Lake Malaren BMW Masters Preview – European Tour

The European Tour’s Race to Dubai reaches the business end of the season with the staging of the BMW Masters at Lake Malaren in Shanghai, China. Many of Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup team are back on course in force as they battle for the attractive prize fund and valuable Race to Dubai points. Messrs Rose, Poulter, Donaldson and McDowell are among an excellent field also including US Tour players Chris Kirk and Ryan Palmer.

The Lake Malaren layout was designed by Jack Nicklaus and with a par-72 and total course length of 7,606 yards it should suit the longer hitters. Its shortest hole is 201 yards (not for mere mortals!!) while its longest is 612 yards and with 92 bunkers to protect the Shanghai course the golfers will need to navigate their way carefully around this Nicklaus course. Lake Malaren is only open since October 2011 but it is obviously ready for tournament golf having hosted the first BMW Masters back in 2012. Jamie Donaldson holds the course record with a 62 so expect the Welshman to feature this week, presumably he’s sobered up since Gleneagles (lucky guy!!)!

Here are some of the leading contenders for this week in China.

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Justin Rose

The Englishman displayed amazing form in the Ryder Cup and if he can take his matchplay marvels into strokeplay this week then he will have a great chance to feature at Lake Malaren. While Rosey is usually more of a solid player than a birdie machine, he showed both to great affect at Gleneagles. Rose lies in 8th place on the Race to Dubai, some €3.9m behind leader Rory McIlroy, so the pressure is on him to chase down the World No.1. Best odds of 9/1 favourite reflect the confidence of the bookies’ in making Justin Rose favourite.

Victor Dubuisson

Although the Frenchman has not become a regular winner on the European Tour so far he has been racking up some mightily impressive performances around the world, including some great cameos in the Ryder Cup – so much so that his foursomes partner Graeme McDowell heralded him as the next big star of European Golf! A superb performance down the stretch at the Turkish Airlines Open last year points to his nerve under pressure while his ability to make birdies and make some miraculous up-and-downs bode well for a course where under par is a pre-requisite. The people in the know quote Victor at 16/1 pretty much across the board so expect him to be there or thereabouts come the back 9 this Sunday.

Jamie Donaldson

The man who sealed Europe’s victory against Team USA back in September has understandably been on a crest of a wave since and has turned into a world class player over the past season, with good performances in the Majors coupled with victories when he needed them at the crunch time during Ryder Cup qualification. Donaldson holds the course record at Lake Malaren and with odds of 20/1 I think he is the bet of the week in China. We might even get to see another hilarious post victory interview, here’s to hoping anyway!!

Nicolas Colsaerts

The Belgian nearly hit a 59 a few weeks ago so he is obviously in good form. On a course of this length it could play into Colsaert’s hands, his putter has misbehaved more often that not over the past season but the form he has been displaying lately does give hope to those that will look to profit from Nicolas this week, odds of 33/1 will give you a decent each way bet. Colsaerts will need to get off to a fast start and he will be looking to eclipse Donaldson’s 62 early doors I’m sure.

Ian Poulter

The Englishman is rarely out of the spotlight, whether it is his Ryder Cup wildcard pick this year, his move to Titleist, his regular activity on Twitter and recent spat with Ted Bishop. Poults is undoubtedly looking to get back on the course to let his golf do the talking now and he has an uncanny knack of upping his game towards the end of the season. His position in 64th in the Race to Dubai means he will need to get some good finishes in to make the season closing Dubai World Championship and I expect Poulter to step up his level of performance this week in Shanghai. Best odds of 35/1 pretty reflect the challenge for Poults but he’s always been up for them.

So that is my two cents for the BMW Masters in China this weekend. Others to keep an eye on are Chris Kirk from the US, Tommy Fleetwood and Thorbjorn Olesen. My pick for this week on the European Tour, though, is Jamie Donaldson, his course form and current feel good factor should help him do the business in Shanghai.