KLM Open
The DP World Tour resumes this week in Holland for the KLM Open.
Victor Perez (14-1) returns to defend his title, and he had the highest finish (12th) of anyone in this field at last week’s PGA Championship. Perez is joined in the co-favorite role by Adrian Meronk, who won the Italian Open and cashed a winner for us in this column three weeks ago. Meronk also finished third in this event last year.
Rasmus Hojgaard (22-1) missed the cut at Oak Hill but was in the top 10 here last year. Alexander Björk (25-1) was seventh here last year and comes in with consecutive fourth-place finishes in Italy and Belgium. He also finished T-2 at Ras Al Khaimah in February. Jordan Smith (25-1) also missed the cut at last week's PGA but is one of several who is looking to earn a spot on the European Ryder Cup team. Antoine Rozner (28-1) already has a win this season from last December in Mauritius.
Players priced at 35-1 include the Netherlands’ own Joost Luiten, who is a two-time KLM/Dutch Open winner, Adrian Otaegui, Romain Langasque and Jorge Campillo, the winner earlier this season in Kenya who had a five-event top-10 finish streak snapped two weeks ago in Belgium.
The Event
The Dutch Open’s history dates to 1912 and the tournament has been a part of the European Tour schedule every year (save for 2020 due to COVID-19) since the tour's creation in 1972. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines dropped its title sponsor duties but returns after a two-year absence and the event has been renamed the KLM Open. A who's who of European Tour stars and former major champions are Dutch Open event winners, including Sergio Garcia (2019), Paul Casey (2014), Martin Kaymer (2010), Darren Clarke (2008), Bernhard Langer (1984, 1992, 2001), Lee Westwood (1999), Miguel Angel Jimenez (1994), Colin Montgomerie (1993), Payne Stewart (1991), Jose Maria Olazabal (1989) and Seve Ballesteros (1976, 1980, 1986).
The Course
Two years ago, the KLM Open debuted a new course in the rotation. Bernardus Golf Course in Cromvoirt, Netherlands, hosted the event for the first time and returns for its third year. The Kyle Phillips design opened in 2018 and is a typically flat, exposed Dutch design with generous fairways and top-class A1/A4 Bentgrass greens. There are thousands of heather plants and long fescue grass flanking the fairways for errant tee shots, so the track has a hint of a linksy, heathland track. Even with some penalty for not hitting fairways, the rough is light and the fairways are wide.
Bernardus will play as a par-72 of 7,445 yards.
Kyle Phillips has either designed or had a hand in a number of courses that are familiar to us on tour, with Kingsbarns, which features as part of the Dunhill Links rotation each year perhaps the most recognized. The Grove, which hosted the 2016 British Masters, is another of his tracks, as is Dundonald Links, which was the venue for the Scottish Open a year later.
Recent History
2022: Victor Perez (-13/275); 50-1; Bernardus Golf (Cromviort)*
2021: Kristoffer Broberg (-23/265); 275-1; Bernardus Golf (Cromviort)
2020: Canceled due to COVID-19
2019: Sergio Garcia (-18/270); 16-1; The International (Amsterdam)
2018: Ashun Wu (-16/268); 125-1; The Dutch (Spijk)
2017: Romain Wattel (-15/269); 175-1; The Dutch (Spijk)
2016: Joost Luiten (-19/265); 18-1; The Dutch (Spijk)
2015: Thomas Pieters (-19/261); 55-1; Kennemer (Zandvoort)
2014: Paul Casey (-14/266); 25-1; Kennemer (Zandvoort)
2013: Joost Luiten (-12/268); 20-1; Kennemer (Zandvoort)**
2012: Peter Hanson (-14/266); 22-1; Hilversumsche (Hilversum)
2011: Simon Dyson (-12/268); 25-1; Hilversumsche (Hilversum)
2010: Martin Kaymer (-14/266); 12-1; Hilversumsche (Hilversum)
Playoff win over Ryan Fox - *
Playoff win over Miguel Angel Jimenez - **
Selections
Jorge Campillo (34-1, Boyd Sports)
Campillo missed the cut two weeks ago in Belgium after setting a blistering pace for a couple of months.
Before that missed cut, Campillo had hit the top 10 in his previous five events, including a win in Kenya.
Over that five-event period, he ranked No. 1 on the DPWT for Strokes Gained: Total.
Callum Shinkwin (60-1, Boyd Sports)
Shinkwin returned from injury a few weeks ago at the Italian Open and posted a top-10.
However, he missed two subsequent cuts in Belgium and at the PGA Championship last weekend.
Nevertheless, he could go well here at Bernardus on a Kyle Phillips design having finished T-2 last fall in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, where Kingsbarns, another Phillips design, is part of the course rotation. The Phillips link also shows up at the 2017 Scottish Open at Dundonald Links, which he should have won but ended up losing in a playoff to Rafa Cabrera-Bello.
Matthieu Pavon (66-1, BetRivers)
Pavon was one of seven players in a field of 80 to earn a spot in next month’s U.S. Open out of qualifying at Walton Heath last week.
He also has a good history on another Kyle Phillips design, having finished third in the aforementioned 2017 Scottish Open event.
Pavon was the 36-hole leader at the Italian Open three weeks ago, but a Sunday round of 79 resulted in him plummeting down the board to 32nd. Nonetheless, he rebounded from that disaster to earn a U.S. Open spot, so his mindset looks to be focused.
Grant Forrest (66-1, PointsBet)
Forrest is playing the most consistent golf of his career with four top-10s, including two top-5s, in his last six starts.
The Scotsman tends to play his best on links-style designs and Bernardus should fit the bill.
He was also in the top 10 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last fall.
Matti Schmid (95-1, Boyd Sports)
Schmid has played primarily on the PGA Tour in 2023 and has not had much success having made just three of 11 cuts.
However, the drop-in class back to the DPWT may be what the doctor ordered.
He was second here two years ago and also posted a top-10 at the 2021 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at Kingsbarns.
Ross Fisher (100-1, Caesars Sportsbook)
Like Pavon, Fisher was one of the seven players to earn a spot for the U.S. Open out of the qualifier at Walton Heath.
Even at 43, he still is one of the longer hitters off the tee on the DPWT.
He has three career runner-up finishes at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Placement markets and other golf events (LIV DC, Senior PGA Championship, etc) will be up at VSiN.com/picks later this week.