British Masters: Thriston Lawrence is a lively candidate for fifth DP World Tour win

• Scrambling the key stat at the Belfry

• Belfry winners profile changing

• Will the French make it three in-a-row?

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Tournament History

The British Masters was first staged in 1946, when originally known as the Dunlop Masters.

There was no edition in 1984 and the event was lost from the schedule altogether after Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano won at this week's venue, the Belfry, in 2008 but with the help of Sky Sports, it made a successful and very welcome return to the schedule in 2015 when Ian Poulter hosted the event at Woburn.

Luke Donald, Lee Westwood (twice), Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, and Danny Willett (twice) have all hosted the event since then and last year's host, Sir Nick Faldo hosts again this time around.

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Venue

The Belfry, Wishaw, Warwickshire, England

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Course Details

Par 72 - 7, 336 yards
Stroke Index in 2023 - 72.71

The Belfry hosted this event for three years in-a-row between 2006 and 2008 and it also hosted the last four editions of the now defunct Benson & Hedges International between 2000 and 2003, as well as four editions of the Ryder Cup.

After a break of 12 years, having last hosted this event in 2008, the Belfry made a welcome return to the DP World Tour in 2020 when it hosted the one-off UK Championship - won in extra-time by Rasmus Hojgaard- and it's been the venue for the last three editions of this event.

The Belfry is a relatively flat, mostly tree-lined course, with some narrow fairways. Water is in play on seven holes - most noticeably at the short drivable par four 10^th which last year exactly averaged it's par.

The majority of the Poa Annua greens are fairly small and the bigger ones have tiers and undulations, placing a premium on long putting and scrambling.

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Winners at the Belfry this Century

2000 B&H International - Jose Maria Olazabal -13
2001 B&H International - Henrik Stenson -13
2002 B&H International - Angel Cabrera -10
2003 B&H International - Paul Casey -11
2006 British Masters - Johan Edfors -11
2007 British Masters - Lee Westwood -15
2008 British Masters - Gonzalo Fernandez Castano -12 (playoff)
2020 UK Championship - Rasmus Hojgaard -14 (playoff)
2021 British Masters - Richard Bland -13 (playoff)
2022 British Masters - Thorbjorn Olesen -10
2023 British Master - Daniel Hillier -10

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Weather Forecast

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TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 12:30 on Thursday

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Last Eight Event Winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2023 - Daniel Hillier -10 180.0179/1
2022 - Thorbjorn Olesen -10 95.094/1
2021 - Richard Bland -13 220.0219/1
2020 - Renato Paratore -18 70.069/1
2019 - Marcus Kinhult -16 370.0369/1
2018 - Eddie Pepperell -9 42.041/1
2017 - Paul Dunne -20 70.069/1
2016 - Alex Noren -18 23.022/1

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What Will it Take to Win the British Masters?

I couldn't find any stats for the 2001 and 2002 editions of the Benson & Hedges International but there are enough clues from the other nine events staged here this century to suggest accuracy is important on approach.

Last year's winner, Daniel Hillier, only ranked 20^th for Greens In Regulation, but Oliver Wilson, who finished tied second topped the GIR rankings.

The 2022 winner, Thorbjorn Olesen, won courtesy of a red-hot putter and he only ranked 60^th for GIR but four of the placed players ranked inside the top-six for GIR and Richard Bland ranked number one for Driving Accuracy and second for GIR two years ago.

The two playoff protagonists at the UK Championship in 2020, Rasmus Hojgaard and Justin Walters, ranked tied sixth for GIR and in behind them, Martin Kaymer, who finished tied third, ranked second for GIR, with Craig Howie (T5) and Calum Hill (T9), ranking fourth and fifth for that stat. The two players tied for third in 2021, Miko Korhonen and Dave Coupland, ranked third and fifth for GIR.

Hillier ranked fourth for Driving Distance and 20^th for Driving Accuracy. Olesen ranked only 67^th for DA and Bland ranked only 52^nd for DD so I wouldn't get too hung up on the driving metrics.

Like Olesen two years ago, who holed some ridiculous putts late on, Hojgaard putted particularly well here in 2020, ranking first for Putting Average, but last year's winner, Hillier, only ranked 31^st and Bland ranked 48^th three years ago and the key stat to concentrate looks to be Scrambling.

Hillier ranked fifth last year, the first two home ranked fourth and ninth in 2022 and Richie Ramsay, who finished tied for third, ranked first. The first three home in 2021 ranked first, second and fourth for Scrambling and Lee Westwood and Gonzalo Fernandez Castano won here ranking first and fourth for that stat.

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Is There an Angle In?

As many as seven different Englishmen have won this title this century but in the last five years we've seen a a kiwi, a Dane, an Italian and a Swede take the title and since England's Peter Baker won at Woburn 30 years ago, we've seen winners from all over the world. And the event wasn't played at all between 2008 and 2015.

