BMW International Open Each-Way Tips: 100-1 Van Driel can defy the Double Dutch

• Thin air specialist Darius Van Driel is a big price

• The spurned Joost Luiten could be dangerous

• Pablo Larrazabal is in a happy place

It may not feel like it, with temperatures still like early spring, but we're on the brink of the final major championship of the season - the Open at Royal Troon in mid-July.

Next week it is the Scottish Open when many of the leading contenders will be either teeing it up at the Renaissance Club or playing links golf somewhere else in Britain or Ireland.

First up, however, is the BMW International Open and it provided a vital stepping stone for the last winner at Troon, Henrik Stenson, eight years ago.

Ahead of that week he had found himself stuck in something of a rut after the sustained brilliance of 2013 and 2014, and had racked up no less than 16 top six finishes without a win. Moreover, he'd lost the knack of contending in, never mind winning, the majors.

I interviewed him a few weeks ago and he recalled how he had hit 40 and was all too aware that he needed to both earn himself major opportunities very soon, and also make the most of one of them.

Victory at Gut Larchenhof was a huge relief, he said, and proof that he didn't have a long-term problem. He kicked on and in some fashion, eventually winning the Claret Jug with a record low total.

The tournament is now settled at Golfclub Munchen Eichenried a course that has also produced high quality winners although it has become less likely in recent because the stars are like birds in their PGA Tour Signature Event gilded cages.

It's a parkland course played between the trees and it features a finale that tends to promote drama.

Late on, it includes the 319-yard short par-4 16th, the 205-yard par-3 17th and the 568-yard dogleg par-5 18th.

The potential for fluctuations on the leaderboard through this attack-defend-attack stretch is huge and players can go low - very low - here.

The Argentines Rafa Echenique and Andres Romero proved it: the former played the back nine in 27 blows in 2009 to finish second and in 2017 the latter went 7-under through the last 11 holes to win.

We were on last year's winner Thriston Lawrence so let's hope for more fun in Munich.

Main Bet: Darius Van Driel 1pt each way @ 100/1

A key factor behind the selection of Lawrence last year was his fondness for playing golf at altitude (his four DP World Tour wins have come in such conditions) and while Munich does not have the thinnest air in Europe, there is a requirement to do some maths at 520m above sea level.

That leads us nicely to the first pick, the Dutchman Darius Van Driel.

He opened the season with a top 10 on the Johannesburg high veldt and backed that up with victory in the equally high Nairobi in the Kenya Open.

Nor was his head for heights a surprise.

The win was his fifth top 12 finish in Nairobi, he also has a top 10 in Madrid on the main tour and his victories on the second tier came at Geneva (379m) and Adamstal (590m).

Rather more straightforwardly, he's made four cuts at Eichenried. The first two didn't realise much but he's become a better player and was T10th in 2022 (fourth with 18 holes to play) and T12th last year.

Then there is the potential bit-between-the-teeth factor of his non-selection for Paris 2024 by the Dutch Olympic Committee.

A statement revealed that the DOC felt that neither Van Driel, Joost Luiten or Dewi Weber had "a reasonable chance of a top-8 ranking". It sounded a lot like, well, double Dutch to most people and the golfers were understandably no different.

Van Driel wrote on Instagram: "The (DOC) doesn't have a clue about golf and it a shame we're suffering now. We're not going because of political reasons. A sad day for Dutch golf. #shame on you."

Needled, in a spot that suits, DVD can make a point this week and good on him if he does.

Next Best: Joost Luiten 1pt each-way @ 33/1

Of course, Luiten was no more or less outraged that Van Driel.

"It's just mind-blowing that they say I can not finish top 8 at the Olympics, (DOC) have absolutely no clue about golf," he wrote on Instagram.

"I just don't get it! Typically Holland, they only understand the typical Dutch sports, clearly not golf. So sad and painful."

Could this be what tips Luiten from consistent to contender?

Four of his last seven starts have been top 15s but he's yet to crack the top 10.

At the course he has five top 15s in his last seven starts including third in 2011 and second last year when he led by three going into the final round.

That could be a painful memory but it could also, allied with that frustration at the decision-makers, fuel a furious, righteous and positive response.

Final Bet: Pablo Larrazabal 1pt each-way @ 33/1

Finally, stick with the Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal.

We were on him early last month in the Netherlands because he was the defending champion and a new father.

We'll keep with the dad vibes and hope to catch them bouncing off his excitement at returning to a course that has been very kind to him down the years.

He was top 10 at halfway on debut in 2008, third in 2010, the winner in 2011, winner again in 2015, recorded top 20s in 2017 and 2021, and was fifth in 2022.

Now read Steve Rawlings on the BMW International Open

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