British Masters 2021: Form stats ahead of Wednesday's opening round at The Belfry

The European Tour makes the first of its 10 scheduled visits to the British Isles this season, by teeing-up a few miles north of Birmingham.

After months travelling around the Middle East, Africa, United States, central Europe and the Canary Islands, the Tour journeys north for this week's British Masters in Sutton Coldfield.

With mid-summer's day a little over one month away, the players have arrived at The Belfry, one of England's most famous golfing venues.

Starting Wednesday, and hosted by 2016 US Masters champion Danny Willett, the tournament will be staged over the club's Brabazon's Course which opened for business during the mid-1970s.

The Brabazon was designed by two of Great Britain's best-known golfers of the 1950s and 1960s - Dave Thomas and Peter Alliss.

Thomas, who died in 2013, was twice runner-up in The Open, while the recently-deceased Alliss went on to become one of golf's leading TV commentators.

Both represented their country in the Ryder Cup, and it was this biennial contest which helped to cement The Brabazon's place in golfing history, by hosting the match four times between 1985 and 2002.

It has also staged 17 European Tour events since 1979, the most recent of these being last year's ISPS Handa UK Championship.

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This was The Belfry's first important tournament for 12 years and was won by Danish teenager Rasmus Hojgaard, who has since turned 20.

This Heart of England course is typically parkland in nature, flat, well bunkered, and has water in play on half of its holes.

The layout, which last welcomed the European Tour in August 2020, is certainly no pushover, demanding good course management skills, plus the ability to accurately read The Brabazon's numerous undulating putting surfaces.

'Top seed'

Scot Robert MacIntyre, the world No 45, is the highest ranked player teeing-up in this week's event which starts on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old from Oban makes his first European Tour start since February, after competing in six tournaments Stateside during March and April - which included a tie-for-12th at Augusta.

Nine top-100 ranked golfers are in the field, including Andy Sullivan and Sam Horsfield. Both enjoyed victories during UK-based tournaments last summer.

Midlander Sullivan triumphed at Hanbury Manor in Hertfordshire, while Manchester-born and American-raised Horsfield won events at the Forest of Arden in Birmingham and Celtic Manor, Newport.

Horsfield's most recent four starts on the European Tour have yielded finishes of 4th-15th-3rd-8th.

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Among the other top-100 ranked pros are Austrian Bernd Wiesberger and Germany's Martin Kaymer, both of whom posted T-10s at The Belfry last year.

In-form Dean Burmester tees-up again hoping to continue South Africa's current domination of European Tour titles, while Maximilian Kieffer and Connor Syme chase maiden victories.

Kieffer has been runner-up four times, including twice during April, while Syme has registered a brace of top-12 finishes during the last three weeks. Both will be making their Belfry debuts this coming week.

And what chance Nicolai Hojgaard of following in his twin brother's footsteps this Saturday and making it a family double over The Brabazon?

The 20-year-old Dane has posted two top-10s this season, with a best-ever Tour finish of second at the 2019 KLM Open. He tied-fourth on Sunday in Tenerife.

Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves