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Korea Championship Each-Way Tips: Migliozzi can pinch an Inch

Matt Cooper
24 April 2023
4:00 min read

Guido Migliozzi can kickstart his year at the Jack Nicklaus GC.

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The DP World Tour returns to South Korea this week. Adrian Meronk heads the betting for the Korea Championship but Matt Cooper - who picked up an 18/1 winner last week - looks elsewhere in his three selections with the Betfair Sportsbook paying seven places...

Italy's Guido Migliozzi is well-suited to revive his season
In-form on Nicklaus tracks, Alexander Knappe can kick on
Sangmoon Bae has a remarkable record in Incheon

Curiously this week will be the fourth successive tournament of DP World Tour action hosted by a Jack Nicklaus-designed course (following on from St Francis Links and Steyn City in South Africa, then Ishioka last week in Japan when this column tipped the winner Lucas Herbert).

Perhaps even more curious is that I have first-hand experience of this week's venue in the sense that I attended the 2018 LPGA International Crown there.

It was a wonderful week in which I was introduced to Korea's gloriously potty golf fans whose exuberance called to mind Beatlemania.

Indeed, I wrote of them: "One fan quite literally ran on the spot in excitement after seeing a shot finish close to the hole. Another held her head and descended into a crouching position, barely able to comprehend what she was witnessing. A third, asked if she was okay (because she appeared to be hyperventilating), replied: 'I think so. I'm so short of breath seeing Sung Hyun this close. Her swing is so amazing.'"

I'm not entirely sure that this week's field will prompt similar levels of inner and outer turmoil, but you never know.

Should any of the players be reading this I recommend a bar about half a mile from the course which had one beer tap, one record player and a wall full of vinyl.

In brilliantly typical Korean fashion every one of those LPs began with the same letter. I confess I forget which one, I just remember that it was marvellously bonkers and I stayed there quite some time.

Meanwhile, on the course, expect a typical Jack Nicklaus layout.

I've been chatting with Steve Rawlings about it and, after a look at the club website's course guide, he wondered if it was a touch gimmicky given the visual similarity with the Player Course at DLF.

The rocks which provide that sense of deja vu are, from my memories, pretty much fripperies that don't impact the golf.

Instead, this is a course where the greens tend to sit at a diagonal with either deep sand traps or water hazards on the inside angle (a typical Nicklaus trait).

The greens were rather severe when first shaped and the sixth remained so in 2018 - a kind of staircase from back to front (the photo I took, below, shows a player chipping up the putting surface) - but others had been made less scary.

I'd also add that the location has the potential to be blowy.

The course is right at the end of the peninsula on which Incheon sits and beyond is the Yellow Sea. Results here in the past have been at the mercy of sea breezes and the forecast is for more of the same this week.

Main Bet: Guido Migliozzi 1pt each-way @ 40/1

The Italian Guido Migliozzi has shown a fondness for visual tests framed by water and this one might also fit his eye given that 10 holes have drives and/or approaches for which water hazards threaten to gobble up errant balls.

The most obvious example of the above was when he won last year's Open de France at Le Golf National in such exceptional style, but he also forced a play-off at the Belfry in 2021.

What of blustery conditions? His first decent round of note on the DP World Tour was a 66 at windy Verdura in the 2018 Sicilian Open (when T26th), he was fourth at breezy Al Mouj in the 2020 Oman Open, second at Education City in the 2021 Qatar Masters and opened this year with 65-69 to tie the halfway lead in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

He lost form after that bright start to the year but opened 69-68-64 last week to sit four back with 18 holes to play.

He closed with a 73 for T23rd but it was a step in the right direction and with the Italian Open next week he'll be motivated to ride the wave.

Back Guido Migliozzi each-way @

40/1

Next Best: Alexander Knappe 1pt each-way @ 80/1

I was keen to have Nicklaus-winner Adrian Meronk and also maybe Calum Hill - who rediscovered his form last week after injury problems - onside but unfortunately the compiler likes both of them too.

Instead, I'll add a couple at bigger prices.

First up is Germany's Alexander Knappe who's putting together his best-ever DP World Tour campaign this season.

He was third in the Thailand Classic and sixth at the Indian Open in February - and his last two efforts, although never quite sealing the deal with top 10s, further encourage.

That's because he was the 54-hole leader in the Jonsson Workwear Open at Steyn City and then a second round 64 had him inside the top eight at halfway last week at Ishioka - both of them, of course, Nicklaus tracks.

Those efforts this season bolster the notion that he quite likes playing in Asia - he also has a first, a second and a fourth in China.

A three-time winner on the second tier, and once on the Sunshine Tour, this is a good chance for him to become the fifth German winner on the circuit since the start of August.

Back Alexander Knappe each-way @

80/1

Final Bet: Sangmoon Bae 1pt each-way @ 100/1

There's absolutely no doubt that two-time PGA Tour winner Sangmoon Bae had a promising career blunted by national service.

It didn't help that he undertook that duty with the memory that his last event was the 2015 Presidents Cup, at this course, when he duffed a chip in the final match on the final hole when the result of the entire week was still undecided.

Can he redeem himself at the same spot?

Well, weirdly, he seems to love this neck of the woods - and I mean that quite distinctly.

Because he's not only a two-time course winner (albeit in 2013 and 2014).

He's also a winner at Sky72, which is another Nicklaus design, just across a long bridge from this week's venue.

And in his last start in Korea (two years ago) he was sixth at yet another Nicklaus design in Incheon!

It's a big ask but it is his personal sweet spot.

Back Sangmoon Bae each-way @

100/1

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