-
Read Matt Cooper's Open de France each-way column here
-
Read my Open de France preview here
-
Read my Black Desert Championship preview here
I backed two players at triple-figure prices in this week's PGA Tour event - the Black Desert Championship - on Monday and they were both going to be included in the column but unfortunately, they've both shortened up to around 80.079/1.
As highlighted in Monday's Debrief, we often see some huge drifts on a Wednesday afternoon so there's a possibility that they both go back out to triple-figure prices but in what's a quite weak event, I still think both are reasonably priced now anyway.
As highlighted in the preview, the Black Desert Championship is a new event at a brand-new venue, Tom Weiskopf's final design, the Black Desert Resort, so we don't have much to go on at all.
It stands to reason that form around Weiskopf designed layouts should hold up though so it's no real surprise to see that both Nick Taylor and K.H Lee have been well backed this week.
Taylor, who has now won four times on the PGA Tour, won the Phoenix Open around the Weiskopf-designed TPC Scottsdale in February, 12 months after finishing second there, and given he sat second at the halfway stage of the American Express three years ago in the Californian desert, and that he's often contended at next week's event, the Shriners Children's Open, staged at another desert track, TPC Summerlin, he clearly enjoys desert golf.
He was matched at 110.0109/1 on Monday but he's now trading at 80.079/1.
Lee's credentials are arguably even stronger than Taylor's given he won the Byron Nelson around the Weiskopf-designed Crag Ranch back-to-back in 2021 and '22 and that he too has plenty of form in the desert.
As detailed in the preview, that easy scoring Texas layout is the one I fancy will correlate best with the Black Desert Resort and he also has form in Phoenix, at the Shriners, and at the American Express.
Lee was runner-up at the Phoenix Open in 2021, he sat second at the American Express at halfway in January and he finished seventh at the Shriners Children's Open last year so this track should be perfect for him.
I'm disappointed that both have shortened up so they can't be included in the column, but I still like their chances, and I still have two picks at this week's DP World Tour event - the Open de France.
It was impossible not to be impressed with how well Nicolas Colsaerts performed last weekend in Scotland, eventually finished second to Tyrrell Hatton at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
It's never easy to back up a strong performance and it's highly likely that the experienced Belgian doesn't figure at all this week but at 170.0169/1 he's simply too big to ignore.
Colsaerts' third and last DP World Tour victory was in this event in 2019, and it shows just how gritty a win that was when we consider that he's the only 54-hole leader to convert at Le Golf National since Thongchai Jaidee eight years ago.
He really should feel proud of last week's performance and if he can pick up from where he left off at St Andrews, he might just figure again here at a course he clearly likes.
Back Nicolas Colsaerts (2Us)
Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 & 12 Us @ 2.01/1
My only other selection is another former winner - Marcel Siem.
The experienced German won this event way back in 2012 but he's no back number given he won his sixth DP World Tour title at the end of June in Italy and that he clearly enjoys playing in France.
Siem dropped down to the Challenge Tour in 2021 when he won his only title on the lesser Tour at the Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge.
Siem hasn't contended anywhere since his victory at the Italian Open, but he went into that event on the back of two missed cuts and 51st place finish at the Scandinavian Mixed so I'm far from convinced we need to worry about current form.
Place order to lay 8 Us @ 10.09/1 & 12 Us @ 2.01/1