KLM Open: Links form points to Lawrence at 40/1

• Concentrate on links and desert form

• In-play drama expected on Sunday

• Read my Canadian Open preview here

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Tournament History

Founded in 1912, the KLM Open has been an ever-present on the DP World Tour since its inception in 1972, although it was one of many to be lost to the pandemic in 2020.

The KLM Open is a nomadic event but for the second year-in-arow, and for the third time in total, the tournament returns to The International in Amsterdam for what is the 104^th edition of the tournament.

The KLM Open is the sixth event on the DP World Tour's European Swing.

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Venue

The International, Badhoevedorp, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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Course Details

Par 71 6,914 yards
Stroke Average in 2024 - 71.64

Opened in June 2012, The International is located around four miles south-west of Amsterdam city centre and laid out across a 77-hectare site.

The course was co-designed by Ian Woosnam and Belgian architect firm Mastergolf.

The International is a parkland course with a strong links feel to it.

Thanks to its undulating fairways, which are bordered by a plethora of mounds, many of the holes provide a sense of seclusion from the rest of the course.

The putting surfaces are large, fast, well-contoured, and they offer a large selection of potential pin positions. Water will come into play on ten holes and there is plenty of greenside sand to steer clear of.

Most parts of a golfer's game will be fully tested, with the pros having to contend with the noise of planes landing at nearby Schipol Airport.

Two years after opening, The International hosted a tournament on the European Senior Tour in 2014, and it also hosted this event last year and in 2019.

The 11th hole was a very easy par four when it was first used for this event five years ago but it's now a par three.

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Weather Forecast

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TV Coverage

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

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Last Eight Winners with Pre-event Exchange Prices

2024 - Guido Migliozzi -11 40.039/1 (playoff)
2023 - Pablo Larrazabal -13 80.079/1
2022 - Victor Perez -13 65.064/1 (playoff)
2021 - Kristoffer Broberg -23 400.0399/1
2020 - Event Cancelled
2019 - Sergio Garcia -18 19.018/1
2018 - Ashun Wu -16 140.0139/1
2017 - Romain Wattel -15 300.0299/1
2016 -Joost Luiten -19 18.017/1

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What Will it Take to Win the KLM Open?

We've only had two renewals here so how much use the stats are is debatable but here's the traditional stats and the Strokes Gained stats for the top five at the first two editions of the event staged at The international.

No stats were produced for the runner-up in 2019, the virtually unknown 18-year-old Dane, Nicolai Hojgaard. 

2019
Sergio Garcia -18 - DD: 15, DA: 16, GIR: 3, SC: 4, PA: 20
Nicolai Hojgaard -17 - No Stats
Matt Wallace -15 - DD: 21, DA: 27, GIR: 15, SC: 5, PA: 9
James Morrison -14 - DD: 55, DA: 21, GIR: 31, SC: 38, PA: 1
Callum Shinkwin -13 - DD: 9, DA: 18, GIR: 6, SC: 18, PA: 52 

2024
Guido Migliozzi -11 - DD: 143, DA: 35, GIR: 6, SC: 97, PA: 4
Joe Dean -11 -17 - DD: 9, DA: 76, GIR: 1, SC: 87, PA: 27
Markus Kinhult -11 - DD: 94, DA: 12, GIR: 68, SC: 32, PA: 3
Rasmus Hojgaard -10 - DD: 50, DA: 51, GIR: 36, SC: 29, PA: 17
Andrea Pavan -10 - DD: 100, DA: 144, GIR: 44, SC: 4, PA: 7

DD - Driving Distance
DA - Driving Accuracy
GIR - Greens In Regulation
SC - Scrambling
PA - Putting Average

And here's the Strokes Gained stats... 

2019
Sergio Garcia -18 - SG:T: 4, SG:A: 2, SG:ATG: 32, SG:T2G: 1, SG:P: 31
Nicolai Hojgaard -17 - No Stats
Matt Wallace -15 - SG:T: 11, SG:A: 14, SG:ATG: 9, SG:T2G: 4, SG:P: 25
James Morrison -14 - SG:T: 37, SG:A: 11, SG:ATG: 12, SG:T2G: 11, SG:P: 6
Callum Shinkwin -13 - SG:T: 3, SG:A: 21, SG:ATG: 5, SG:T2G: 2, SG:P: 50 

2024
Guido Migliozzi -11 - SG:T: 27, SG:A: 10, SG:ATG: 13, SG:T2G: 6, SG:P: 21
Joe Dean -11 -17 -  SG:T: 17, SG:A: 34, SG:ATG: 55, SG:T2G: 28, SG:P: 3
Markus Kinhult -11 - SG:T: 38, SG:A: 20, SG:ATG: 39, SG:T2G: 27, SG:P: 6
Rasmus Hojgaard -10 - SG:T: 23, SG:A: 27, SG:ATG: 32, SG:T2G: 18, SG:P: 5
Andrea Pavan -10 - SG:T: 56, SG:A: 22, SG:ATG: 58, SG:T2G: 41, SG:P: 16 

SG:T - Strokes Gained: Tee
SG:A - Strokes Gained on Approach
SG:ATG - Strokes Gained Around the Green
SG:T2G - Strokes Gained Tee to Green
SG:P: Strokes Gained Putting

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Is There an Angle In?

