Two weeks in Austria - Euram Bank Open Preview
Austria will play host to a second successive European Tour and Challenge Tour co-sanctioned event, as professional golf in Europe moves 50 miles south to Ramsau, and Golf Club Adamstal for the third edition of the Euram Bank Open.
The event will have a near identical field to the one that tee'd off at the Austrian Open last week, with Thomas Detry and Connor Syme the two notable names missing after appearing last week.
The best ranked players in the field, per the Official World Golf Rankings, will be Joost Luiten and Adri Arnaus for the second week in a row.
Photo from The European Tour
GC Adamstal, the host course for this event, is almost comically short for a professional event. From the back edge of every tee, it measures under 6,500 yards, and that's at a not-so-unsubstantial elevation! Ramsau is 3,700 feet above see level, which is enough for most to double-check some carry distances.
Average elevation will not be the only issue this week, as there are drastic changes in elevation while simply walking the golf course, and with this in addition to an outlandish amount of boundary lines running the length of holes, and often just off the sides and long of the putting surfaces, the short course will certainly have some bite. It has, after all, produced some pretty wild numbers on scorecards in just two events.
Two under par, just three bogeys on the week and then... this! An all-universe scorecard from Clement Berardo in 2019.
Par - Quintuple - Par - Sextuple - Par - Triple - Par, on holes eight thru 14, for Slovenia's Tim Gornik.
According to Spanish golfer Pedro Oriol, players will, "have transport between holes," to combat the issue. It seems course that was designed with the ethos that walking great distances was a problem that humankind overcame in the 20th century, and though golf has a long and difficult history with recognising and dealing with issues of modernity, this seems to be a wise move.
No course nullifies the need for driver, but I dare say it will not be the most whacked club by many players this week. Eight of the Par-4's clock-in on the scorecard at under 385 meters (approx. 420 yards), and two of the three Par-5's are under 455 meters (500 yards). This, as at any short course, brings many more players into the discussion.
This may go a long a way to explaining why players like Detry and Syme, two players that routinely average over 300 yards off the tee, are not in the field this week despite playing only 50 miles away just days before.
One interesting statistic from last season is that, on a course with five par-3's, the Par-3 scoring average leader for 2019 won the event. Calum Hill led the European Tour with an average of 2.89 for the three's he faced, and won the event without making single bogey on a Par-3 all week.
Other favourites will include Marcel Schneider, who shot 62 in the first round here last year, en route to a T14 finish, who also had a strong week at the Austrian Open last week, finishing just one stroke behind champion Marc Warren. The Swede, Oscar Lengden will also be a popular pick, after a T8 finish in Austria last week, and a T5 finish the week before at the Nordic Golf League event, the Katrineholm Open.
One of my own personal new golf obsessions, a Fin with no fear of winning, Sami Valimaki is also in the field. After he stared down serial winner Brandon Stone to win in just his sixth start on the European Tour in Oman, after racing to four wins in 16 starts on the Pro Golf Tour, it's hard to see Valimaki as anything other than an apex predator.
Though he hit over 70% of fairways during his successful week in Oman, Valimaki has averaged under 60% in Driving Accuracy for the season as a whole, which could prove to be his undoing.
It's another interesting field, with other players like Sunshine Tour star Garrick Higgo, and multiple Alps Tour winner and European Tour standout Adri Arnaus all in attendance. While The Memorial in Ohio will attract all the headlines with the strongest ever PGA Tour field on show, it's worth keeping an eye on the action in Austria.
The Quick Hook, this week, is selecting:
John Catlin
T8 last week in Austria, but more importantly, this is somebody that knows how to win. In the last two years, Catlin has won four times in Asia, with one of this wins coming in a week with a higher 'Strength of Field' rating than the field this week.
He's typically incredibly straight off the tee, too, as he hit 68.49% of his fairways last season, which was sixth best on the European Tour.
This event seems like a good spot to ride with Catlin as he searches for his first win on the European Tour. He's talented, as exhibited by his stellar play across several tours. He's steady and in good form, as shown by a top-10 finish in Austria last week, with four rounds under par. Most importantly, he's able to win, and prolific when in a position to do so - exemplified by a CV that shows more career wins than runner-up finishes.
Rikard Karlberg
After some solid golf last week, we're sticking with the veteran Swede for the second week running as a pick to win, hopefully with more success this time around. It was a tough call opting for him over fellow countryman Oscar Lengden, but I have my reasons.
The reason for this, is that Karlberg has a good record around GC Adamstal, as in his one competitive appearance here, he went four rounds without shooting worse than 68, and finished in a tie for fourth place.
He isn't long, averaging just over 286 yards last season, but is Top-50 on Tour this year for accuracy. This should serve him well this week.
Joost Luiten
Sometimes, favourites are ranked as such for good reason. Luiten seems like that kind of pick this week.
He is the highest ranked player in the field, the winningest European Tour player in the field, and thus, the most natural pick for champion.
He's a good driver of the ball, with over 60% of his fairways hit this season, placing him 33rd on Tour. Luiten is fifth on Tour for Par-3 scoring, with an average of 2.94, a category that he placed under par in last season, as well, placing 14th overall.
At a shade over 4/1, Luiten seems almost too obvious to pick this week. It would be highly surprising to see him too far from the action come Sunday, so don't let an obvious pick go to waste.
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