BMW International Open: The Punter's Preview

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BMW International Open tournament history

The DP World Tour heads to Germany for the final event of the European Swing - the 37^th edition of the BMW International Open.

Since 2011, and prior to the pandemic, the tournament alternated between two venues - the Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof and the Golfclub München Eichenried (the event's permanent home between 1997 to 2011) but we're again returning to the Golfclub München Eichenried for the seventh renewal in-a-row.

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Venue

Golfclub München Eichenried, Munich, Germany.

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Course details

Par 72, 7,354 yards
Stroke index in 2025 - 70.72 

Designed by Kurt Rossknecht and opened in 1989, Golfclub München Eichenried is a flat, tree-lined course with greens that usually run quite slowly. There are water hazards on 10 holes and scoring here is generally low. 

John Daly won with a 27-under-par total back in 2001, but the course has matured a lot since then and it's not as open as it was 25 years ago. 

Dan Brown won by two in 22-under-par last year and Li Haotong and Thomas Pieters played off for the title in 2022, after both men had also posted -22, but that was the first time since 2009 that anyone went deeper than -19. 

The greens were formerly quite slow, but they were changed form a Bentgrass/Poa Annua mix to pure Creeping Bentgrass before the 2019 edition. 

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Weather forecast

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TV coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 11:30 on Thursday.

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Last 10 winners with pre-event Betfair Exchange prices

2025 - Dan Brown -22 160.0159/1
2024 - Ewen Ferguson -18 60.059/1
2023 - Thriston Lawrence -13 120.0119/1
2022 - Li Haotong -22 80.079/1 (playoff)
2021 - Viktor Hovland -19 8.88/1
2020 - Event Cancelled
2019 - Andrea Pavan -15 110.0109/1 (playoff)
2018 - Matt Wallace -10 44.043/1 (Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof)
2017 - Andres Romero -17 510.0509/1
2016 - Henrik Stenson -17 10.09/1 (Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof)

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A statistical look at the BMW International Open?

The 2017 winner here, Argentina's Andres Romero, was a tournament invite and he wasn't a member of the DP World Tour, so no stats were produced for him, but I've listed the six winners since, together with their traditional and Strokes Gained stats.

(Key: DD - Driving Distance; DA - Driving Accuracy; GIR - Greens in Regulation; SC - Scrambling; PA - Putting Average)

2025 - Dan Brown -22 DD 20, DA 1, GIR 1, SCR 2, PA 20
2024 - Ewen Ferguson -18 DD 41, DA 8, GIR 7, SCR 17, PA 13
2023 - Thriston Lawrence -13 DD 43, DA 46, GIR 35, SCR 23, PA 4
2022 - Haotong Li -22 DD 49, DA 42, GIR 14, SCR 49, PA 2
2021 - Viktor Hovland -19 DD 11, DA 19, GIR 10, SCR 7, PA 4
2020 - Event cancelled
2019 - Andrea Pavan -15 DD 21, DA 44, GIR 2, SCR 3, PA 38

(Key: SG-T - Strokes Gained: Off the Tee; SG-A - Strokes Gained: Approach; SG-ATG - Strokes Gained: Around the Tee; SG-T2G - Strokes Gained: Tee to Green; SG-P - Strokes Gained: Putting)

2025 - Dan Brown -22 SG:T: 6, SG:A: 7, SG:ATG: 13, SG:T2G: 1, SG:P: 24
2024 - Ewen Ferguson -18 SG:T: 31, SG:A: 2, SG:ATG: 29, SG:T2G: 3, SG:P: 10
2023 - Thriston Lawrence -13 SG:T: 27, SG:A: 14, SG:ATG: 7, SG:T2G: 6, SG:P: 10
2022 - Haotong Li -22 SG:T: 13, SG:A: 12, SG:ATG: 6, SG:T2G: 1, SG:P: 12
2021 - Viktor Hovland -19 SG:T: 12, SG:A: 23, SG:ATG: 54, SG:T2G: 15, SG:P: 1
2020 - Event cancelled
2019 - Andrea Pavan -15 SG:T: 40, SG:A: 11, SG:ATG: 10, SG:T2G: 12, SG:P: 7

Hitting it a long way used to be the secret to success here before the course matured and the trees grew but length is much less of a relevance here now and I'd favour accuracy off the tee over power.

