The European Tour completes the first part of its Middle East swing with the second edition of the Saudi International from Thursday, and, just as was the case in Abu Dhabi a fortnight ago, the market is headed by a trio of world-class Americans.
Dustin Johnson returns to defend the title he won a year ago, Patrick Reed is also back as he looks to banish memories of an embarrassing 10 at the final hole of round three, while Brooks Koepka is still finding his way back from injury and is battling to hold on to his position at the top the world rankings.
There’s an argument to be made that Koepka’s return in Abu Dhabi, where he was eight-under after 20 holes, but remained there at the end of 72, was encouraging and a portent to a statement victory on a course which ought to suit better than last year’s 57th suggests.
His waywardness should not to be so much of an issue here, for all the water that is in play, and he did start the year with 20 birdies. Yet there remain concerns around his fitness, which makes him less appealing as a betting proposition, although with William Hill having him at 10/1 still makes a half-decent each-way bet for a top three finish. To check out the betting opportunities and strategies for this, and other golf events, visit Betwinner rating and review by Betenemy.
Despite being a par of just 70, the course at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club is made for big hitters, with last year’s leaderboard stacked with long drivers, including Johnson, Hao-tong Li, Tom Lewis, Min Woo Lee and Alex Levy, with Ryan Fox and Scott Hend among the best of the rest. While there’s just one par five on each nine, there are several short par fours, with 1, 7, 10 and 17 in particular encouraging the bigger hitters to lash something up close to or even onto the green, and take it from there.
Li, runner-up by two shots having matched Johnson throughout the first 54 holes, must come into the reckoning at odds of 50/1 with most of the major betting firms, as he made four eagles in the third round of the tournament without having to much work with the putter. But it’s this statistic which makes Dustin Johnson at a best priced 15/2, rather than Koepka, the man to beat in Saudi this week.