Dan Roebuck’s Lyoness Open preview: Larrazabal has to be backed

Bernd Wiesberger maybe the most likely winner of this week’s Lyoness Open at Diamond Country Club in Austria. However, the Vienna-born professional, who has a win and a third place finish on his CV at the Atzenbrugg layout, not to mention another third place on Sunday in Sweden coming into this tournament as well as a win in Indonesia just last month on the Asian Tour, is surely too short at single figure odds of 7/1 to back.

Still – and here’s the thing – the fact that Wiesberger trades at such a short number means there are potentially inflated prices elsewhere.

Pablo Larrazabal is the second favourite, who, at double-ish Wiesberger’s mark at 12/1, just must be backed. The Spaniard’s recent run of finishes includes four top-six efforts in his last seven starts and seven top 20s in his last eight appearances.

Larrazabal opened up with a sparkling 64 in Atzenbrugg 12 months ago before slipping to 10th place. A year on, his form, especially with the putter, suggests he can claim the title.

While good putting is, obviously, always a huge plus, the key stat in recent years at Diamond Country Club has been scrambling. Last week, the man who topped the scrambling charts was Rikard Karlberg. The Swede’s prowess from just off the greens saw him claim fourth place in Stockholm and, given he also rewarded each-way punters in this event last year, he also makes the staking plan at 33/1.

As does James Kingston (40/1), the South African who won the Royal Swazi Sun Open last month and followed up with two top-dozen finishes, the first of which was in the BMW PGA Championship where he ranked second in scrambling. Kingston has rarely done himself justice in Europe but this just might be the week he shines.

So, my three off the tee – Larrazabal, Karlberg and Kingston.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.