British Masters 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 it made a successful and very welcome return to the schedule 11 years ago 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 Sir Nick Faldo hosts the event again this year for the fourth year in-a-row.
Venue
The Brabazon Course, the Belfry, Wishaw, Warwickshire, England.
Course details
Par 72 - 7, 336 yards
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 five editions of this event.
The Brabazon Course at 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 10th.
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.
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 Masters - Daniel Hillier -10
2024 British Masters - Niklas Norgaard -16
2025 British Masters - Alex Noren -16
Weather forecast
TV coverage
Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 12:30 on Thursday.
Last eight winners with pre-event Betfair Exchange prices
2025 - Alex Noren -16 32.031/1
2024 - Niklas Norgaard -16 70.069/1
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
A statistical look at the British Masters
Accuracy was more important than distance off the tee last year with the first four home all ranking sixth or better for Driving Accuracy and no better that 15th for Driving Distance.
The 2024 winner, Niklas Norgaard, drove the ball magnificently, ranking first for DD and fourth for DA and the 2023 winner, Daniel Hillier, ranked fourth for DD and 20th for DA but Thorbjorn Olesen ranked only 67th for DA four years ago and Richard Bland ranked only 52nd for DD in 2021 so I wouldn't get too hung up on the driving metrics.
The metrics to concentrate on, as they so often are, are Greens In Regulation and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green.
Noren only ranked 10th for GIR but three of the next five on the leaderboard ranked sixth or better and the first four home in 2024 ranked fourth, second, 10th and fifth Matteo Manassero, who topped the GIR stats for the week, finishing tied for sixth.
The 2023 winner, Daniel Hillier, only ranked 20th for GIR, but Oliver Wilson, who finished tied second topped the rankings.
The 2022 winner, Thorbjorn Olesen, won courtesy of a red-hot putter and he only ranked 60th for GIR but four of the placed players ranked inside the top six for GIR and Bland ranked second when he won here five 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.
Noren only ranked 10th for SG: Tee-to-Green last year but the runner-up, Nicolai Hojgaard, topped the rankings, the first and second in 2024 ranked second and first and Rasmus Hojgaard ranked second for SG: Tee-to Green in 2020.
Like Olesen three years ago, who holed some ridiculous putts late on, Rasmus Hojgaard putted particularly well here in 2020, ranking first for Putting Average, and Noren ranked fourth for PA and first for Strokes Gained: Putting last year but the 2024 winner, Norgaard, only ranked 25th for PA, Hillier, only ranked 31st in 2023 and Bland ranked 48th five years ago so it's a bit of a mixed bag.
The last two winners have ranked only 11th and 25th for Scrambling but Hillier ranked fifth in 2023, 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.
Look to Belgium for Belfry clues
Guido Migliozzi, who lost a playoff here five years ago, has won at the Soudal Open venue, Rinkven, the 2022 winner, Olesen, was third there in 2023 and the 2024 winner, and Norgaard, finished tied for second there before winning here.
Ewen Ferguson, who was fourth here in 2023, should have won last year's Soudal Open and the man that finished runner-up to Norgaard here two years ago, Thriston Lawrence, finished fourth in Belgium last year.
Both are tree-lined layouts so it's not entirely surprising that the two tracks correlate nicely.
Scandinavians and long-shots fare well
As many as seven different Englishmen have won this title this century but in the last six years, we've seen two Danes, two Swedes, a Kiwi, and an Italian take the title and since England's Peter Baker won at Woburn 32 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.
Historically, the English have enjoyed this home venue, but a Swede has won four of the last 15 events here and a Dane has won three of the last six tournaments staged at the Belfry. And Nicolai Hojgaard finished second last year, so they've fared the best lately.
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.
Noren was winning the event for the second time 12 months ago, and he now had 12 DP World Tour titles. 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 seven winners have been matched at a triple-figure price before the off.
Winner's position and Betfair Exchange price pre-round four
2025 - Alex Noren - solo second, trailing by one 5.24/1
2024 - Niklas Norgaard - led by four 1.511/2
2023 - Daniel Hillier - tied 11th, trailing by three 90.089/1
2022 - Thorbjorn Olesen - led by three 2.447/5
2021 - Richard Bland - tied 12th, trailing by three 110.0109/1
2020 - Rasmus Hojgaard - tied fourth, trailing by five 18.017/1
In-play trends
Norgaard won comfortably enough by two strokes in 2024, but Nicolai Hojgaard looked the most likely winner after he'd played his first 10 holes on Sunday in four-under-par last year and in five of the last six events here, at least one player has traded at odds-on and lost.
Hojgaard was matched at a low of 1.42/5 before Noren put the event to bed with three birdies in-a-row from the 15th last year and that was far from the first time we'd witnessed drama in running here. It's a great place to trade on a Sunday.
The 2023 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.
In addition to Hojgaard last year, the 2024 winner, Norgaard, hit a low of 1.584/7 in 2023 before finishing seventh, and in 2022, when Olesen finished eagle-birdie to win, Rickie Ramsay was matched at a low of 1.42/5 before he double bogeyed the 72nd hole and Sebastian Soderberg was matched at just 1.061/18 as he sat in the clubhouse.
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.
Despite the 2024 result, this is clearly a great track for Sunday trading and taking on the leaders.