The DP World Tour is back in Belgium for the first time in three years as a strong field tees it up at the 2022 Soudal Open.
Local hero Thomas Pieters is joined by countrymen Nicolas Colsaerts and Thomas Detry, while former winners at Rinkven International Golf Club Adrian Otaegui and Guido Migliozzi are also in action - but who will take the title?
If you haven’t already, you can sign up now to the official Fantasy Game of the DP World Tour and submit your six-man team before round one on Thursday: https://fantasy.dpworldtour.com/.
Favourite - Bernd Wiesberger
The Austrian made his debut at this event when it was the Belgian Knockout in 2019 and proved he had the ability to go low at Rinkven.
After an opening 76 in Antwerp, Wiesberger carded a 64 on day two to sneak into the medal match play stages and won three matches on the Saturday before exiting in the quarter-finals.
The Ryder Cupper made a bright start to 2022 with a tie for 12th at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and after recording a second top ten of the season recently at the Catalunya Championship, he could be peaking at the right time for DP World Tour win number nine.
Form horse - Ryan Fox
The Kiwi revealed after claiming his second DP World Tour win at the Ras Al Khaimah Classic that he had missed his daughter's first steps and promptly made the long trip home to see his family - after ten days in hotel quarantine.
He could have been forgiven for showing signs of rust after nine weeks away but returned with four rounds in the 60s - taking his run to eight as he finished in the top 15 at the ISPS Handa Championship in Spain.
A top ten followed at the Catalunya Championship and he secured another at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Danny Willett as he made it just two over-par rounds in 18 since February.
Wild card - Jeff Winther
With the previous two editions of the Belgian Open hosted at Rinkven Club being a nine-hole strokeplay knockout over the weekend, there are not a lot of players who can claim they have good experience here in the traditional 72-hole format this week - but Winther might.
In 2018, he qualified for the knockout stages just two shots behind the 36-hole leader at six under and in 2019 he was just one shot worse off as he made the knockout stages again. His worst score out of four completed rounds is a 70.
He started the season with his best Rolex Series result as he finished in a tie for sixth at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and while he has not had a top ten since, he did hold a share of the 18-hole lead at the Catalunya Championship. A happy hunting ground may just spark his season back to life.
