European Masters tips and predictions

The Punter's Preview: Chance in-form course specialist at 15/1

Steve Rawlings: After signing off the PGA Tour season with a fifth in the Rocket Classic, and a seventh in the Wyndham Championship, Matt Wallace began last week's weather-affected British Masters slowly. He was tied for 54^th after an opening round of 71 at the Belfry.

Although never in-contention after the pedestrian start, the 36-year-old Englishman played his last six holes of round two in five-under-par to comfortably make the cut. He signed off the event on Sunday with a bogey-free five-under-par 67.

Having ranked 16^th, second and 18^th for Strokes Gained: Tee-to Green in his last three starts and second for Putting Average for the week at the Belfry, the 2024 winner looks primed for another tilt at the title. The 16.0 available on the Betfair Exchange is perfectly fair.

Wallace has course form figures at Crans reading 70-51-MC-2-24-1-2 so he clearly enjoys his annual trip to the mountains and it's hard to envisage him not being there or thereabouts on Sunday.

Course and current form stats

Course Form Pick: The Dane could have been a selection due to his current form given that he's finished second and fourth in two of his last three starts, so that form is really encouraging given that he won this tournament at Crans-sur-Sierre in 2021 and finished runner-up here last year.

First Round Leader Picks: Defending champion fancied to start well

Dave Tindall: In a tournament where course form counts more than usual, I'm going to side with a trio of former winners to get off to a flying start.

First up is defending champion Thriston Lawrence who helped cement that course horse trend further when winning this event for the second time last year.

An opening 63 put him second after the first round while in his first win in 2022 the South African set the pace with a 62 on day one.

Lawrence, who shot two rounds of 63 last year, has been out of form but may have found something in recent weeks after posting 13th in a South African Tour event and 30th at last week's British Masters where he closed with a 67.

Back on one of his favourite tracks, he can hit the ground running again.

Lawrence is an afternoon starter at 13:35 from the 1st tee.

Long Odds Tips: Helligkilde worth chancing at Crans

Steven Rawlings: Marcus Helligkilde is yet to win on the DP World Tour, but the three-time HotelPlanner Tour champ has just spent more than 18 months out of the game due to a severe neck injury.

After a tough period, where a diagnosis couldn't be found, Helligkilde finally underwent a procedure to address a pinched nerve, which involved the removal of a disc in his neck and the insertion of a metal plate.

He only returned to the game in April and for much of 2026, a victory had looked highly unlikely, but he's found a bit of form of late.

Since his weekend off at the co-sanctioned ISCO Championship in the states in July, he's finished 15th in the co-sanctioned Corales Puntacana Championship, seventh in the Danish Golf Championship, and 26th at the British Masters last week, which could and perhaps should have been better.

This is Helligkilde's third visit to Crans where he's looking to improve on his 29th on debut in 2022 and a 12th place finish in 2023.

That second visit was very encouraging given he sat tied for 106th after opening the event with a one-over-par 71 before rounds of 64, 67 and 65 demonstrated his obvious suitability to the track.

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