The money list: Best bets for the Omega European Masters

05 Sept

Jack Green

One of the most consistent players on either tour this season, Fleetwood is among the top contenders in Switzerland this weekend.

Course guide

The European Masters has been held at Crans-sur-Sierre since 1939.

The picturesque 6,848-yard par-70 is not particularly long, and the high altitude means it has not favoured the bombers off the tee in recent years.

Instead, players who stay out of trouble and find the greens are the ones who most benefit.

Seven of the last 11 winners ranked in the top two in greens in regulation.

Short-game specialists Alex Noren, Danny Willett and Thomas Bjorn have all won since 2013, so scrambling is also an important stat to look for in a potential winner.

Back to win

Tommy Fleetwood -

Very few players on either tour have been as consistent as Fleetwood this season.

The world No. 16 has picked up two wins, five top fives and eight top 10s to date, and hasn’t missed a cut since the Memorial Tournament back in June.

He hasn’t played since a T61 at the PGA Championship, but he has so regularly been in contention this year, especially on the European Tour, where he’s finished sixth, first and 10th in his last three starts.

This course suits Fleetwood’s game. He’s the top-ranked player on the European Tour in GIR, and is sixth in driving accuracy.

Having finished fifth at this tournament in 2014 and ninth in the previous year, he’s more than capable of winning for the third time this season.

Each-way shouts

Jordan Smith -

Smith has emerged as one of the best young British players on the European Tour, having earned the first victory of his career at the European Open in July.

That he followed that result up with a T9 at the PGA Championship shows just how well the 24-year-old is playing at the moment.

This is Smith’s first appearance at the European Masters, but the fact that he ranks 22nd in scrambling and 33rd in GIR suggests he’ll enjoy playing at Crans-sur-Sierre.

At this price, he’s well worth an each-way bet.

Richie Ramsay -

Ramsey, the 2012 winner of this tournament, is in the kind of form that suggests he will contend once again.

The Scot has made five consecutive cuts since the Open de France, finishing second at the Irish Open, 22nd at the Open Championship and eighth at the European Open.

Currently ranked 32nd in driving accuracy and 17th in GIR, it’s no surprise that Ramsay has finished inside the top 10 in three of his last five starts at this event, including that win in 2012.

He struggled at the start of the year but has turned his form around, and this is the perfect place for him to secure his first win of the season.