Turkish Open Each-Way Tips: 60/1 Otaegui has good course vibes

• The UAE's Adrian Otaegui has excellent course form

• Scotsman Connor Syme likes it among the trees

• Matthew Baldwin is a live outsider at a big price

For seven years, from 2013 to 2019, the Turkish Airlines Open was a regular stop on the then-European Tour.

At first glance, you'd think that maybe Covid had something to do with its disappearance from the schedule but it was actually a decision made by the tournament and its backers.

It was created in the first place to advertise the attractions of Belek, the town that was more or less built to serve as Turkey's main golf destination and, at the 2019 event, insiders suggested that the marketing had worked: they no longer had tee times to sell - the courses were operating at full capacity.

Is that no longer the case? Who knows, but the tale of Belek is a genuinely curious one.

Long ago, I attended the Ladies Turkish Open and met an Englishman who told me how he'd been involved in the growth of the town.

An ex-club pro, he'd been asked what he thought of the dunes and scrubland in the region: would they be ripe for golf courses? He thought they were thinking of one or two and said yes. To his great surprise, but I suspect to his advantage, courses sprung up left, right, and centre.

Belek now has 16 courses where 30 years ago it had none - an astonishing growth rate by any measure.

Five-star hotels and resorts arrived at an even faster pace, and it is now a hot spot for all-inclusive trips - and the courses are good.

The Regnum Carya GC hosted this event between 2016 and 2018, and it does so again this week.

It was designed by the great Australian links performer Peter Thomson and is visually wonderful featuring heather, rolling fairways, and a backdrop of woodland.

Thomson said: "This is an exceptional piece of land on which to build a golf course, reminiscent of the famous heathland courses near London that I rate among the world's best and which I was fortunate to enjoy much success on in my playing days."

It's not quite Sunningdale, but Thomson's heathland allusion is far from being the most ridiculous claim ever made by a course designer.

Justin Rose won there twice and is a two-time runner-up at Wentworth. Shane Lowry, a specialist at the latter, was the 54-hole leader at Carya in 2017 and made the top 20 a year later. Wentworth winners Matteo Manassero and Danny Willett have also contended at Carya.

Main Bet: Adrian Otaegui 1pt each-way @ 60/161.00

With two second place finishes at Carya and great form, including a victory at Doha, Haotong Li makes lots of appeal but is he a fellow to follow when priced 14/1? I'm tempted with so few multiple winners behind him in the betting but ultimately he's a bit too short.

We'll turn instead to the UAE's finest golfer (sort of) Adrian Otaegui was in something of a slump ahead of returning to the far east last month to defend the China Open.

Prior to that fortnight, he'd missed four cuts in five starts straight after making 13 weekends in a row.

But after a slow start on that defence, he carded a second round 66 ahead of finishing T26 and he backed up the improvement with T11 in the Hainan Classic.

Now he returns to a course that he has enjoyed in the past.

He was T13 on debut in 2016 when second at halfway, T73 in 2017, and third when carding two 65s in 2018.

He also has plenty of form among the trees, with top 10s at La Reserva Sotogrande, Royal Johannesburg, Pretoria, Silkeborg, Lake Karrinyup, Galgorm Castle and Muthaiga. The highlights are two wins at Rinkven and Valderrama.

He's even got a pair of top 20s at Wentworth in his last three visits.

Otaegui might no longer be a Spaniard after swapping passports, but he has five DP World Tour wins.

That ability to hang tough in contention, his course record, and those signs of form, combined with this price, looks very tempting in this field.

Next Best: Connor Syme 1pt each-way @ 80/181.00

Scotland's Connor Syme missed the cut in both events in China last month but I'm willing to be lenient about that because he's never much taken to playing there.

Moreover, just before then he was ninth in the Joburg Open at Houghton and T13 in the Kenya Open at Muthaiga which makes sense because he likes tree-lined courses.

He's got top 10s at Royal Dar-es-Salam, Valderrama, Karen, The Belfry, Galgorm Castle, The K Club, Crans, Glendower, and Eichenried.

If he's going to break through anywhere I suspect it will be among woodland.

He was also tenth at Wentworth in 2023 when second with 18 holes to play.

The clincher is that returning to Turkey will offer good vibes - the 29-year-old claimed his only Challenge Tour victory there in 2019.

Final Bet: Matthew Baldwin 0.5pt each-way @ 400/1401.00

Big price, smaller stake on the Englishman Matthew Baldwin whose T23 in the Hainan Classic was his best result since he was fourth at Wentworth last September when he was the solo first and second round leader.

His approach work in that most recent start was also his best of the year - in fact, it was the first time he has not lost strokes to the field with his approaches.

His putting in both Chinese was also his best of 2025 for him.

All of this - and that Wentworth link - would not have been quite enough but for the fact that he has a little course form.

He played at Carya back in 2010 on the Challenge Tour and finished T20 with a final round 67. Moreover, that week will mean something to him because it was his first start as something other than a lowly third-tier performer.

Now read Steve Rawlings' preview of the Turkish Open.

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