The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 13 March 2012 /

Our man takes a detailed looked at this week's event on the Race to Dubai, as the Tour returns to Europe. What will it take to win this week in Spain?

Tournament
This will be just the sixth staging of the Open de Andalucía.

Venue
Aloha Golf Club, Nueva Andalucía, Marbella

Course Details
Par 72, 6,881 yards, stroke average in 2008 - 72.37.
Designed by Javier Arana, Aloha opened in 1975. It was the venue for this event in 2007 and 2008. Described as undulating and tree lined, accuracy from the tee would usually be vital but after a dry winter the rough isn't too penal.

Useful Sites

Course Site
Event Site

TV Coverage
Live on Sky all four days, starting at 11.00am on Thursday and Friday and at 1.00pm on Saturday and Sunday.

First Five Winners

2011 - Paul Lawrie -12
2010 - Louis Oosthuizen -17
2009 - Soren Kjeldsen -14
2008 - Thomas Levet -16 (Playoff)
2007 - Lee Westwood -20

Typical Winner
With the course playing easy due to the dry winter, low scoring is bound to be the order of the week. Looking at the stats from 2007 and 2008 the key stat looks to be putting. On both occasions, the first two home were in the top-five for Total Putting. It's looking like a birdie fest, where those with cold putters will struggle.

Market leaders
In what looks a very open tournament, recent Abu Dhabi winner Robert Rock heads the list at [25.0]. He's closely followed by Italian youngster Matteo Manassero and the in-form Paul Lawrie (last year's winner). Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano will want to make up for a poor final round in the inaugural event here and he's available to back at [28.0], along with his compatriot, Miguel Angel Jimenez, who's an Honorary Member at Aloha and the tournament host this week- a duty that he usually finds too much of a distraction.

Selections
I can't get excited about any of the market leaders and I'm not overly enthusiastic about any of my three pre-event picks either. I'm saving the bulk of my powder for in-running exploits for this event.

First up of those pre-event picks though is Alejandro Canizares - a player that looks on his way back after losing his form last year. A winner of just one title to date, the 2006 Russian Open, he hasn't yet fulfilled his potential. In 2010 he looked certain to move up to the next level- narrowly losing two playoffs. Peter Hanson beat him at the Iberdrola Open Cala Millor Mallorca, two months before he just came up short at the Open de France.

Canizares has a decent record in his homeland and his best performance last year was his tied 7th at the Andalucía Masters at Valderrama. He can certainly play Aloha too, as he opened up with a six-under par 66 to sit in second place on day one in 2007. He drifted back to eventually finish in tie for 18th but it's his form this year, and in-particular, his form with the putter, that caught my eye.

After a pair of respectable top-25 finishes in Abu Dhabi and Qatar, he struggled at the Omega Desert Classic - an event he's never played well at anyway. He then finished in the top-ten in India at the low-key Avantha Masters (having led after round one) before finishing in the top-five in Mexico at the Mayakoba Classic - where he topped the Putting Average stats. I've forgiven his missed cut at the Honda the following week and hopefully he can turn up here with that putter still warm.

Oliver Fisher came to the professional ranks with a lofty reputation and he looked sure to get his first European Tour win here in 2008 but he found water off the tee at the 72nd hole, went on to make a bogey five and then lost to Thomas Levet in the playoff.

It took Oliver another three years to get what had looked his inevitable first win, at last year's Czech Open. He doesn't come here in great form by any means but he was woefully out of form before he won the Czech. I felt he was well worth risking a couple of quid on at a nice price.

Last up is James Morrison, a player I backed a number of times last year at big odds and he very often got himself into contention. Again, I felt he was simply too big to ignore at [250.0]

Open de Andalucía Selections:
Alejandro Canizares @ [60.0]
Oliver Fisher @ [130.0]
James Morrison @ [250.0]

I'll be back later with a preview of the week's US PGA Tour event - the Transitions Championship.

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