Golf
Open de Espana preview: Take two against Rahm in Spain
The 2021 Open de Espana returns from Club de Campo Villa de Madrid the scene of Jon Rahm’s 2019 victory.
Rahm was one of the few Europeans to perform in the Ryder Cup, underpinning his world number one ranking, and highlighting how far ahead he is of others on the European Tour at the moment.
He has also won the last two renewals of the Open de Espana, so it’s no surprise to see him at 11/5 at the head of the market.
The Spaniard is by far the likeliest winner, but golf can be a funny game, and with him being such a short price there is value to be had elsewhere.
Migliozzi in with a chance of third Tour success
After two wins on the European Tour in 2019 plenty was being said about Guido Migliozzi. While things didn’t go to plan for the young Italian in 2020, this season he has produced some fine golf, the highlight being a brilliant tie for fourth at the US Open on his Major debut.
He missed the cut by one stroke in the Open Championship, but bounced back to form with a top-10 finish in the Omega European Masters, and recently tied-17th in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.
Migliozzi has been threatening to win again on the European Tour this season and he has his eyes firmly set on a place in the Ryder Cup team in Rome in two years’ time. If he is to make it there, he needs to find some consistency, and this might be the place to start. He certainly has the ability to put together a strong challenge in Spain and makes plenty of appeal at odds of 28/1.
Harding has a big chance if returning to summer form
South African Justin Harding is another player that can at times be hard to predict, but several of his performances on the European Tour this season suggest that his time could be close once again.
He won the Magical Kenya Open back in March and has since finished in the top-10 three times, as well as recording top-20 finishes in nine out of 19 events on the Tour. That includes a T19 place finish in the Open at Royal St George’s, where he began with two rounds of 67 to go into the club house in a tie for 7th place.
Bar a 9T finish in the Dutch Open in September, Harding’s recent efforts have left something to be desired, however, hopes of him bouncing back to form are pinned on a return to Club de Campo Villa de Madrid where he finished 7T behind Rahm in 2019. A return to his summer form would make the South African difficult to keep out of the top-10 and odds of 50/1 could prove to be good value come Sunday.
