Golf
Horizon Irish Open preview: Herbert can back up last year’s win
This week the Irish Open returns to the rolling countryside of County Kilkenny and the Mount Juliet Course, where Australian Lucas Herbert will bid to defend the prize he won 12 months ago.
We preview the European Tour event below and try to find the value in the market.
Herbert can go close again
Australian Lucas Herbert announced his arrival as a contender on both the DP World Tour and PGA Tour last season with a win in the Irish Open, where he shot scores of 64-67-70-68 to finish off 19 under par and three strokes clear of his nearest pursuer.
Since then he has gone from strength-to-strength, winning his first event on the PGA Tour at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in October and in 2022 posting a T7 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, as well as more recently an excellent T13 finish at the PGA Championship in May.
What makes the 26-year-old such a strong operator is his performance on and around the greens. On the PGA Tour this season he ranks 15th in Strokes Gained: Around The Green and 3rd in Strokes Gained: Putting. That’s an impressive stat and if the man from Bendigo can get away well from the tee, then he looks sure to be capable of low scoring this week.
Last time out things didn’t go to plan, as he posted scores of 74 and 79 to miss the cut at the US Open, but most players can be forgiven a poor round at a notoriously difficult course like Brookline. His form before that had been solid with top 50 finishes at the Charles Schwab Challenge and Memorial Tournament.
Back at a more familiar setting, and crucially one that has more room for error from the tee, Herbert should have no difficulty finding the fairways and once in and around the green we know he can be deadly accurate.
Back at the scene of his 2021 success, he is expected to put up a bold defence at decent odds of 35/1.
Check out all the latest betting offers at William Hill
Min Woo Lee looking for third Tour win
Lucas Herbert’s fellow Australian Min Woo Lee is another that could go well back at the Mount Juliet Course. Lee finished a highly respectable T17 here last year, and would have finished higher had it not been for a 73 on his third round.
He showed his quality when going on the land the abrdn Scottish Open the following week, his second win on the DP World Tour.
Things haven’t always gone to plan in 2022, and he has a poor record on the PGA Tour of seven missed cuts, but in between those efforts he has performed well at both the Masters (T14) and most recently the US Open (T27).
This will be only his second start of the season on the DP World Tour – after a T35 finish at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January – and judging by his performance at Brookline two weeks ago he looks set to challenge back in these calmer waters.
At 35/1 he is worth keeping onside.
