Golf: Smurfit Kappa European Open Extends an Irish Welcome

July is an exciting month in European golf as the build up begins to the flagship golf event, The Open, this year being held at Hoylake, at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club, a course that last saw The Open nearly 40 years ago.

The weeks leading up to The Open gives Europe's best, and those beyond, a chance to acclimatise to the golfing conditions in this part of the world. The Open de France has just finished and next up is the Smurfit European Open at the K Club in County Kildare, Ireland, which is to be the venue for the Ryder Cup in September. The pre-Open programme then concludes the following week with the Loch Lomond Scottish Open.

The Smurfit Kappa European Open has grown in stature immensely since its K Club inception in 1995, so much so that it is the second richest tournament in Europe behind The Open itself. This year will see a total of over €3,500,000 paid out in prize money, with the winner receiving €578,792. In the eleven previous European Opens here, winners have included top names such as Retief Goosen (2004), Michael Campbell (2002), Darren Clarke (2001), Lee Westwood (2000, 1999), Per-Ulrick Johanssen (1997, 1996) and Bernhard Langer (2005).

The early ante-post betting has Padraig Harrington at 12/1 (13.0), Retief Goosen and Paul Casey at 14/1 (15.0), Colin Montgomerie at 18/1 (19.0) and Darren Clarke at 22/1 (23.0).

Casey, Harrington and Montgomerie occupy the three spots behind David Howell in the European Tour Order of Merit. However, Harrington is there on the back of only 9 events against Casey's 15 and Montgomerie's 16. Coupled with his second place finish behind John Bickerton at the Open de France in Alstom last week, continuing an ever-improving run of finishes in the last two months, Harrington will be confident and this explains his favouritism.

Casey himself is fresh off a victory at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles the previous week, an event Montgomerie ended 2 shots off the pace in joint fourth spot. Monty continues to grind away at the top end of tournaments after once again coming so near to achieving an elusive Major title at the US Open last month. Another strong finisher at Winged Foot was Kenneth Ferrie, the winner of last year's Smurfit European Open. He is priced at a long 66/1 this year. Worth a small place bet?

This event is an excellent opportunity for players to garner some valuable Ryder Cup points in the quest to secure a place in September's line-up against the USA so watch out for the players on the fringes of the points.

From a betting point of view, it might be worth bearing in mind that this year's event is being played on the Smurfit course rather than the Palmer course (the latter is the course to be used at the Ryder Cup this year). Both are Championship courses but the Smurfit course has only been used once before at the European Open. That was in 2004 when Retief Goosen came, saw and conquered in the aftermath of his US Open victory. Followers of the course and distance theory may be backing Goosen on that basis, although his recent form is not special. The bookies seem to like his chances.

With form as hot as Harrington's, the 12/1 (13.0) available is perhaps worth a small flutter although I could be tempted also by the top ten finish market on Betfair. It's a thin market so perhaps worth putting in a small order and waiting for a fill as the event approaches. The current quotes are wide at 2.26 – 2.50. If you get a match in the 2.5 area, you are backing Harrington for a top ten finish at around 6/4. The same can be done for the other favourites such as Goosen, Casey and Montgomerie for small stakes.

Amongst the other contenders, Michael Campbell stands out in the win and place stakes at 25/1 (26.0). A joint third in the Open de France last week, Campbell's pedigree alone makes this decent value.

As the build up to The Open continues, so does the excitement in the fore-running events, especially with Ryder Cup points at stake for some of the leading Europeans. It should be good to watch.

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