Go for Fisher at the Lake
Best Bets:
0.75 Pts E/W (1-5) Ross Fisher 50/1 (Bet 365)
0.75 Pts E/W (1-5) Bernd Wiesberger 40/1 (Will Hill)
This week sees the return of the BMW Masters, which is the penultimate competition in the Race to Dubai. We stay in China for this one, with a return to Lake Malaren Golf Club, which will stage this competition for the fourth time in a row. Last year Marcel Siem ran out the champion on this long golf course, winning a playoff against Alexander Levy and Ross Fisher.
Lake Malaren is a beast of a golf course measuring just less than 7,600 yards. The par 3’s and par 5’s are all extremely long, which gives an advantage to the longer hitters. Although the past three years have produced champions with varying skill sets the big hitters go into this one knowing they have a slight edge.
Although we give the bigger hitters the edge this week we haven’t ignored form players, and players with past course form. Luke Donald has a third place on this course showing that pure ball striking and strong putting will be important as ever. A final key factor we have considered this week is players who went well last week in the WGC event. The HSBC Champions at Sheshan offered up what will be similar conditions on a similarly long golf course. The players who went out last week in Sheshan will also have lost a bit of jet lag which can be all important at this busy time of the year. After considering the above there were a couple of guys that stood out as our picks for this week.
Our Tips:
0.75 Pts E/W (1-5) Ross Fisher 50/1 (Bet 365)
Ross Fisher stands out this week for many reasons. His course form is great with a playoff loss here last year and a top 20 in 2012. He also finished in a tie for third last week in the HSBC Champions WGC event showing solid current form. Prior to last week Fisher had been struggling with a lot of missed cuts, but this solid showing might be exactly what he needed to kick start his season at exactly the right time. He now sits at 15th in the Race to Dubai standings and has ensured he will play in the final event, so look for him to attack this week with a little bit of pressure taken off. At 50/1 he looks a solid play.
0.75 Pts E/W (1-5) Bernd Wiesberger 40/1 (Will Hill)
Our second pick this week goes to Bernd Wiesberger who looks great value at 40/1. Wiesberger has two top 25 finishes in his last two starts at this event so clearly likes the course. The big hitting Austrian should be able to take advantage of the long par fives. He finished in a tie for 17th last week so is displaying strong current form. He sits 7th in the Race to Dubai rankings and a solid showing this week could keep him in contention for the overall prize, so look for him to push hard this week.