Sullivan to Continue Ryder Cup Push

Best Bets

1 Pt E/W (1-5) Andy Sullivan 66/1 (Stan James)

0.5 Pts E/W (1-5) Joost Luiten 66/1 (General Price)

After the South African swing, this week sees a major event in the European Tour Calendar. The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship has a star studded field, which includes both Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy. These two rightly head the market, but given its McIlroy’s first run out of 2016 and Spieth is a bit of a stranger to this part of the world we are happy to leave these alone. It’s never easy to leave McIlroy out in the Middle East though, such is his prior form.

This event is still a tricky proposition for tipsters given a lot of the fields front runners are turning up for their first stroke play event of 2016. The EurAsia cup does provide us with an angle in however, and one of our picks played fantastically well last week in this match play competition.

A key factor round this course seems to be hitting a lot of greens. Most winners finish high on the GIR statistics and this seems to be the biggest predictor from a statistical standpoint. The course gives the players four par 5 opportunities which must be taken advantage of. Its length is just about average for European Tour venue.

1 Pt E/W (1-5) Andy Sullivan 66/1 (Stan James)

Our headline pick this week is Andy Sullivan who we feel has a great chance to continue his push towards this year’s Ryder Cup team. He’s currently in a qualifying position for the team and he has made it no secret that he is desperate to qualify. Last week he showed why he would be such a great addition to the European team with perhaps the standout performance of the week at the EurAsia Cup. His game is clearly in terrific shape and he would appear to fit the bill as someone who should go well this week.

In 2015 he was inside the top 30 for tour GIR leaders and he hits the ball long enough to take advantage of the Par 5’s. He loves this part of the world and his last showing in the UAE was a second place finish at the DP Tour Championships back in November. He also has a top 20 finish on this course back in 2014. We think Sullivan’s price this week is great value and we are happy to side with him as our headline pick.

0.5 Pts E/W (1-5) Joost Luiten 66/1 (General Price)

Our second pick this week goes to the Dutch golfer Joost Luiten. Like Sullivan, Luiten has his own dreams of making the Ryder Cup team and this is a great venue for him to start his push towards that goal. He has two top ten finishes in his last three starts at this event and clearly loves the course. His recent form hasn’t been spectacular, but he doesn’t seem far away. What is maybe more telling however is that he has been at the course now practicing for over a week. All his reports would indicate that practice is going very well and he is ready to challenge this week. He looks a massive price considering his pedigree round this course and again we think he is worth an each way shout.