The brainchild of European Tour head honcho Keith Pelley, the Belgian Knockout was the European Tour’s attempt to drastically rejig its stale format and create a lively alternative to the bountiful riches of the US PGA Tour.
It seemed quite a success and once again Rinkvin will play host to this schizophrenic combination of pure stroke play and head-to-head stroke play.
European Tour 2019 | Belgian Knockout
Rinkvin International Golf Club, Antwerp, Belgium
Thursday 30 May - Sunday 2 June 2019
Format
The first two days will see 144 regular tour players duking it out in conventional stroke-play. But the weekend will see a dramatic shift with a Friday cut shearing the event to only the top 64. These players will then play in a succession of nine-hole head-to-head matches, whittling the field down to 8 going into Sunday. Sunday will see the quarter-finals and semi-finals, ultimately leading up to the 3rd/4th playoff and final. Clearly, this is a fairly arduous event, with the final four playing the equivalent of five rounds in four days. Be wary of subtle shifts in format, as last year saw the tour give the top 16 seeds gain an advantage going into the head-to-head stage. If the matches ended in a tie the top 16 players advanced without the obligatory playoff hole.
Rinkvin is an exposed, flat, parkland-style course that is a unique combination of woodland and parkland holes. It was designed by Belgian golfer Paul Rolan and opened in the 1980s. This event will actually be a composite course of the North and South Course. It isn’t a huge par 71 and last year’s event did seem to favour the more steady players. Players will just need to avoid losing touching distance over the course of the opening two days.
Last week’s champion Bernd Wiesberger will be looking to make it back-to-back wins this week. Defending champion Adrian Otageui will also be teeing it up while Thomas Pieters once again leads a strong Belgian contingent. Nicolas Colsaerts and Thomas Detry will join Pieters as he once again plays host to this year’s event. It will be interesting to see if Pieters will be more accustomed to those dual responsibilities this week.
Past Winners
2018: Adrian Otageui beat Benjamin Hebert
Betting Favourites (To Win)
Thomas Pieters (25/1)
Thomas Detry (33/1)
Adrian Otageui (33/1)
Bernd Wiesberger (35/1)
Richie Ramsay (35/1)
Value Bets
Romain Langasque
To Win (35/1), To Place (7/1)
Lagasque fits the bill perfectly this week. He is super fit and enters this event in really strong form. He finished 3rd last week in the Made in Denmark event and also tied for 5th at the Volvo China Open. He also had a top 10 in a similarly middling field in Kenya. He did miss the cut here 12 months ago but has improved immeasurably since then. He will feel confident if he reached the head-to-head stage, seeing that he did win the 2015 Amateur Championship in a similar format.
Benjamin Hebert
To Win (45/1), To Place (9/1)
Frenchman Benjamin Hebert will be hoping that familiarity with the vagaries of this event will come in handy this week. Hebert ultimately went on to lose to Otageui in last year’s final. He had a pair of top 10’s at the Maybank and China Open prior to losing form of late: the last two finishes read MC-T51. But Hebert will feel quietly confident looking back at his exertions last year: he entered this event off the back of a missed cut. He currently sits 16th in shots gained approaching the green and will be relishing a return to his best form at Rinkvin.
The Man to Beat
Thomas Pieters
To Win (25/1), To Place (5/1)
It’s never the most awe-inspiring decision when you back the favourite. That’s particularly true in the case of a perennial underachiever, Thomas Pieters. I’m acting on the notion that we will finally see the best of Pieters unleashed at Rinkvin this week. Last year he got through the preliminary stroke play stage only to fall to Max Kiefer in the opening match on Saturday. But the truth is this: Pieters is the most talented player in the field at his best. His Ryder Cup exploits at Hazeltine are mythologized and he did win the World Cup of Golf alongside Thomas Detry. He should be able to better balance the responsibilities of hosting and playing this week.
Written by Damien Kayat for Hollywoodbets
from Hollywoodbets Sports Blog http://bit.ly/2YWrB89
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