Belgian Knockout 2019 Golf Preview & Tips
The European Tour stages just the second edition of the Belgian Knockout this week (May 30 – June 2), a tournament that is very different from the standard 72 stroke play events.
144 players will tee it up at the Rinkven International Golf Club in Antwerp on Thursday and they will be split into two draws for the first two days. All the players will play 36 holes stroke play, with the best 32 players in each half of the draw progressing to the knockout stages which start on Saturday.
The knockout stages will consist of 9-hole stroke play matches, with the rounds of 64, 32, and 16 taking place on Saturday. The quarter-finals and semi-finals will take place on Sunday, with the winners of the two draws meeting in the final on Sunday afternoon.
It truly is a great initiative, with medal match play allowing for bigger swings than normal match play. For example, a player could be two-strokes in front, but a double-bogey for him and a birdie for his opponent could see a three-shot swing on one hole.
The Market Leaders
Picking the winner might not be easy this week, with any golfer capable of beating another over 9-holes, but that’s why the bookies are offering bigger than normal odds about some players.
It’s easy to see why Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry are heading the market this week, as either of the Belgian duo would love to win on home soil, especially as they return to Belgium as the Golf World Cup winners. Both are also playing well enough to contend and, though both made it to the knockout stages last year, neither made it through to Sunday.
Last week’s Made In Denmark winner Bernd Wiesberger is third-favourite with many bookies, but I imagine it’s been an emotional week for the Austrian after returning to the winners’ circle after missing most of last season with injury.
Four Players to Back for the Belgian Knockout
One player it looks impossible to leave out of calculations this week is Adrien Otaegui, as the Spaniard is the defending Belgian Knockout champion. He’s also won the Paul Lawrie Matchplay and finished runner-up in a similar style competition in Australia earlier this season.
Last year’s runner-up Benjamin Herbert also deserves a chance to go one better, as he finished runner-up three starts ago and could easily go close if recapturing that level of form this week.
Matthew Southgate looks another player that has is finding his form at the right time and his ninth-place finish last week ties in nicely with a decent showing in this event last year.
It’s also impossible to leave the rapidly improving Robert ‘Bobby’ Mcinytre out of the betting strategy. There is a chance that the young Scot will be drained after finishing second on his last two starts but he really impressed with his all-round game last week. He made plenty of birdies and also displayed a great touch around the greens, which is normally a great asset in match play.
Belgian Knockout 2019 Betting Tips
- Adrien Otaegui (Each-Way)
- Benjamin Herbert (Each-Way)
- Matthew Southgate (Each-Way)
- Robert Mcintyre (Each-Way)