You are here: Betting Guide » Golf » KLM Open Betting 2008

KLM Open Betting 2008

KLM OPEN BETTING – 21st AUGUST

From August 21st to 24th, the KLM Open at the Kennemer Golf and Country Club will host some of the world’s best golfers on the PGA European Tour. Henrik Stenson is the 10/1 favourite (Ladbrokes), whilst Justin Rose can be backed at 12/1 (Blue Square and 888sport). The Kennemer Golf and Country Club, Zandvoort, Netherlands, was founded in 1910 and the 27-hole links course has been a European PGA venue since 1972. Past winners include Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and a 19 year-old Seve Ballesteros. The KLM Open has a unique place in the history of The European Tour. Winners Seve Ballesteros (1976, aged 19 and 121 days) and Paul Way (1983, 19 and 149 days), mean this event is the only one to witness two teenage winners. Wentworth Club’s Ross Fisher survived a worrying rules enquiry before knowing he had broken through as a European Tour champion by winning The KLM Open in 2007.

Fisher birdied the final hole for a closing three under par 67 and a 12 under par 268 aggregate, to take the title by a stroke from young Dutchman Joost Luiten. However, the 26 year-old Englishman had to return to the 12th hole to prove to officials he had not broken a rule by lifting a bramble runner and then check out the incident on video before he was cleared to collect the ?266,666 first prize. After a thorough examination of the incident, Fisher’s actions were not deemed illegal.

Ten years ago, Justin Rose used The European Tour’s annual trip to the Netherlands to launch his fledgling professional career. Now, ten years on, the Englishman is back at The KLM Open, hoping a dose of Dutch courage will aid his bid to secure a Ryder Cup debut. In 1998, Rose arrived at Hilversumche Golf Club in a blaze of publicity after his magnificent effort in The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale where, as an amateur, he finished in a share of fourth place after memorably holing his pitch at the final hole. Understandably, the clamour unsettled the young Englishman, whose first round in the paid ranks was a 77. Despite a gutsy 65 in the second round, he missed the cut, as he did in his first twenty-one starts as a professional. However, he arrives this year at Kennemer Golf and Country Club as the 12th ranked golfer in the world, on the verge of securing Ryder Cup honours for the first time.

The KLM Open, with its increased prize fund of ?1,800,000, remains one of the oldest and most prestigious titles in Continental Europe. The closeness of the tournament to Ryder Cup and the fact that it is the penultimate event counting towards qualification for the European Team means that any discussion of the tournament inevitably involves a discussion of Ryder Cup qualification. This is borne out by the entry list, which features seven of the eight players contesting what appear to be the last three automatic places in the European Team, which will travel to Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky in four weeks time, looking to win The Ryder Cup for the fourth successive time.

Conventional wisdom suggests that the players who currently occupy positions the first seven positions on the list, Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, who plays at the KLM Open (10/1 favourite with skybet), Robert Karlsson, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Graeme McDowell, are pretty much guaranteed a place in the European Ryder Cup Team. However, there are still three automatic places up for grabs. The majority of the men occupying the next eight positions, namely Rose (14/1 with vcbet), Oliver Wilson (40/1 with Stan James), Soren Hansen (40/1 with skybet), Martin Kaymer (22/1 with Stan James), Ross Fisher (25/1 with totesport), Nick Dougherty and Soren Kjeldsen, respectively 30/1 and 35/1 with Stan James, will all tee up at the glorious Zandvoort venue, with the ?300,000 first prize, along with the accompanying Ryder Cup points, firmly in their minds.

Unsurprisingly, these players dominate the betting market. Reigning champion Ross Fisher, European Open Champion at the beginning of July, will have pressure of a different kind this year, as he attempts to produce another winning performance to make his dream of a Ryder Cup come true. It will, however, be pressure he shares with at least six other players and promises to be a fascinating week’s golf.

All odds correct at time of writing. Please click here for the latest odds