Best bets
1pt each-way Joost Luiten @ 28/1
1pt each-way Matt Kuchar @ 40/1
1pt each-way Ryan Fox @ 12/1
1pt each-way Adrian Otaegui @ 33/1
1pt each-way Robert MacIntyre @ 28/1
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With Valderrama, the usual home of the Andalusia Masters, hooking up with rival tour LIV – the Saudi-backed tournament there at the end of June was one of three won by their golfer of the year Talor Gooch – the DP World Tour has found a worthy substitute in Royal Sotogrande. Or the “Real Club de Golf Sotogrande” as it has been known in Spain since King Juan Carlos I conferred royal status upon it in 1994.
You don’t hear much about sophisticated members’ club Sotogrande since its more commercially-minded younger neighbour Valderrama became the must-play golf destination in southern Spain – national hero Seve Ballesteros led Europe to heroic victory there in the 1997 Ryder Cup – but this 7099-yard par 72 is an absolute cracker with greens as terrifying as Augusta’s. Or at least they were when I played there in the late 1970s.
In those far-off days I used to fancy myself as a bit of a putter but on those lightning-fast, slithery Sotogrande greens even three-putting was often a minor triumph and I must blushingly confess I once needed five movements of the flat stick before getting that pesky ball in the cup.
Designed by the legendary Robert Trent Jones in 1964 and nominated by him as one of his five favourite RTJ layouts, it hosted its first Spanish Open in 1966 and later shared with nearby San Roque the hosting of the annual six-round Tour School when the likes of Justin Rose and Ian Poulter secured their playing tickets and set up multi-million-dollar careers.
This year’s field is headlined by reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark who talked a good game at the Ryder Cup but wasn’t able to back that up with his golf, his nerve betraying him after booming drives in the fourballs and losing his last-out singles to rookie Bob MacIntyre but Sotogrande will require a more than decent putter and Clark showed in his two victories this year he has a great touch on fast greens.
Even so, the other name American taking part, Matt Kuchar, makes more appeal at four times Clark’s price. Admittedly at 45 not as good as he was in his prime, the 2017 Open runner-up to Jordan Spieth is just the type to nudge and nurdle his way round Sotogrande. His putting looked in good order the last time we saw him on the PGA Tour when finishing seventh at the Fortinet and you can forget his average display since in the freak, weather-shortened Dunhill Links pro-am in Scotland.
MacIntyre is the only member of the winning European side to put his name down for this and must have a great chance of picking up his first victory of a frantic year now the pressure of clinching a Ryder Cup debut is over and he can relax a bit, warmed by the glow of being unbeaten in his three Roman wars.
Overcome by the occasion, the young Scot putted like Blind Pew to start with at the Ryder Cup and was lucky to have a great partner in Rose to cover up for him but he’s normally as ambitious a putter as he is a golfer and he could well win here in the run-up to gaining a berth on the PGA Tour.
Spaniards have a good record in this fixture and Adrian Otaegui who routed the opposition last year to win by six at Valderrama is capable of another command performance on a similar stage. He was on the fringes of contention for much of the first leg of the Spanish Swing in Madrid last week and has made every cut since the Scottish Open.
Twice a runner-up this year, he looks the most dangerous Spaniard while, of the others, veteran Dutchman Joost Luiten, a dreadful chipper but brilliant with his irons and on the greens, makes most appeal. He has been knocking on the door for the last couple of months and a run of fifth at Crans, 15th at the K Club, 14th at Wentworth and 20th in Madrid backs that up.
Best bets
2pts each-way Sahith Theegala @ 18/1
1pt each-way Ryo Hisatsune @ 66/1
1pt each-way Keegan Bradley @ 18/1
1pt each-way Min Woo Lee @ 16/1
0.5pt each-way Hideki Matsuyama @ 16/1
The ZOZO Championship is the PGA Tour’s annual trip to Japan (except when Covid forced them to reroute the tournament to California in 2020) and may well go down as the 82nd and final victory of Tiger Woods’ glittering career.
