ISPS Handa Wales Open 2020: Course and current form stats ahead of tournament No 5 on the UK Swing

Celtic Manor Part II. It's another week near Newport for the European Tour which stages tournament No 5 on the UK Swing.

Although this six-tournament swing concludes at The Belfry next week, this mini-series essentially reaches its climax on Sunday when qualifying for next month's US Open comes to an end.

After the final putt has dropped in the ISPS Handa Wales Open, the 10 leading players in the UK Swing's Order of Merit will be invited to compete at Winged Foot in New York.

As with the Celtic Classic, the Wales Open will also be staged over the TwentyTen course, the club's premier layout since it opened 13 years ago.

Celtic Manor, which opened for business in 1994, has three courses. Wentwood Hills staged five European Tour events between 2000 and 2004 but, when Celtic Manor was named as venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup, the club set about building a new course.

Ryder Cup connection

This was named TwentyTen, which was designed and laid out on land already occupied by Wentwood Hills.

The final result was a course which essentially retained nine holes from the original Wentwood Hills design, while also creating nine brand new ones.

And during the three years it took to construct TwentyTen, the Wales Open was staged over Celtic Manor's Roman Road course which has been in existence since the club opened more than 25 years ago.

By 2008, TwentyTen was ready to be unleashed on the European Tour and, including last week's Celtic Classic, has hosted a total of eight top-tier events.

The third course at Celtic Manor is the Montgomerie, which was built just over a dozen years ago.

As for TwentyTen, it is largely a flat parkland course with a handful of undulating holes towards the end of the round.

For the second week in a row, world No 72 Thomas Pieters will be the highest-ranked golfer teeing-up.

Check out the latest betting ahead of this week's ISPS Handa Wales Open

The Belgian tied-for-third last week, in what was his first start since early March. Even though the quality of field for European Tour events, right now, is below par, that's still a fairly impressive opener for Pieters following a longer than normal period of isolation.

Strong stats

The 28-year-old from Antwerp is well-ranked in a number of Strokes Gained (SG) categories on the European Tour this season.

He leads SG: Tee-to-Green, as well as SG: Approach the Green. Pieters is second in SG: Total and has sneaked into the top 10 for SG: Off The Tee.

Obviously, in a season decimated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, these stats need to be viewed with a little bit of slack - especially as most of the European Tour's top players are currently in the States.

However, it still shows he is in good shape following 'hibernation', and should be among the front runners this coming Sunday.

Other likely contenders

Two other golfers whose stats look pretty solid at present are Andy Sullivan and Gavin Green.

Sullivan, winner at Hanbury Manor earlier this month, heads Strokes Averages, and is third in both SG: Approach the Green and SG: Tee-to-Green.

Green, meanwhile, leads SG: Total and is second in Stroke Averages behind Sullivan.

The 26-year-old from Malaysia, who is yet to win on the European Tour, tied-11th in the Celtic Classic on Sunday.

Green has stood on an ET podium three times and is moving ever closer to a maiden title on the world's second most competitive tour.

One other pro to keep an eye on is Alexander Bjork, a former world top-60 golfer who is now ranked No 220.

The Swede's form has looked a little more promising of late, following a slump.

England's Sam Horsfield is chasing a third UK Swing victory in four starts, while up-and-coming 22-year-old Finn Sami Valimaki tied-sixth on Sunday, his best finish since the end of lockdown.

Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive

MC* - Missed Additional 54-Hole Cut

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves