Wiesberger To Burn His Rival In Portugal

The European Tour is all about individuals again after last week’s Seve Trophy by Golf+ as the Oceanico Victoria Golf Club stages the Portugal Masters for the seventh time.

The Portugal Masters has not ventured away from the Oceanico Victoria Golf Club so there is six years of course form to analyse for the purpose of winner and head-to-head bets.

Bernd Wiesberger is the headline pick at odds of 21.00 with Ladbrokes to win the Portugal Masters. Wiesberger won two European Tour titles last year and he could have won a few more this season, posting four top-five finishes and rarely having a bad week at the office. His last appearance was in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in which he finished 12th, while his second career Portugal Masters start in 2012 produced an 11-under-par fourth place behind Shane Lowry after he had led the field with one round remaining.

Another golfer for the Portugal Masters portfolio is Lowry, who arrives at the Oceanico Victoria Golf Club off the back of his best result of the year. Lowry, who won last season’s Portugal Masters by one stroke from Ross Fisher thanks to rounds of 67, 70, 67 and 66, finished third in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship two weeks ago and has made the cut in 11 straight European Tour stroke play events. Lowry has performed well in each of the four Portugal Masters that he has contested, with last year’s win being the highlight. Lowry is available at odds of 23.00 with BetVictor.

One could make a case for Martin Kaymer but the bookmakers have not missed him and he is the universal Portugal Masters favourite. Kaymer missed the 2012 Portugal Masters cut and, while he has everything else for which one would look in a winner bet, he is sufficient short based on his failure to make the weekend 12 months ago. Prior to that, Kaymer had posted two top eights in his three Portugal Masters starts.

At odds of 46.00 with Betfred, Thomas Bjorn almost made the Portugal Masters list but the Dane had a shocking time during the Seve Trophy by Golf+, failing to win any rubber in which he was involved. If Bjorn had opted to skip the Seve Trophy by Golf+, as some of his European peers did, he would have stood out at his odds but it is impossible to overlook how he played in France last week.

With regards to Portugal Masters match bets, the golfer who warrants support because of the pairings that bookmakers have devised is Gregory Havret, with the Frenchman being grouped with Emiliano Grillo and Marcel Siem.

Havret had last week off having failed to qualify for the Seve Trophy by Golf+ team competition. Havret’s four starts before his mini break produced two top-seven finishes and, while he can mix up his form – for example, he has missed the cut twice in his last five European Tour events – he does have the numbers to suggest that he is overpriced at odds of 1.91 with Stan James to get the better of Grillo.

Grillo missed the cut on his first Portugal Masters start last year and he failed to make the weekend in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on his most recent outing.

Havret is trading at odds of 1.91 to beat Marcel Siem in the Portugal Masters. Siem has a fourth place in the tournament to his credit but he has not finished higher than 59th in any of his five appearances. Moreover, Siem has missed the cut in four of his last five tournaments around the globe.

One could have a crack at Bjorn in a Portugal Masters match, with Ladbrokes quoting him at odds of 1.91 to defeat Simon Dyson, whose pet events are behind him for another season. Dyson missed the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship cut and his Portugal Masters record is mediocre to say the least.