That came in the event’s debut year, 2019, and Tiger’s 19-under 261 still stands as the record for the par 70 Accordia Narashino course some 30 miles north-east of downtown Tokyo.
The two subsequent winners on the well-wooded 7079-yard course, home hero Hideki Matsuyama and Keegan Bradley, are back attempting a repeat in a short field of 78 bidding for a share of the handsome $11m purse.
Ryder Cup losers Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and last year’s runner-up Rickie Fowler head the betting but only Fowler is a tournament winner this year.
Fowler was unwell when the only player on either side not to get even half a point in the Ryder Cup, on top of which he got an unmerited earful from US supporters for conceding Tommy Fleetwood the 2ft 8in par putt that meant Europe had regained the trophy. It was going to happen anyway and the sporting American knew when the goose was cooked.
For all their fame and ability, I wouldn’t have a nickel on any of them, nor would I have more than a saver on 2021 champion Matsuyama without knowing how competition-sharp he is as we haven’t seen him since he withdrew with a bad back from the BMW at Olympia Fields back in mid-August. That marked the end of a mostly forgettable campaign and this is his opportunity, on the course where he won by five two years ago and in front of his adoring fans, to make something happen in 2023.
It’s entirely possible he will but it’s a guess and if there is to be a Japanese winner I would sooner take, at a four-times longer price, Ryo Hisatsune. We know he’s in great nick after being an emphatic winner of last month’s French Open. And he finished a very respectable 11th last year when few outside Japan had heard of him. Just turned 21, he can only get better and at 66/1 he represents the best value on Fitzdares’ list.
Talking of being 21, I hope you were all on my confident (2.5pts each-way) chief selection Tom Kim, the 11/1 winner in Las Vegas last week. He isn’t playing this week but we’ll be hearing plenty more of this triple winner (by the age of 21 and four months) who plays with great joy and love of the game, just like my main pick this week, Sahith Theegala, the colourful American who recently opened his win account at the Fortinet after several near misses.
Among numerous eye-catching performances from last year by the 25-year-old Californian whose family emigrated from India in the 1980s – if you’re wondering about the name – was a sterling effort at Narashino when sharing fifth place with Victor Hovland. Now that he’s made that breakthrough, he will start turning those top-tens of the past into wins of a glittering future.
Last year’s winner Bradley, furious at being passed over for the US Ryder Cup squad after a two-victory campaign that later featured the Travelers Championship, will be out to emphasise the point. The last time we saw him was with a top-ten finish at the Tour Championship and punters can be sure he is well prepared for this title defence.
A great, straight driver, he can thread his way through the heavily-wooded, tree-lined fairways and safely negotiate the five lakes on this lush but tight layout.
The most recent winner in the line-up is Min Woo Lee who finished 30 under par in demolishing the Macau Open field for his first victory on the Asian Tour only on Sunday. This is a far tougher assignment but a W always gives a golfer a lift and the exciting but occasionally careless Aussie has been without one since the 2021 Scottish Open despite a number of eyecatching efforts.
Eric Cole, Cam Davis, Alex Noren, Callum Tarren, KH Lee and Beau Hossler, all close up behind Kim in Las Vegas, come ready and well prepared and golfaholic Sungjae Im will probably lead at one stage. The Korean was almost in our staking plan but his wins-to-chances-created ratio isn’t that hot. He was a remote T3 behind Tiger here four years ago but comes up short too often for it to be a coincidence.
For a European winner Noren and classy Belgian Thomas Detry look the pick but both are notoriously difficult to win with and a place may be all they can hope for. Ryder Cup first-timer Nicolai Hojgaard, Tarren and steady Aaron Rai are other darts Europe can fire at the board with decent chances of a double top if not the bull’s-eye.
It’s going to be warm, humid and dry all week and remember the time change – it’s Japan so get those bets on by Wednesday evening. Sky coverage begins at 4am Thursday.
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