KLM Open Fantasy Preview
Last week was somewhat of a disaster for me on the Euro DK front. A lot of my core plays (Gouveia, Korhonen, Hatton, etc) just fell flat while the second-tier value plays all rose to the occasion. One of the few bad weeks we’ve had so far since DK introduced Euro Tour so I’m itchin’ to bounce back.
This week the European Tour heads to The Netherlands for the KLM Open. The course is named appropriately (The Dutch) which is designed by Colin Montgomerie and will be making its debut this week on the Euro Tour.
It’s described as an inland links-style course. It’s a par 71 that’s under 6,900 yards in total length so we have another shorty just like the last few weeks. The greens are bentgrass. We want to target golfers that can keep it between the pipes and deliver the goods via the approach shot.
Players to Watch
Alex Noren… He’s healthy and playing as good as ever. Was featured on the European Race to Dubai podcast this week and his voice showed a bit of excitement when they told him this week was an inland links-style track.
Dean Burmester… He’s yet to disappoint me in Euro Tour DFS so I will keep trotting him out. The short course may not seem like the best fit but he’s beat the field average in all five ET events he’s played with courses under 7,100 yards.
Joost Luiten… He looks like a great fit on paper with his fairways-and-greens style of play. He’s also got the local angle going, so perhaps he’ll have a leg up on the field in that regard. With no course history to go off, he may be the closest we get to Team Course History this week.
Callum Shinkwin… The youngster is building quite the resume this season. The 23-year-old has beat the field stroke average in 10 of 13 starts, and shows no signs of stopping now.
Romain Langasque… The young Frenchman has found top 10s in four of his last six starts. Five of them came on the Challenge Tour but last week’s T7 at the OEM shows that he may be ready for the big stage. Still a wildcard at this point, but an interesting low-end play.
Paul Dunne… Keeping with the theme of youngsters trying to crack the nut for the first time, Dunne is having a somewhat disappointing season in terms of consistency but now he heads to a short links-style layout. Could be exactly what he needs to jump-start his game.
Bernd Wiesberger… Looks to be the class of the field along with Noren and Luiten. Might not be the best course fit on paper, but he makes up for that with raw talent. Should be able to pop out a top 25 with relative ease this week.
Mikko Ilonen… Sneakily rounding into form with five straight top 25s and T25s in six of his last seven. Don’t sleep on the Finn.
My Top 25 for the 2016 KLM Open
1. Alex Noren
2. Bernd Wiesberger
3. Joost Luiten
4. Dean Burmester
5. Callum Shinkwin
6. Thongchai Jaidee
7. Richard Bland
8. Nino Bertasio
9. Byeong Hun An
10. Thomas Pieters
11. Chris Wood
12. Maximilian Kieffer
13. Chris Hanson
14. Mikko Ilonen
15. Fabrizio Zanotti
16. Magnus A. Carlsson
17. Benjamin Hebert
18. Richie Ramsay
19. David Howell
20. Florian Fritsch
21. Nicolas Colsaerts
22. Brandon Stone
23. Paul Dunne
24. Tommy Fleetwood
25. Mikko Korhonen