The last four course winners have ranked only 20^th, 41^st, 43^rd and 49^th for Driving Distance and David Horsey was able to win here ranking just 68^th for DD in 2010.

Last year's winner, Dan Brown, found more fairways than anyone else, the 2024 winner, Ewen Ferguson, ranked eighth for Driving Accuracy, the runner-up in 2023, Joost Luiten, ranked second for D.A and Horsey ranked seventh in 2010, with the runner-up that year, Ross Fisher, topping the DA stats.

In 2011, Pablo Larrazabal won the title for the first time ranking second for DA but keeping it straight off the tee hole-after-hole isn't imperative given the 2022 and 2023 winners ranked only 42^nd and 46^th for Driving Accuracy.

Brown also topped the Greens In Regulation rankings last year and Ferguson ranked tied seventh for Greens In Regulation 12 months earlier, with five of the top eight ranking ninth or better for GIR.

The first and second seven years ago ranked second and first for Greens In Regulation, Ernie Els ranked first for GIR in 2013 and two years earlier, Larrazabal had ranked second when he won but he won the second of his two titles (10 years ago) ranking 32^nd for GIR and the 2023 winner, Lawrence, only ranked 35^th.

The 2009 winner, Nick Dougherty, ranked second for Putting Average and Larrazabal ranked 10^th a year later. On the next occasion the event was staged here, in 2013, the second and third had PA rankings of second and fourth but the winner, Ernie Els, ranked 50^th and the next three winners (excluding Romero) ranked 27^th, 35^th and 38^th but putting has been a key metric in the last five years, since the new greens have been established.

Looking at the Strokes Gained data for the last six editions here (the only renewals with SG data), it's a bit of a mixed bag but Putting is again the key metric.

Andrea Pavan ranked seventh in 2021, with the player ranked number one for SG: Putting, Sebastian Soderberg, only tied for 14^th, but the top ranked player has finished inside the top four places in four of the last five editions.

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Strong current form not essential

Brown had form figures coming into the event reading 14-W-63-W-26 last year.

And Ferguson had finished inside the top 30 in each of his two previous starts in 2024 but his 27^th in the KLM Open in his penultimate start had been his best effort since March so he couldn't have been described as bang in form either and that's a bit of a theme here.

Although he'd won the Joburg Open six months earlier, Lawrence went off at a big price in 2023 because he arrived in Germany on the back of a poor run of form.

The South African had missed three of his previous four cuts and he'd recorded just one top 20 finish all year.

Haotong Li had inconsistent 2022 form figures reading 12-MC-32-3-33-MC-6-26-MC-37-18 before he won here four years ago and the two course winners before Viktor Hovland in 2021 were woefully out of form.

Andrea Pavan's best finish in his 12 starts prior to his victory here in 2019 had yielded just one top-20 and he'd missed five cuts, and Romero's form in 2017 was appalling.

In five worldwide starts, 71 was the best round score he'd achieved, and he'd missed every cut. Those two both went off at huge prices this has been a reasonable event for longshots of late.

Brown had finished second in Bahrain in February but the last 11 course winners have all been winning for the first time that year, so being out of form hasn't been a barrier to success at Golfclub München Eichenried. 

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Course form not as crucial as it once was

Thomas Bjorn and Pablo Larrazabal have both won here twice and Sergio Garcia traded odds-on before eventually finishing second in both 2011 and 2017, but recent history suggests course form or even course experience isn't essential.

Brown had played here twice previously, missing the cut on both occasions, Ferguson had course numbers reading MC-21-MC, Lawrence had finished 36^th on debut in 2022 before winning three years ago, Li had missed the cut on his only previous visit six years before he won (also missed the cut when defending in 2024), and the 2019 winner, Andrea Pavan, had previous course form figures reading MC-MC-56.