In addition to the winners from the aforementioned New Zealand, Denmark, Italy and Sweden, there have been victories for players from Australia, the USA, France, Spain, Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Behind the English, the Swedes have the best recent record though and but for Olesen's ludicrous finish in 2022 (see the In-Play Tactics section below), Sebastian Soderberg would have been the fourth Swede to take the title in 11 years. Alex Bjork was also second behind Eddie Pepperell at Walton Heath in 2018.

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Profile of a Belfry winners changing

The three B&H winners here have all won major championships and both Lee Westwood and Paul Casey were once considered players that really should have won one.

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and the 2022 winner, Olesen, have won seven and eight times respectively on the DP World Tour and Johan Edfors was very much the man to beat back in 2006. He only won three DP World Tour events but all three were between March and July in 2006, so he was in great form when he won here but this is becoming a tough tournament to predict given four of the last five winners have been matched at a triple-figure price before the off.

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Should we Follow the French again?

Having the Olympics staged in Paris appears to have really inspired the French. David Ravetto won the Czech Masters two weeks ago, with Frederic Lacroix and Adrien Saddier finishing tied for third and three of the top four in Denmark last week were also French.

Ravetto was the first Frenchman to win on the DP World Tour this season, but we didn't have to wait long for the second. Lacroix won the Danish Golf Championship on Sunday, Romain Langasque finished tied for second, and Ravetto rallied from off the pace to finish fourth.

Thomas Levet, way back in 2001, is the last Frenchman to win this event but the French are clearly on a roll, and they may well be worth following again this week.

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Winner's Position and Exchange Price Pre-Round Four

2023 - Daniel Hillier - tied 11^th, trailing by three 90.089/1
2022 - Thorbjorn Olesen - led by three 2.447/5
2021 - Richard Bland - tied 12^th, trailing by three 110.0109/1
2020 - Rasmus Hojgaard - tied fourth, trailing by five 18.017/1

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In-Play Tactics

We've witnessed all sorts of drama in running here and it's a great place to trade on Sunday.

Last year's winner, Hillier, was matched at a high of 500.0499/1 in round four before finishing eagle-birdie-eagle-par to win by two and he was the fourth course winner in-a-row to have been matched at a big price on Sunday.

Having led by three through 54 holes, Olesen struggled badly in round four and having been matched at a low of 1.75/7, the Dane drifted all the way out to 44.043/1 before he finished strongly to win in 2022 and a year earlier, Richard Bland was matched at 110.0109/1 before the final round started.

Having gone off at around 22.021/1, Rasmus Hojgaard was matched at a high of 200.0199/1 in-running in 2020 after an opening 73 had seen him trail by nine and he was still seven back at halfway and five adrift through 54 holes.

With so many players trading at huge odds before winning, it stands to reason that we've seen plenty of players trade at odds-on before losing.

Denmark's Niklas Norgaard hit a low of 1.584/7 last year before finishing seventh, Rickie Ramsay was matched at a low of 1.42/5 before he double-bogeyed the 72^nd hole and Sebastian Soderberg was matched at just 1.061/18 as he sat in the clubhouse two years ago, Guido Migliozzi traded at a low of 1.251/4 in regulation play before losing in a playoff in 2021, and Martin Kaymer hit a low of 1.341/3 before also losing in extra time in 2020.

This is clearly a great track for Sunday trading and taking on the leaders.

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Divisive Tyrrell heads the Market

With an appeal pending against sanctions imposed on him for breaching the DP World Tour's Conflicting Tournament Regulation, in accordance with the DP World Tour's Regulations, Tyrrell Hatton is eligible to participate at the Belfry this week and he understandably heads the market.

Whether he should or shouldn't be in the line-up is debatable and it's fair to say he wouldn't be a popular winner but all we need to do is decide whether he's a fair price or not at around the 8/19.00 mark.

Hatton arrives in fair form having LIV Golf numbers reading 1-3-2-25 so it's hard to crab his form but he did miss the cut in the Open Championship and he's playing the Belfry for the first time. I'm happy to swerve him.

Hatton is the only player in the field trading at less than 25/126.00 so it's a wide-open event but I did like one of the fancied runners.

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Lawrence a lively candidate

Having finished as high as fourth in the Open Championship last month, South Africa's Thriston Lawrence has now advertised his talents to the whole world and not just to those of us who follow the DP World Tour, where he's already won four times.

He missed the cut at the 3M Open on the PGA Tour the following week but that was hardly surprising, given his performance at Troon. After a five-stroke victory on the Sunshine Tour last week, I thought he looked over-priced yesterday at 40.039/1.

Lawrence ranked first for Scrambling last week and fourth in the Open.

Whether he's a great price now at 10 points shorter is debatable but he may well drift again before the off.

Lawrence is my only pick at a double-figure price but I'll be back later today with two, and possibly three, longshots with the Find Me a 100 winner column.

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Now read my Tour Championship preview here

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*You can follow me at @SteveThePunter

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