The European Tour’s Final Series starts this week at the Turkish Airlines Open. The leading 70 players on the Race to Dubai are all exempt although, due to the recent corruption in Turkey, most of the top players are taking the week off. Henrik Stenson, Rory Mcilroy, Alex Noren and Louis Oosthuizen are all absent this week. Adding to the list of absentees are American Patrick Reed, Chris Wood, Branden Grace, Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose. The European Tour need to rethink their decision to play in some of the places they play. This is their version of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and it appears that they have failed miserably. When your elite players do not show up to play in your “so called” playoffs, you have issues.
Bernd Wiesberger +1000, Andy Sullivan +1100, Tyrrell Hatton +1250 and veteran Lee Westwood +1350 are the headliners this week. Masters champion Danny Willett +2250 and crowd favorite Andrew Johnston are also scheduled to play. The field is weak, especially for a playoff type event. Willett stands at No. 2 in the standings but has not played well in months. European Tour golf is as bad as I have ever seen it and it showed in the Ryder Cup. Sure, there are some elite players but the overall depth is questionable at best.
Other notables in the field include Thongchai Jaidee+2999, Anirban Lahiri +1500, Alexander Levy +1150, Tommy Fleetwood +2100 and defending champion Victor Dubuisson +8000.
GOLF COURSE: Regnum Carya Golf and Spa Resort will host the event for the first time. The track measures 7,127 yards and plays to a par 72.
TV Coverage: Wednesday-Saturday, 4 a.m.- 10 a.m. ET - Golf Channel.
Turkish Airlines Open Golf Odds courtesy of BookMaker Sportsbook:
Bernd Wiesberger +1000
Andy Sullivan +1100
Tyrrell Hatton +1250
Lee Westwood +1350
Anirban Lahiri +1500
Alexander Levy +1750
Byeong Hun An +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2100
Danny Willett +2250
Richard Bland +2350
Soren Kjeldsen +2500
Andrew Johnston +2550
Richard Sterne +2750
Thongchai Jaidee +2999
Kiradech Aphibarnrat +3000
Marc Warren +3250
Padraig Harrington +3333
Scott Hend +3500
David Horsey +3600
David Lipsky +3750
Joakim Lagergren +4000
Mikko Ilonen +4100
Nicolas Colsaerts +4250
Robert Rock +4500
Robert Karlsson +4650
Thomas Aiken +5000
Alejandro Canizares +5050
Fabrizio Zanotti +5500
Gregory Bourdy +5550
Jaco Van Zyl +6000
Matthew Southgate +6050
George Coetzee +6500
Lucas Bjerregaard +6666
Benjamin Hebert +7000
Chris Paisley +7500
Marcel Siem +7777
Victor Dubuisson +8000
Oliver Fisher +8050
Paul Lawrie +8300
Brandon Stone +8500
James Morrison +9000
Jorge Campillo +9350
Julien Quesne +9500
Pablo Larrazabal +10000
Richie Ramsay +10000
Romain Wattel +10500
Thorbjorn Olesen +10550
Hao-Tong Li +11100
FIELD- Any other player +475
ODDS ANALYSIS
Tyrrell Hatton +1250 is an emerging star on the European Tour. He got his first win on the European Tour at the the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and has played well since with a T9 in the British Masters and T23 at the WGC-HSBC Champions. Many forget that the Englishman played well in the final two majors of the year with a T5 at the Open Championship and a T10 at the PGA. He sits at No. 5 in the Race to Dubai standings and three of the players that are ahead of him are not playing this week, so with a good finish he could pass them.
FADE: Danny Willett +2250 continues to disappoint. Since his epic win at the Masters in April, his game has hit rock bottom and now there is rumors that he’s injured. He played poorly at the Ryder Cup, he played poorly last week and he seems to play poorly on a weekly basis. Maybe his win at Augusta was a complete fluke. Until he shows me some form, I am fading him.
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