Like the 2010 winner, David Horsey, the 2021 winner, Hovland, won here on debut. 

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Look to Belgium for clues

It's becoming increasingly evident that this venue correlates very nicely with another tree-lined track - Rinkven International Golf Club in Antwerp, home of the Soudal Open.

Dan Brown has never played Rinkven but the three winners of this event before him - Ferguson, Lawrence, and Li - all finished inside the top four at Rnkven in May last year, and the last four runners-up here all have form at Rinkven too.

Jordan Smith, who has finished runner up in each of the last two years put in a charge in Belgium in 2025 (matched at a low of 3/1) before finishing tied for fourth, the runner-up to Lawrence here three years ago, Joost Luiten, sat third at halfway in Belgium last year, and Thomas Pieters, who lost in a playoff to Li four years ago, finished runner-up to Nacho Elvira in Belgium in 2024. 

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Winner's position and Betfair Exchange price pre-round four

2025 - Dan Brown - led by one 3.814/5
2024 - Ewen Ferguson - tied for the lead 4.131/10
2023 - Thriston Lawrence - T4th, trailing by three 12.011/1
2022 - Li Haotong - one stroke clear 4.03/1
2021 - Viktor Hovland - three strokes clear 1.292/7
2020 - Event Cancelled
2019 - Andrea Pavan - T8th, trailing by four 50.049/1
2018 - Staged at Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof
2017 - Andres Romero T4th, trailing by three 32.031/1
2016 - Staged at Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof
2015 - Pablo Larrazabal T5th, trailing by five 22.021/1 

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Late drama a regular occurrence

Brown was tied for 24^th after round one but he was only three off the lead and he trailed by three at halfway (tied third) before leading by one with 18 to play.

Ferguson sat second after round one and he was leading or tied for the lead thereafter two years ago and Li won wire-to wire three years ago (although it was far from straightforward). 

Hovland was never far away in 2021. He sat tied for 18^th and four off the lead after round one, but he was up to second at halfway and clear with a round to go. 

In 2019, Pavan led after round one, before falling off the pace and rallying on Sunday and Ernie Els won wire-to-wire in 2013 but a fast start hasn't always been imperative. 

Back in 2006, Henrik Stenson beat Padraig Harrington and Retief Goosen in a playoff after the three had started the event with rounds of only 71, 70 and 73 respectively and Lawrence sat tied for 47^th after round one in 2023. 

The losing playoff protagonist in 2022, Thomas Pieters, sat tied 29^th, trailing by seven, after round one and Matt Fitzpatrick, was beaten in the playoff in 2019, having sat tied for 85^th after round one, so a slow start can be overcome, and this is not an easy place to front run. 

The 2023 third round leader, Joost Luiten, who was a 1.75/7 chance when he led by three, hit a low of 1.42/5 in-running, Pieters was matched for plenty at odds-on before losing the playoff in 2022 and even though he won comfortably in the end, it wasn't plain sailing for Hovland in 2021. 

Having drifted to 1.910/11 in-running on Sunday, he was fortunate that none of his closest pursuers played well and that his two-under-par 70 was easily enough. 

Plenty of players have traded at a short price before flaking late on and in 2019 we saw four men trade at short odds without winning! 

Martin Kaymer was matched at a low of 2.3211/8, Matt Wallace 2.01/1, Matthias Schwab 1.784/5 and the beaten playoff protagonist, Fitzpatrick, hit a low of 1.21/5. 

It's hard to convert from the front here and we've seen winners come from as far as five strokes back but since 1997, no course winner had been outside the top eight places with a round to go. 

Romero, who trailed by three in fourth place seven years ago, was a 32.031/1 chance with a round to go but after starting the final round with seven straight pars he was matched at a high of 190.0189/1! He finished the event with seven birdies in his last 11 holes so late drama here is not just a possibility, it's a regular occurrence.

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