Again, it's really tricky when we only have two renewals to look back on, but The International is a linksy track so links form and form in the desert is well worth considering.

Rain softened the course last year but the 54-hole leader, the Finnish veteran, Mikko Korhonen, confirmed it's linksy feel when interviewed at the halfway stage of the tournament.

"The golf course is nice, I like it. It's rewarding good drives. There's a couple of blind shots so you have to really commit to the tee-shots. It's linksy but it's not running that fast yet."

Last year's winner, Guido Migliozzi, doesn't have an abundance of links form but he does have form in the desert with placed efforts in Oman, Dubai and Qatar, but one of the men he beat in extra time, Markus Kinhult, does. The Swede won the British Masters at Hillside back in 2019.

Matt Wallace, who was in-contention until round four last year, traded at odds-on at Hillside when Kinhult won, and he also finished third here six years ago. And looking back to the first renewal here, in 2019, links and desert form came to the fore, more than it did 12 months ago.

The runner-up, Hojgaard, went on to win the DP World Tour Championship at the Earth Course in 2023, when Wallace was tied for second.

The winner six years ago, Sergio Garcia, has played at the Earth Course ten times previously and he's finished inside the top ten on five occasions and he's also a winner of the Dubai Desert Classic

Garcia has lost a playoff in an Open Championship and whilst he has more desert form than links form, Nicolai finished seventh at the Scottish Open two years ago.

Nicolai's brother, Rasmus, who was fourth here last year, has more links form than his twin (won the Irish Open last year), and he too has plenty of form in the desert.

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Is There an Identikit Winner?

We haven't had a well-fancied winner since Sergio won here at 18/119.00 in 2019, and three of the last seven winners have gone off at a triple-figure price so it's been a decent event for longshots.

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Course Winner's Position and Exchange Price Pre-Round Four

2024 - Guido Migliozzi - solo second, trailing by one 5.49/2
2019 - Sergio Garcia - tied for the lead 2.0421/20 

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In-Play Tactics

Garcia was never outsider the top 10 or more than two off the lead at any stage in 2019 but it's clearly possible to come from off the pace here given the three playoff protagonists last year were outside the top 10 at halfway, and we've witnessed plenty of in-play drama here already.

Having been matched at 1.341/3 early on in round four, Garcia was caught and passed by Callum Shinkwin and the Englishman was matched at a low of 1.9420/21.

The inexperienced Nicolai Hojgaard was matched at a low of 2.6413/8 when he was tied for the lead with four to play but he failed to birdie the par five 15^th before bogeying 16 and Wallace, having been matched at 1000.0999/1, was matched at just 4.03/1 when he got to within one off the lead in round four.

Korhonen began the final round leading by a stroke last year and he was matched at a low of 2.6213/8 early on in round four but he lost his way badly on the back-nine.

Migliozzi, who had sat alone in second, moved alongside Korhonen on the front nine and at one stage the pair were three clear of the field.

Migliozzi hit 1.84/5 as the Finn started to flap but he too started dropping shots - bogeying the ninth and 10th - and he drifted all the way out to 30.029/1 after he'd bogeyed 12 and 14 and failed to birdie the par five 15^th to slip to -9.

Rasmus Hojgaard was matched at a low of 2.111/10 after a brilliant birdie at the tough 10^th but his erratic driving eventually took its toll and from miles off the pace, Andrea Pavan posted 10-under-par.

Having been matched at 1000.0999/1, he was matched at a low of just 8.07/1 when it looked like that may just be enough, but it was ultimately a shot shy of the total required.

With birdies at 16 and 17, Marcus Kinhult surged to the front, and he was matched at 1.384/11 when he parred the last to post -11.

It looked like the Swede had done enough but Joe Dean came home in 30 to catch him, finishing his round with birdies at 16 and 18, and minutes later, Migliozzi matched the Englishman's score on the last three holes to join the two in the clubhouse on -11 before winning the playoff at the second extra hole.

It's far from unusual to see at least one player trade at odds-on before getting beat on the DP World Tour and this venue's finish sets up perfectly for some in-play drama on a Sunday.

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Links form points to Lawrence

After a string of poor performances on the PGA Tour, Thriston Lawrence returned to the DP World Tour two weeks ago to finish a respectable fourth at the Soudal Open.

The 28-year-old South African is already a four-time winner on the DP World Tour and this represents an excellent chance for him to notch win number five if his fourth placed finish in Belgium wasn't a flash in the pan.

Lawrence was in sensational form in late summer last year and a return to anything like that form will see him go close here.

He finished runner-up in the European Open, fourth in the Open Championship, and after he'd popped back to South Africa to win by five strokes on the Sunshine Tour, he finished second at the British Masters before trading at odds-on to win the BMW PGA Championship, where he was beaten in a playoff.

He's a class act who can win anywhere but he's particularly good on links-like layouts and he won't be inconvenienced by the forecast windy conditions. Odds of around 40/141.00 are very fair.

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*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter

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