Austrian Alpine Open: The Punter's Preview

---

Austrian Alpine Open tournament history

The Austrian Alpine Open was first staged in 1990 when Bernhard Langer beat Lanny Wadkins in a playoff and the first three editions were all staged at last year's venue - the Jack Nicklaus designed Gut Altentann Golf and Country Club - but after just seven editions the tournament was relegated to the HotelPlanner Tour.

The event was flagging, and it wasn't even played in 2000 but then along came Austrian golfing legend, Markus Brier, whose popularity revitalised the tournament.

Brier won the event twice, in 2002 and 2004, and it was elevated back up to the DP World Tour in 2006 when Brier managed to win it for a third and final time.

The event saw its name changed to the Lyoness Open in 2012, when another Austrian, Bernd Wiesberger, took the title and the format and name changed again in 2018 when Finland's Mikko Korhonen won the speeded-up version, called the Shot Clock Masters.

The field was decidedly weak under the new format, and the event fell off the schedule altogether in 2019 before in returned for two renewals in 2020 and 2021.

After yet another hiatus, the tournament returned to the schedule last year when Germany's Nicolai von Dellingshausen, who was matched at as high as 500.0499/1 before the off, caused a bit of a shock and golf punters could be up against it again this year as the event moves onto a brand-new venue - Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith.

---

Venue

Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith, Kitzbühel, Austria.

---

Course details

Par 70, 6. 822 yards

Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith was designed by Gerold and Gunther Hauser in 1987 and it first opened in 1989.

Situated below the Wilder Kaiser and the Kitzbüheler Horn mountains, Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith is a diverse course with flat parkland areas and steeper holes with elevation changes.

Water is in play on eight holes, the fairways and rough are a mixture of poa annua and ryegrass and the greens are bentgrass.

The signature hole is the par-3 16th hole, which is known as the "Mausefalle" or "Mousetrap", which is played across a small ravine.

Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith was used for the Kitzbühel Golf Alpin Open on the HotelPlanner Tour way back in 2003 when England's David Geall won his one and only title with a 23-under-par.

The course will play longer than it did 23 years ago this week, and it looks like the two nines have been flipped since 2003.

Given it's situated at altitude, it doesn't play as long as it's already short yardage would suggest.

---

Weather forecast

---

TV coverage

Live on Sky Sorts all four days, starting at 12:00 on Thursday.

---

Last eight winners with pre-event Betfair Exchange prices

2025 - Nicolai von Dellingshausen -19 360.0359/1
2021 - John Catlin -14 50.049/1
2020 - Marc Warren -13 110.0109/1
2018 - Mikko Korhonen -16 23.022/1
2017 - Dylan Frittelli -12 46.045/1
2016 - Ashun Wu -13 200.0199/1
2015 - Chris Wood -15 15.014/1
2014 - Mikael Lundberg -12 (playoff) 400.0399/1 

---

Strong putters to come to the fore

It's always tricky when we go to a new venue, but Golfclub Kitzbühel-Schwarzsee-Reith appears to be a short and easy track, so a low scoring birdie-fest looks on the cards.

No stats were produced for the Kitzbühel Golf Alpin Open on the HotelPlanner Tour here 23 years ago but given the how low the scoring was, holing plenty of birdie putts was the key to victory for David Geall and I suspect the stronger putters will come to the fore this week.

---

Germans command respect in Austria

Last year's winner, Nicolai von Dellingshausen had finished runner-up in Austria at the Euram Bank Open on the HotelPlanner Tour in July 2024, and he'd never finished any worse than 28^th in four previous visits to Austria.

The first edition of the Austrian Open was won by fellow German, Bernard Langer, back in 1990, and although von Dellingshausen was only the fourth German to take the title, three of the top five and ties were German last year and a German has finished second in each of the last three editions of the event.

Last year's runners-up, Marcel Schneider, also finished second in 2020 and Max Keiffer lost to John Catlin in extra time in the previous edition of the event in 2021.

The Germans get plenty of support from just across the border and they're well worth considering this week.

---

Another long-shot winner could be on the cards

As many as four of the last eight winners have gone off at a triple-figure price so it's been a fair event for outsiders and if the event tournament does turn into something of a putting contest, we may well get another big priced winner.

It's extremely difficult to predict who's going to have a great week with the flatstick and it's perfectly possible that someone unexpected has a great week with the wand to take the title. 

---

Concentrate on the frontrunners

Check out the scoring on day one and if it's as low as expected, concentrating on the leaders will be the way to go.

It's much easier to come from off the pace in an event staged on a tough course or when weather conditions make scoring hard.

Someone nearly always manages to somehow carve out a decent score no matter how tough the set-up is and when they do they make up lots of ground with everyone else struggling but when the course is easy and the weather is set fair, going low is much easier.

When conditions are favourable, the majority of the field score well and making up ground from off the pace is much harder.

I'm going away for a few days now so there'll be no selections before the off or Find Me a Winner column this week, but I may have a small bet on last week's Soudal Open pick, South Africa's Casey Jarvis.

During the third-round coverage in Belgium on Saturday, when Jarvis disappointingly dropped away, Anthony Wall revealed that Jarvis' parents honeymooned in Kitzbuhal so I suspect they'll be in attendance this week, as they were when he won his national title in February and that may well prove to be a positive as he attempts to win his third title of the year.

I'll be back at the weekend with the In-Play Blog as usual.

---

Bookmark Betting.Betfair for golf betting tips every week

---