Soudal Open Each-Way Tips: 125/1 Kinhult a big price among the trees

• Swede Marcus Kinhult is bubbling nicely

• Kenya Open winner Jacques Kruyswijk should like the course

• Japan's Keita Nakajima enjoys the trees

In recent weeks I've been doing a little research into the early schedules of the European Tour and the contrast between then and now is just delicious.

For example, the first European Tour, in 1972, had two stops in May - in Bournemouth and Bognor Regis.

Two years later the three venues were Paris, Worthing and Coventry so they were, at least, branching out.

It was another five years before the Belgian Open was first added to the schedule and down the years it would feature stops at the Royal, Royal Bercuit, Royal Waterloo and Royal Zoute - the Royal quartet as it were.

The country dropped its connection with the tour in 2000 before returning in 2018 with the Belgian Knockout which later became the Soudal Open, with Rinkven International the constant venue.

Just as the entire schedule has changed since the European Tour's early - and also its glory - days, so too have the fields.

In the 1980s the likes of Eamon Darcy, Jose Maria Olazabal and Gordon J Brand were winners. In the 1990s Miguel Angel Jimenez, Darren Clarke, Nick Faldo and Lee Westwood triumphed.

Since the move to Rinkven, the winners have been Adrian Otaegui, Guidi Migliozzi, Sam Horsfield, Simon Forsstrom and Nacho Elvira.

Some solid names there but even the best of them are good journeymen who sit below the level of Ryder Cup stalwarts. As we all know, Europe's best golfers now compete almost exclusively outside their home continent.

Unlike what many insist, for many golf fans that is not an immediate turn-off. Events such as this week's are among my favourite, for example - a nice track, one quirky enough to suit a certain sort of performer, opportunity awaits for the players and also for those of us who like to track their progress.

Main Bet: Marcus Kinhult 1pt each-way @ 125/1

Rinkven has a number of characteristics that are worth considering.

It's short, for one thing, at 6,940 yards (indeed, six of the par-4s are below 400 yards).

It's also a tree-lined parkland test with bent grass on the greens.

Sweden's Marcus Kinhult won his first DP World Tour title at Hillside, a track at less than 7,000 yards with bent grass (and a bit of fescue) on the greens.

He's also got top 10 finishes at Crans, Wentworth, Valderrama and PGA Catalunya (plus T12s at Galgorm Castle and Glendower), layouts that combine one, two or three of the short, bent grass and tree-lined characteristics.

There's another nice link between the five winners at Rinkven - they've done very well in the Kenya Open and it makes sense because that event's hosts Karen and Muthaiga are tree-lined tracks that play short.

Kinhult is 5-for-5 at making the cut at Muthaiga (he hasn't played Karen), a record that includes T12 on debut and eighth in 2022 when second with 18 holes to play. He was also top 20 through 36 holes this February.

What of the course? He missed the cut in 2019 shortly after his Hillside win (a victory that defied some rotten form). He also missed the cut last year when not playing too well.

But in 2023 he was playing much better and was T22 including a 66 to open with which had him sixth on Thursday night.

His form is good, too. Either side of a missed cut in the Hainan Classic he was T15 in the China Open and then T12 last time out in the Turkish Airlines Open (he also ended 2024 with three top 20s including second at Leopard Creek in the middle of the run).

A further tick for Kinhult is the state of his putting currently: he ranked third and first either side of that second place in Leopard Creek late last year, and has ranked eighth, second and ninth in his last three cuts made.

Next Best: Jacques Kruyswijk 1pt each-way @ 66/1

We'll further mine that Kenya link with the South African who made his winning breakthrough on the DP World Tour with a fine success at Muthaiga in February (he's been seventh and T11 there in the past, too).

Kruyswijk also likes Karen, finishing fifth in both the events played there back-to-back in 2021.

His first crack at the DP World Tour (in 2018) saw his best golf come where he might feel a little like being at home - at a bit of altitude (Madrid and just outside Prague) or in the trees (Wentworth and Gardagolf).

His second effort in 2021 saw him play well in the trees at Eichenried and Galgorm Castle. And since the win earlier this year he's added second place in more trees at Houghton.

He has played the course in the Knockout era (2018/19) and missed the cut both times but is now a more mature player.

Final Bet: Keita Nakajima 1pt each-way @ 28/1

The 24-year-old Japanese performer has not remotely come to terms with major championship golf.

In fact, his missed cut last week at Quail Hollow made it seven missed weekends in seven attempts in the biggest events of the year.

But his DP World Tour form was strong before then: he was second in the Singapore Classic, second on defence of the Indian Open and T11 in the Hainan Classic. Only a missed cut in the China Open marred that run.

He impressed in similar fashion in the early months of 2024 before being a little underwhelming in Europe itself, but he ought to build on that this summer with a little more experience under his belt.

And tree-lined parkland tracks with bent grass greens might offer his best chances given that's what he has thrived on back home in Japan.

The clincher is that his putter is warm at the moment - he ranked first in India, 13th at Hainan and it was even in good order last week when missing the cut.

Now read Steve Rawlings' preview of the Soudal Open

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