European Tour: Turkish Airlines Open
Venue: Montgomerie Maxx Royal Golf Course, Antalya, Turkey.
Dates: Thursday 7th – Sunday 10th November 2019
Tournament Preview
The European Tour Race to Dubai gets underway with the Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya. The event is the first of three back to back competitions in the season ending run with plenty of big names vying to finish top of the money list in three weeks’ time. The Turkish Airlines Open has been present on the tour since 2013 and has a whopping prize fund of $7 million which entices some of the biggest names in the game on both the European and PGA Tours. Current world number one Brooks Koepka is a previous winner of the event whilst Olympic Gold medallist Justin Rose has won this event twice in the last two years and he will be hoping for a similar performance in the Turkish sunshine this week.
Betting Preview
Outright Winner
There are plenty of big names descending on Antalya this week in what promises to be a hotly contested four days of golf:-
Defending champion Justin Rose certainly hasn’t enjoyed the best year of his career but he seems to enjoy this event and he will be looking to climb the European Tour money list with just three events to go.
Fiery Englishman Tyrrell Hatton has finished inside the top 20 in each of his last 4 events and with a game well suited to the Montgomerie Maxx Course, he could go well this week.
Few players have enjoyed the consistency that Matt Wallace has this season on the European Tour. The Englishman sits 6th on the money list and will be in contention this week for sure in Antalya.
Austrian Bernd Wiesberger currently sits top of the European Tour money list following wins in Demark, Scotland and Italy this season and he will be one of the front runners once more in Turkey this week.
Austrian Matthias Schwab has enjoyed an excellent season; he finished in the top 4 in Shanghai last week and he sits just outside the top 20 on the European Tour money list.
1st Round Leader
Producing the goods over 72 holes is often the most difficult thing for any golfer to do therefore here are our first round leader picks:-
Haotong Li is a two-time runner up at this event and he should be full of confidence following his impressive showing at the WGC HSBC Championship in Shanghai last time out.
Emerging Scot Robert Macintyre has been one of the standout performers on the European Tour this season. He plays with no fear and he’ll be relishing the chance to get involved in the Race to Dubai.
Consistent Englishman Eddie Pepperell finished 6th at the Portugal Masters last time out and he should arrive in Turkey in good form and full of confidence.
Top Ten Finish
With so many quality players assembled here in Turkey, getting into the winning enclosure could be tough but there are plenty of candidates to finish in the top 10 come Sunday:-
American Patrick Reed has spent a good portion of his season on the European Tour and still sits inside the world’s top 15 players. He finished 8th in Shanghai last week and should go well here.
2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry has enjoyed the best season of his career, he sits third on the European Tour money list and a good week here will see him in contention to win the Race to Dubai.
A win at the Czech Masters back in August has been the highlight of Thomas Pieters’ season so far and with his strong long game, he could be an outside pick on a course well suited to him.
BetXChange Best Bets:
Outright Winner: Justin Rose – 8.00
1st Round Leader: Robert Macintyre – 33.00
Top Ten Finish: Shane Lowry – 1.75
