The WGC-Cadillac Championship may have marked the biggest victory so far in the career of Justin Rose, but it also heralded the first successful pick of this year’s fantasy articles, and we’re back this week to give you more sage advice ahead of the
Open de Andalucia Costa del Sol
.
A man in fine form in 2011, but yet to register a victory, is Germany’s
Marcel Siem
who has shown a resurgence of late having contended in both Dubai and India. In the former he headed into the final round one back but never quite mounted a title challenge eventually finishing in fourth, while in the latter he finished in a tie for second two adrift of tournament winner Jbe’ Kruger, having had to call a penalty on himself in the final round when his ball moved having already addressed it. He has only won once on The European Tour, back in 2004 at the Dunhill Championship, and he will no doubt be keen to turn this season’s top form into trophies.
Horses for courses has always been an important factor in golf, with certain players favouring certain venues, and as a result playing well. With the Open de Andalucia Costa del Sol returning to Aloha GC for the first time since it originally staged the event in 2007 and 2008,
David Lynn
will be looking to rekindle the form that saw him finish ninth and eight in these respective years, and challenge for the win this week. Like Siem he has only won once on The European Tour, and like the German this was also in 2004 (at the KLM Open), and with his good memories of the venue he could also be making it career win number two this week.
Thomas Levet won this event the last time it was held at Aloha back in 2008, but there’s another Frenchman in the field who could definitely be worth a watch, and that’s
Jean-Baptiste Gonnet
. He has made a very impressive start to 2011 having already finished in the top 12 three times – fifth at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy, sixth at the Avantha Masters and 12th at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship – and he should therefore head to Spain full of confidence. His best season so far came with a 90th place finish on The Order of Merit in 2007, and his form so far this year would suggest he could better that in 2012, and a win this week would certainly help that cause.
Finally, young Dane
Thorbjørn Olesen
knocked on the victory door a few times during his rookie 2011 season, having finished runner -up on three occasions at the Alfred Dunhill Championship, the BMW Italian Open presented by CartaSi and the Alstom Open de France. He eventually finished 48th on The Race to Dubai, and having already finished in the top ten twice so far this season in Abu Dhabi and India, he is a young man worth watching this week as he looks to take his game to the next level with a win.
These are just four of the players that have caught our eye this week but also look out for young guns, and European Tour champions,
Matteo Manassero
and
Joost Luiten
who were very close to making this list.
Whoever you pick for your team this week, log into
My European Tour
before the deadline on Wednesday and
register / amend your team
in time for the Open de Andalucia Costa del Sol.
