European Tour: What to Watch at the Maybank Championship

Schwartzel, Willett, Westwood headline the 156-player field

Looking at the hot-off-the-press February 6 Official World Golf Rankings, 2016 Masters champ, No. 15 Danny Willett, is the highest-ranked player teeing it up in Malaysia this week. Willet joins two other top-25 players and four more in the top 50.

In comparison, the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am draws four of the world’s top 10 (including Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth), four more in the top 25, and another eight in the top 50.

Kuala Lumpur is 16 hours ahead of Monterey, so there’s certainly room for both tournaments on our schedules this week.

Making the Maybank Championship an attractive watch this week are the likes of Charl Schwartzel, Ryder Cup members Lee Westwood, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Willett, and one of the hottest players in the world, 2016 Rookie of the Year and No. 39 Jeunghun Wang, a winner two weeks ago in Qatar.

Nine players who finished in the top 11 in Malaysia in 2016 will be back this year, including Soomin Lee. The then 22-year old South Korean appeared destined for his second European Tour win before carding to lose by two and tie for second.

Another who placed top 10 here last year to watch could be Spain’s Jorge Campillo. He tied for fourth down the road at Royal Selangor in 2016 and has made nine straight cuts since October. Despite a three-over 75 in round two, Campillo tied for 23rd competing against a healthy field at the Dubai Desert Classic last week.

Bovada on February 6 morning has tabbed Schwartzel and Cabrera Bello as co-favorites to walk away with €461,689 and the trophy (which is a pretty sweet one, at that) at +1000. Bernd Wiesberger isn’t far behind at +1100. Defending champ, No. 128 Marcus Fraser, isn’t thought too highly to repeat. He is tied for the 14th best odds at +4000, perhaps a product of a new venue this year as opposed to 2016 at Royal Selangor Golf Club.

Fan favorite, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, will be in Malaysia. He’s listed at +2500.

The list of players outside the line of entry into the tournament is somewhat impressive too: YE Yang, Alvaro Quiros, Simon Dyson, Stephen Gallacher and Ricardo Santos, among others.