Indonesian Masters: Defending champ, Rose, impossible to oppose

Steven Rawlings
11 December 2018

The defending champion - Justin Rose

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Justin Rose heads to Jakarta to defend his Indonesian Masters title and to return to the top of the world rankings - our man previews the live event here...

"Henrik Stenson is far and away his biggest danger but he hasn’t finished inside the top-ten in seven full-field events since June. Taking almost 2/1 about Rose looks far more sensible than 7/2 about Stenson."

Tournament History

The Indonesian Masters has only been in existence since 2011 so this the eighth edition but the event already has an illustrious list of winners, with Lee Westwood winning the title three times.

Venue

Royale Jakarta Golf Club, Jakarta, Indonesia

Course Details

Par 72, 7,304 yards

The Royale Jakarta Golf Club is made up of three nine hole courses - North, South and West. The tournament is played over a composite of the South and West with the West Course making up the front-nine and the South the back-nine.

Designed by Robert Moore Jr of US based JMP Golf Design, Royale Jakarta is a long and very open looking course with water in play on many holes. The grass used throughout the course, including on the greens, is Sea Isle Supreme - a resilient strain of Paspalum grass.

This is not a tough track and the winner, Justin Rose, shot ten-under-par 62s in both rounds one and four on his way to a 29-under-par total last year.

Weather Forecast

TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, beginning at 7:00 UK and Ireland time on Thursday and Friday and 5:00 over the weeked

First Seven Tournament Winners

2011 - Lee Westwood -19
2012 - Lee Westwood -16
2013 - Bernd Wiesberger -15
2014 - Anirban Lahiri -17
2015 - Lee Westwood -7 (playoff)
2016 - Poom Saksansin -18
2017 - Justin Rose -29

What Will it Take to Win the Indonesian Masters?

Stats wise - Greens In Regulation and Driving Distance look key. Along with the first three tournament winners, last year's winner, Justin Rose, ranked number one for Greens In Regulation and all the winners, bar Poom Saksansin in 2016 have been fairly long off the tee.

Is There an Identikit Winner?

The first five winners were all very well-fancied. Lee Westwood went off favourite on every occasion he won, Bernd Wiesberger was a 12/1 chance and Anirban Lahiri was a 20/1 shot, and Rose went off the 4/1 favourite last year, but the 2016 winner went against the norm. Saksansin was in fairly decent form two years ago but he still went off at around 150/1 and he's the only winner to date that hasn't been a 'star name'.

Although they're both European, Westwood (in particular) and Wiesberger both have great records in Asia. Westwood has an incredible record when he travels east and three of Wiesberger's four victories have been in Asia. The Austrian won the Ballantine's Championship in Korea at the Blackstone Golf Course 12 months after Westwood and he won the Shenzhen International in China in April. Justin Rose is extremely well-travelled and has won all over the globe.

In-Play Tactics

Rose won wire-to-wire 12 months ago, as did Westwood in 2012, and every winner has been within three of the lead after round one. Lahiri and Wiesberger both fell back a bit to trail by five at halfway and Chapchai Nirat lost a playoff to Westwood in 2015, having been seven adrift in sixth place with a round to go, but that was as much to do with Westwood stuttering as Nirat's flying finish. Having led by five, the Englishman shot 73 in round four to Nirat's closing 66.

Is Justin Rose Opposable?

In a word, no. On his first look 12 months ago, Rose fired a ten-under-par 62 in round one and he signed off with another 62 to win by eight. And he was ten-under-par with five to play so a sub-60 was on for a while in round four.

He hasn't finished outside the top-eight since August, winning in Turkey on the European Tour and finishing second twice in FedEx Cup Playoff events and he looks utterly unopposable.

Henrik Stenson is far and away his biggest danger but he hasn't finished inside the top-ten in seven full-field events since June. Taking almost 2/1 about Rose looks far more sensible than 7/2 about Stenson.

The only tiny negative is that Rose will return to the top of the world rankings should he finish inside the top-16 and it seems to be the case that getting to the top spot is often a distraction rather than an incentive. That said, it's very hard to imagine him failing to finish that high and once the world number one spot is in the bag, I suspect he could take an awful lot of stopping.

Selection

If Justin Rose plays like he has done over the last few months he will contend and although 15/8 for any golfer in any competition looks short, he's actually slightly bigger than he should be with the Sportsbook here and I've had a small wager.

Selection:
Justin Rose @ 15/8 (Sportsbook)

I've got a busy day on Thursday so I may not get to kick off the In-Play Blog until Friday this week.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter