-
Marcus Armitage can ride the wave of last week's good form
-
Swede Sebastian Soderberg has made a promising start to 2025
-
Frenchman Julien Guerrier looks a good fit
-
Before the Second World War the sport of golf featured frequently in literature. Indeed, the true nature and character of Jordan Baker - a key figure in The Great Gatsby - is revealed to the narrator Nick Carraway by the way she played the game (she was a cheat and a fraud).
I was thinking of this when reading the recently published - and well-received - novel The Peacock and The Sparrow by I.S. Berry, not least because key episodes in this thriller take place in and around The Royal Golf Club at Riffa Views, host of this week's Bahrain Championship.
The novel, which re-imagines recent history and is set roughly 14 years ago, has a key scene in which the golf club and the villas that surround it are overwhelmed by rioters.
It occurred to me that at roughly this point in time the then-European Tour was making its first visit to the Royal for the Volvo Golf Champions which was won by Paul Casey.
It's not the only element of alternate history playing out this week because every journey the players make from the hotels to the course takes them past a sign post for Saudi Arabia - a metaphorical journey a few of them have taken and many others will have pondered.
It's a funny old world.
The Royal is a Colin Montgomerie design and his others include Carton House in Ireland, Maxx Royal in Turkey, and The Dutch in the Netherlands.
The Ryder Cup great worked alongside European Golf Design on the project and among their layouts used by the tour are the 2010 Course at Celtic Manor in Wales, Royal Greens in Saudi Arabia, and PGA Catalunya in Spain (plus renovations of Marco Simone, Green Eagle and Wentworth).
The Englishman was somewhat unfotunate to run into a red hot Alejandro Del Rey last week in Ras Al Khaimah.
The Spaniard was superb, but Armitage wasn't too far off and finished three shots clear of the rest of the field.
It was his first top five since last March (although he did land a lucrative top 10 at Wentworth) and his price this week suggests the compilers think it was a one-off, a peak in form or that the course is no kind of fit for him.
I'm not so sure. The first clue is that he carded a Thursday 67 for tied eighth after 18 holes in this event last year. True, he finished T43 but his mind was on an impending stag do.
I like another factor. The two winners at the Royal - Casey and last year's champion Dylan Frittelli - are excellent performers in China on modern resort courses - and Armitage has won on one of those himself on the second tier.
Casey also enjoyed Green Eagle in Germany, another layout China resort course specialists like, and Frittelli's only top 10 appearance on 54- and 72-hole leaderboards last year after his win came on that very same Hamburg track.
It makes sense when you consider that all five of last year's top five finishers at the Royal ranked top six for Strokes Gained Off the Tee and Green Eagle suits strong drivers (EGD designs often do, too).
Armitage has a win at Green Eagle and EGD top 10s at Celtic Manor, Marco Simone and Wentworth.
Back Marcus Armitage each-way

The Swede experienced a brutal final round on home soil in last summer's Scandinavian Mixed, blowing an eight shot 54-hole lead with a 77 that included a final hole meltdown.
His second place was a fourth top three in five starts and he missed the next 10 weeks with an injury but the mental scars might have been as raw as any physical ailments.
The end of year was understandably rough but there have been signs of a return to form since New Year.
He was T31 in the Dubai Desert Classic and fifth last week. His putting has started heading in the right direction and his approach work was excellent last week.
Last year he was sixth in Bahrain when again excellent hitting into the greens and hopefully the putter can stay warm.
It wasn't the first hint that he likes a Monty design - a Thursday 67 had him an early tied fifth at The Dutch in 2017. He also had a pair of top 10s at Celtic Manor (contending in both) and one at Marco Simone.
Back Sebastian Soderberg each-way
The Frenchman broke the hearts of column followers when defeating Jorge Campillo in a mammoth Andalucia Masters play-off last autumn and this looks like a good spot for him to contend for a second DP World Tour title.
He was eighth on the course last year and if you can forgive a bad time last week he's still in decent form - he closed 2024 with a pair of top 20s and was T21 on 2025 debut at the Dubai Desert Classic.
The connections are smooth too: he's never missed a cut on a modern Chinese course and has two top 10s; he's finished second, fourth and tenth at Green Eagle; and he has EGD top 10s at Celtic Manor, Marco Simone and San Domenico.
Back Julien Guerrier each-way
Having difficulty working out the place returns? Fret no more - you can easily work out your returns with our new each way calculator.