MonthlyJoyride Golf Tips

Marcus Helligkilde is looking for his maiden DP World Tour win here this week. It would be poignant for it to come on home soil, where he has performed well in recent years. Finishes of T8, T25 and T35 in his three playings of this event, with 9 of his 12 rounds being under par. He has been in good form in recent months, having finished T15 on the PGA Tour at the Corales Puntacana last month. In June he finished T14 at the KLM Open in the Netherlands on a very similar course setup to this week.

Albin Bergström is a player with a seriously high ceiling. It is only his young age that means he is still inconsistent with performances for now. He is usually either on it or not for a week. He's shown the levels he can achieve already this season, mixing it in good quality fields on the DP World Tour level when finishing T13 at the Soudal Open and T11 at the Open d'Italia, where across those two events he shot all eight rounds under par and six of them in the 60s.

Kristian Krogh Johannessen was 3rd in this event in 2022, where he shot rounds of 67, 65, 69 and 65. He has been playing really well and consistently on the Challenge Tour this season. He is well in contention to earn his status on the DP World Tour for next season. He's got finishes of 2nd, T3 and T11 in his last four outings, with 14 of his last 16 rounds being under par.

Liam Nolan is a home hope here this week and now more than most know what to expect, having battled in tough conditions to a T19 finish here last year. He arrives in better form than his results suggest, with five of his last eight rounds under par. His game looks at a solid base level to go again this week for another tough test.

Javier Barcos Garbayo went close last time out when finishing T3 at the Scottish Challenge in a not too dissimilar setup to what he will be facing this week. Rounds of 70, 68, 64 and 67 led to that T3 finish in a very well-rounded and confidence-building week. I like him to ride the momentum into this week and challenge yet again.

Sepp Straka finished T17 here last year and was beaten in a playoff in this event in 2022, which comes as no surprise on a course that rewards accuracy and precision both off the tee and in approach play with irons in hand. The Austrian is a four-time winner at PGA Tour level and looks a huge price here in a 69-man field.

Petr Hruby is hit or miss, as are most players at his age who are competing at this level. He has made 5 of his 11 cuts this season and converted a couple of them into top-25 finishes. His strengths should be magnified here this week, with him ranked 20th in driving distance and 36th for strokes gained overall. That paints a much stronger position than his results alone indicate.

12 of 18 cuts made this season for Nicolo Galletti, which is a reasonable hit rate at this level. He has done well in then converting 5 of these into top-25 finishes. He's just missing the finishing touches come the weekend, but sitting 31st on tour for strokes gained/outing more than makes up for what he can lack in terms of distance off the tee.

Vince Whaley drops back down to this event this week as the big hitters take on the FedEx Playoffs. He looks to regain his status starting here this week, and he has a good chance of doing so in this field. He could really find separation for himself with his excellent game on the greens, where he sits 4th for Strokes Gained: Putting across the season.

Ryan Burnett's game has been trending in the right direction of late with a newfound level of consistency in his ball striking that has seen him make 9 of his last 11 cuts. He withdrew from the Utah Championship at the beginning of the month, but any concerns seem to be behind him and he looks a huge price in this level field this week based on his showings over the last couple of months. If he can find a hot putting week here, he will contend.

Carson Bacha snapped a run of seven missed cuts in a row last week. He really looked to have found something in his game. He was visibly growing in confidence and comfort with each passing hole and round as he finished T12 at the Pinnacle Bank Championship. He still sits 60th on the KFT rankings, so a strong finish here in the next few weeks could still earn him PGA Tour status for next season.