Not only has COVID affected the European Tour schedule it’s also allowed tournament officials to play with different formats. And we have a new one on both sides with this week’s Cyprus Showdown, the second straight event held on the island at Aphrodite Hills Resort. The one-off event features a field of 105 for the first two strokeplay rounds with the top 32 players and ties advancing to Saturday’s shootout. The field will be cut in half with the top 16 and ties moving on to Sunday’s final round. Scores will be reset on each of the final two days. The unique, first-ever format makes handicapping the tournament a little more difficult and the best golfer over the first three days may not win, so make your wagers accordingly. A complete list of betting odds is available at BookMaker.eu when you’re ready to place a wager.
Odds to Win Cyprus Showdown at BookMaker.eu
Thomas Detry +2500
Robert MacIntyre +2800
Garrick Higgo +2800
Matthias Schwab +2800
Rasmus Hojgaard +2800
Sami Valimaki +2800
Antoine Rozner +3500
Joost Luiten +3500
Kalle Samooja +4000
Marcus Armitage +4000
Marcus Kinhult +4000
Matthew Jordan +4000
Paul Waring +4000
Romain Langasque +4000
Adrien Saddier +5000
Alexander Bjork +5000
Benjamin Hebert +5000
Callum Shinkwin +5000
David Horsey +5000
Gavin Green +5000
Haotong Li +5000
Jason Scrivener +5000
Joakim Lagergren +5000
Johannes Veerman +5000
Jordan Smith +5000
Jorge Campillo +5000
Matthew Southgate +5000
Mikko Korhonen +5000
Nicolas Colsaerts +5000
Sam Horsfield +5000
Sebastian Heisele +5000
Shubhankar Sharma +5000
Thorbjorn Olesen +5000
Wilco Nienaber +5000
Adrian Meronk +6600
Chris Paisley +6600
Connor Syme +6600
Grant Forrest +6600
Jamie Donaldson +6600
Louis DeJager +6600
Masahiro Kawamura +6600
Matthieu Pavon +6600
Maverick Antcliff +6600
Pablo Larrazabal +6600
Richie Ramsay +6600
Ross Fisher +6600
Sebastian Soderberg +6600
Aaron Cockerill +8000
Alexander Levy +8000
Ben Stow +8000
Calum Hill +8000
Odds Analysis
Nicolas Colsaerts +5000
Things kind of got away from Colsaerts last week when shots started flying all over the place. He opened well enough and has a good feel for the layout, which will help this time around. He’s also one of the best ball-strikers on Tour, something that will come in handy with the new format. The Belgian is often times his own worst enemy with a bad round manifesting into something bigger. Make it to the weekend and everything resets, and that’s a plus for Colsaerts. He finished a few weeks ago closing 66-68 for a runner-up at the Italian Open and I like his chances this week.
Rasmus Hojgaard +2800
He didn’t play last week so he’s behind a number of players in that regard. But if you’re looking for an aggressive finisher Hojgaard is the guy. He’s not afraid to attack a course and Aphrodite Hills seems to be to his liking. Plus he has a lot of confidence after a run over the summer that saw him win the UK Championship, runner-up at the Betfred British Masters and solo third at the English Championship, all within the span of a month.
David Horsey +5000
Golf is all about having confidence in your swing and Horsey is feeling it since the restart. Pre-lockdown form was scary and he has just one top-10 since July, but I’m seeing a player who feels good about his game. He’s made the cut in seven of his last eight starts and was in contention last week until a closing 74 dropped him down the leaderboard. That could be viewed as a negative, but I’m a glass half full kind of guy and will look at the opening 66-69 for inspiration.
Sam Horsfield +5000
There’s not much out there saying Horsfield is going to win this thing. But a new format has to include a new line of thinking. And I’m thinking Horsfield will make up for last week’s MC with a much stronger showing. He shot a second round 68 and didn’t play poorly last week, the course just proved to be too easy. I also see Horsfield making the proper adjustments to his game in order to compete. He took a few weeks off prior to the Cyprus Open and now that he’s loosened up I expect him to make a run. Besides, the format is such that a bad round won’t eliminate you.
Kalle Samooja +4000
A run of nice form and a near miss have me looking at Samooja this week. He settled for runner-up last week after losing on the first playoff hole, despite a pair of 64s over the weekend. The course offered no resistance to the Finn, who just missed out on his maiden Tour victory. That alone should be motivation, but toss in his dominant approach game and I like his chances.
Course: Aphrodite Hills Resort – 6,956 yards, par 71
A number of players return to attack the Aphrodite Hills Resort after getting their first look at the venue in last week’s Cyprus Open. As expected it wasn’t a terribly difficult layout with Callum Shinkwin and Kalle Samooja tying for the 72-hole lead at 20-under. The top-14 on the leaderboard all put up four red numbers and finished at -13 or better. Measuring a short 6,956 yards, the layout plays well to aggressive second shots with above average-sized greens. And you can expect to see a more aggressive approach from the field under the new format.
TV Coverage: Golf Channel
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