Genworth Stats Pack - ISPS Handa Wales Open Preview

Thongchai Jaidee has competed in this event 7 times before and he returns as the defending champion from twelve months ago. After a sparkling start to the year, the 43 year old golfer from Thailand has been a little quiet in recent months, making cuts but not really firing on all cylinders. We should note that his Genworth Statistics since the middle of May are distorted due to a very tough schedule of events, so he is actually performing more consistently than his stats and rankings suggest. Plus in winning last year, the five time European Tour champion ranked 7th for Greens in Regulation and 2nd for Putts per GIR, confirming the quality of his approach play that week. Thongchai currently ranks 57th on the Official World Golf Rankings and 18th on the Race to Dubai.

Tommy Fleetwood has competed in this event once before (in 2012 finishing 57th) and he arrives off the back of his first European Tour win last week in Scotland. With such an emotional high just days ago, no-one knows how the 22 year old English talent will react this week, but all eyes will be on him to see what happens. Looking at his Genworth Statistics since the middle of May, Tommy is performing well in most categories, especially on the Par 5’s (which he obliterated last week). The only area where improvements may be needed is on the Par 3 holes, where his scoring is not quite so good (coincidentally with Celtic Manor possessing five Par 3’s, this course is likely to put that area of his game to the test).

Joost Luiten returns to Celtic Manor having finished 2nd here last year (his only appearance at the event so far) and he arrives in excellent form off the back of a win and a 2nd place finish in June, so overall confidence and expectations should be high. Looking at his Genworth Statistics since the middle of May, the 27 year old golfer from the Netherlands ranks 7th for Driving Accuracy, 4th for Greens in Regulation and 28th for Putts per GIR (great combinations), which is enabling him to convert on average 4.38 Birdies per Round. This incredible consistency is producing an overall Stroke Average of 70.00 for the period (ranking 2nd out of all the players). The only question mark may be that Joost is lightly raced over recent weeks.

Miguel Angel Jiménez has competed in this event 7 times before (winning back in 2005) and he arrives off the back of some excellent results in the biggest of events. Looking at his Genworth Statistics since the middle of May, the 49 year old Spanish maestro ranks 7th for overall Stroke Average, which is exceptional considering the schedule of events that he has played. It is not surprising to see a slightly lower Greens in Regulation stat and of course Miguel is not the longest of hitters these days, but his short game, putting and course management has been literally second to none. With a current World Ranking of 51st and Race to Dubai position of 25th, the 49 year old is still going strong.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello has competed in this event 5 times before (with a best of 25th in 2007) and he arrives in good form off the back of some solid results in the bigger events. His Genworth Statistics since the middle of May are slightly distorted due to a tough schedule of events, but taking that into consideration, the 29 year old Spanish golfer has still managed to rank 37th for Greens in Regulation and 49th for overall Stroke Average. The majority of his good scoring is coming from the Par 4 and Par 5 holes, with potential room for improvement on the Par 3 holes (the same as Fleetwood). Again with Celtic Manor possessing five of the short holes, this course is likely to put that area of his game to the test.

Ross Fisher has competed in this event 8 times before (with a best of 6th last year) and he arrives in consistent form having finished well (without contending) in pretty much all seven European Tour starts so far this year. Looking at his Genworth Statistics since the middle of May, the 32 year old English golfer looks excellent across the board, although we should note that his recent schedule of events has been slightly easier than some of the other big names. Everything considered though, the four time European Tour winner is very likely to contend over the coming weeks and he may well get back to winning ways after a transitional and slightly disappointing year so far.

Stephen Gallacher has competed in this event 13 times before (with a best of 4th in 2010) and he arrives off the back of a 2nd place finish in Scotland last week - it was there that the 38 year old Scottish golfer produced a majestic Par 5 Scoring Average of 3.94 for the week (yes you read it right, 3.94). His Genworth Statistics are distorted due to a tough schedule of events, whereas in reality he is heading for his best ever year on the European Tour. With a current World Ranking of 74th and a Race to Dubai position of 14th, don’t be surprised to see his name up there again this week.

Bernd Wiesberger has competed in this event three times before (with a best of 26th in 2009) and he arrives off the back of an excellent 4th place finish last week in Scotland, where he led Greens in Regulation. Looking at his Genworth Statistics since the middle of May, the 27 year old long hitting Austrian is strong across the board, ranking high in both the long game categories and the short game categories. We should also highlight that Bernd possesses the best Par 3 Scoring Average of all the players featuring in today’s Genworth Stats Pack Report, which is worth noting with the five short holes that Celtic Manor has to offer this week.

Thomas Björn has competed in this event 6 times before (with a best of 2nd last year) but he arrives off the back of a few poor performances over the past few weeks by his standards. Looking at his Genworth Statistics since the middle of May, the 42 year old Great Dane ranks slightly lower than expected in the Driving categories, but he is still hitting lots of Greens in Regulation and holing plenty of putts. We should note that even with a few missed cuts, he still ranks 11th for Birdies per Round and 14th for overall Stroke Average for the period.

Gonzalo Fdez-Castaño possesses arguably the best record at this event over recent years with 9th / 12th / 2nd place finishes from his last three visits, so he most definitely deserves a mention in our preview report. His Genworth Statistics since the middle of May are distorted due to an extremely difficult schedule so we will pay little attention to them here. Note that he has still however managed a Par 3 Scoring Average of 3.00 over the period (a key ingredient with the five Celtic Manor short holes this week). Gonzalo currently ranks 48th on the Official World Golf Rankings and 30th on the Race to Dubai.