Irish Open Each-Way Tips: 40/1 Fox likes an Emerald test

• Ryan Fox can regain DP World Tour form

• Memories can ignite Matthew Southgate

• Hanbury link hints at Andy Sullivan

It's going to be a funny week for Poland's Adrian Meronk.

On the one hand, he'll be feted as the defending champion of this event.

And on the other, he'll be feeling wretched that he didn't earn a spot on Luke Donald's European Ryder Cup team.

He isn't the first player to have been in such a galling spot, of course, and he won't be the last.

But can he repeat what many others have done in the past and rebound with an excellent week (and maybe even victory)?

I remember being at an LET event in North Wales in 2009, a few days after Alison Nicholas had made her Solheim Cup picks, and watched Karen Stupples, who had not been handed a wildcard, not only play with extra steel in her eyes but end the week with the trophy in her hands.

I talked to her about that experience 10 years later and she acknowledged that she really did have something special driving her on that week - she was also wise enough to add that she wished she'd had it a week earlier (while acknowledging it is easier said than done).

If Meronk is victorious this week it would be his finest victory yet at this level because the top of the market is strong.

It makes this column's quest a little trickier because it would surprise no-one if the winner emerged from the top four (Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry and Min Woo Lee).

The test is the parkland North Course at The K Club, an Arnold Palmer design which is 7,350 yards and a par 72.

Main Bet: Ryan Fox 1pt each-way @ 40/1

The Kiwi Ryan Fox took to Ireland immediately and he's never lost that fondness.

That initial visit reaped a Challenge Tour victory at the parkland Galgorm Castle and the same year he added T15th on another inland track, Mount Wolseley.

He then maintained his quality when promotion to the main tour took him to the Irish linksland.

He was fourth at Portstewart and second at Ballyliffin in this championship, and also T16th at Royal Portrush in the 2019 Open.

More recently he was second in this event again 14 months ago at parkland Mount Juliet.

He's spent most of the summer competing on the PGA Tour and doing well enough there, making 10 of 12 cuts and landing eight top 30s.

Back on the DP World Tour, on an island he loves, he can revive memories of his superb form last year when he landed eight top four finishes including two wins.

Next Best: Matthew Southgate 1pt each-way @ 80/1

I was tempted by Guido Migliozzi who got the Ryder Cup qualifying period off to a flying start with that brilliant win at Le Golf National 12 months ago and ended it on a high note too, playing the final five holes in six-under last Sunday.

But in-between he really wasn't good enough at all and the pressure of making the big match in Rome on home soil probably took a toll.

A good week off the leash would not entirely surprise and he was a play-off loser at The Belfry which plays a little like The K Club.

But the pick goes to England's Matthew Southgate who is in decent nick at the moment.

He started July with a top 10 and ended it with a top 25 in the Open.

Last month he landed another top 10, this time in the north of the Emerald Isle at Galform Castle, and I'm not too concerned by the missed cut in Crans because he's never taken to that test.

It's the course that appeals and the memories he will have of a week seven years ago when he broke through at this level, not with a win but with a top five finish that turned his career around.

Before then he'd got stuck in the gap between Challenge Tour and European Tour, and he'd also had his 2015 rocked by a cancer scare.

Since that fourth place, however, he's never lost his card at the top table and, while he hasn't won, he's been able to grab a place often enough. The key is that he often repeats in events he likes.

And the Irish is one such: he loves the crowds, he loves the island's golfing energy and another good week would not be a surprise.

Final Bet: Andy Sullivan 1pt each-way @ 200/1

There is absolutely no doubt that the final pick is a little left field but there is a thread of sense behind it.

The key is Hanbury Manor, the parkland track in the heart of the English countryside.

Because look at who won there and what they have achieved on this course at The K Club.

The three winners at Hanbury Manor in the late 90s were Per-Ulrik Johansson, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke who between them, in the same period, won five times at The K Club.

And then there is Bradley Dredge, the Welshman who finished second behind Rory McIlroy when the tour returned to The K Club seven years ago.

He has just joined the European senior circuit and where did he win on his third start just last month? Yup - Hanbury Manor.

That course has only been used once in recent times on the main circuit and Adrian Otaegui's second and Min Woo Lee's sixth appeal, but we'll go full hog on the winner Andy Sullivan.

He's not had a great season but he was in contention at The Belfry, another Ryder Cup venue and also a parkland track.

He also has three top six finishes in the tournament. Admittedly they were all on linksland tracks but he was also second at halfway at Mount Juliet two years ago.

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