that win last year have come as a surprise either, despite the South African having missed the cut on the same course the week before, as he’d racked up 4 top-12 finishes there at lower levels beforehand.

Victory at the South African Open last December won’t go down on the 31 year-old’s CV as a second DP World Tour title given its Omicron-enforced changes, however that was still an impressive win over Oliver Bekker and his 8^th Sunshine Tour win in total, suggesting that he’s more than capable of adding to his DP World tally in the years to come.

No such fireworks since that win to get bookies or punters overly excited it has to be said, however 10 cuts made from 11 starts is impressively consistent and Saturday’s round of 68 was beaten by just one other player in the field to inject a little confidence into his game as he recorded another mid-division finish of 27^th overall.

Results seem to be trending positively though, 64^th, 42^nd and 27^th over the past 3 weeks, and 10^th for SG Putting last week on similar Bent/Poa greens tied his best in-field ranking on that count on the DP World Tour. Any improvement with his approach play this week could well see him in the mix here in Belgium. RESULT: WD Pre-Event

Finally, it would be remiss of me not to take a chance on an outsider given that I’ve backed a couple near the top of the market, and to that end Richard McEvoy appeals at a huge price.

The Essex man has his Porsche European Open title from 2018 to accompany his 3 Challenge Tour trophies, so should he not win again between now and retirement he can still be happy with his achievements I’m sure. At the age of 42 perhaps there’s still a little left in the tank though – certainly 3^rd at the Catalunya Championship on his penultimate start where he putted beautifully suggests he’s not done quite yet.

At just of 7,350 yards in Spain a fortnight ago and a Par 72, this week’s layout should suit McEvoy even better and his two attempts here at Rinkven produced solid enough results of 15^th and 42^nd, having made the Matchplay weekend on both occasions. 8^th and 21^st on different Belgian tracks on the Challenge Tour in 2009 and 2014 saw Richard sitting in 3^rd and 4^th place respectively heading into the final day, so perhaps we’ll see something positive again from him this week in a part of the world that seems to suit quite nicely. RESULT: T37