Horsey The Best Bet In Russian Roulette

Maximilian Kieffer heads the betting for the Russian Open near Moscow at 9/1 but does David Horsey offer better value at 14/1?

The Tournament
Established in 1993, the Russian Open became the country’s first professional golf tournament a year later, and was added to the European Tour in 2003. It disappeared from the schedule in 2008, but after four years as a Challenge Tour event, it was promoted to the main Tour in 2013, although as it is scheduled alongside the FedEx Cup play-offs this year, it hasn’t attracted any of the big names.

The Course
Skolkovo Golf Club near Moscow is another Jack Nicklaus designed course, his first in the capital and his second in Russia. It opened in 2014 so will be new to most of those entered this week, but it’s a conventional parkland lay out of just over 7000 yards that shouldn’t offer too many challenges, although with six large lakes and 113 bunkers to negotiate, wayward tee shots and sloppy iron play will be punished.

In The Bunker
Maximilian Kieffer is the antepost favourite, but although he has plenty of potential and has bagged five top ten finishes this season, his recent form hasn’t been anything to write home about. He failed to break the top forty in either of his last two stroke-play tournaments, and hasn’t played since the beginning of August. In a wide open field, the inexperienced young German looks too short at odds of 9/1.

Recommended Bets
David Horsey bagged his first European title of the season in Denmark two weeks back and although he missed the cut at the Czech Masters, he’s worth persevering with this week. Having gone three years without a Tour victory, this was the tournament that he won last year to kick start his revival.

Although his results in 2015 haven’t been great, he is one of the few players in the field with recent winning form.

At 14/1 he looks a better option than the favourite.

After a couple of seasons in which he has been badly affected by injury and illness, Bradley Dredge has not made much of an impact this year, but there have been one or two positive signs, most notably his sixth in Denmark a fortnight ago. He was hit and miss at the Czech Masters last time, but he has the experience to win a weak event like this and at 14/1, it’s worth giving him another chance.

Robert Dinwiddie returned to the European Tour last season and struggled throughout, but after a poor first half of 2015, his form has picked up in recent weeks. A third at the Lyoness Open back in June remains his best of the season to date but since then he has managed top-eleven finishes at the Omega European Masters and the Made In Denmark, and last week broke into the top five at the Czech Masters. Few players in the field are in better form and he looks a value bet at 18/1.

*Prices correct at time of publication