Founded as the Swiss Open the tournament has been held at the Golf Club Crans-sur-Sierre at Crans-Montana in Valais since 1939. It is part of the professional men’s European Tour.
The Omega European Masters has been won by four Australians in the past. Kel Nagle almost 50 years ago, followed by Randall Vines, Graham Marsh twice and Brett Rumford three years ago.
The top favorite of the tournament is Edoardo Molinari ($16). The Italian won the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles last week and finished third at the Nordea Scandinavian Masters a few weeks ago. Edoardo is the man of the moment as he began in 2009 as 653rd in the world and now he’s played two fabulous seasons and could very well become the first player to win three times this season.
Louis Oosthuizen, winner of the 2010 Open Championship, has played quite well finishing on 9th at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and 4th at the Nordea Scandinavian Masters. The South-African is my favorite golfer to win the tournament this week, and he is a $21 chance.
The defending champion Alexander Noren is delighted to be back at the scene of his greatest triumph last year. Alexander is rated as one of the main favorites as the 28-year-old Swede has had no other European Tour wins so far. In his last five tournaments his top result has been just a 53rd place at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and his worst result was a 134th place at the Open Championship. Noren is not ranked in the top 100 in the world and it’s unlikely that he will triumph again. Alexander is a tasty $67 chance to win but you should avoid this bet.
Another good option is to bet on Australia’s Brett Rumford. He won here in 2007 and loves to play here. He’s showing great form with three top-10s in his last four tournaments. His best result came last week when finishing second at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles. Also he took 4th place at the Nordea Scandinavian Masters and a 9th place at the 3 Irish Open. So quite solid performance from the Aussie. Rumford is a $34 chance to win.
Verdict: Bet on Brett to win or top 10.