The Punter / Steven Rawlings / 21 June 2011 /

Our man looks to the young guns in Germany and the veterans in Connecticut at this week's two events...

The Race to Dubai pitches up on the outskirts of Munich this week, for the 23rd staging of the BMW International Open. It's the 15th year running that the Golfclub München Eichenried has hosted the event so there should be plenty of clues in past results.

It's a generous venue and scoring is always low but with no particular stats standing out (Driving Accuracy arguable just about the most important), if I'm honest, I've struggled. The last two winners, David Horsey and Nick Dougherty, weren't easy to spot before the off and it looks no easier this time around.

Pre-event favourite, Martin Kaymer, took the title in 2008 but that was by some distance his best effort here. His tied 21st last year was his next best attempt and he's missed the cut three times. Given his game is not at its imperious best, I'm more than happy to swerve him and the same can be said of the rest of the market leaders.

My only pick towards the head of the market is last year's runner-up, Ross Fisher. Ross missed the cut on his course debut in 2006 but he's improved every year since, finishing 26th in '07 and 12th in '09 before his near miss 12 months ago.

He failed to qualify for last week's US Open but he can use that as an incentive and he'll be keen to put the record straight at Golfclub München Eichenried too. He should have won last year's event but blew it with a very poor two-over par front-nine on Sunday.

My next two picks are young guns Thorbjorn Olesen and Gary Boyd, who tied for 2nd place last time out in Italy. I wrote in the Italian Open De-Brief that I felt it wouldn't be long before either player won and I was very surprised to see them available at triple-figure prices here. I see Paul Krishnamurty agrees about Boyd too.

Last up is another youngster, in the shape of George Coetzee, who was my biggest disappointment of last week. I'd highlighted the chances of George in the Find Me A 100 Winner column prior to the Italian Open and after he'd performed admirably there - finishing in a tie for 11th, I had a fair bet on him at last week's Saint Omer Open. He led after day one but failed to break par on any of the subsequent three days and although still in with every chance on Sunday - he slumped badly to finish tied 12th but at [290.0] I was happy to forgive and forget.

All three of my outsider picks are making their event debuts this week but that didn't stop Horsey last year and all three showed in Italy that they're in fine form and can go low - a definite plus in what should develop into something of a birdie-fest.

Selections:

Ross Fisher @ [36.0]
Thorbjorn Olesen @ [110.0]
Gary Boyd @ an average of [120.0]
George Coetzee @ [290.0]

This will be the 60th staging of the Tavelers Championship and the TPC Highlands in Connecticut has been the venue since 1984, so once again, we've plenty of form to ponder. Course form holds up well here and multiple winners are fairly common. Paul Azinger, Phil Mickelson, Peter Jacobsen, and Stewart Cink have all won twice at TPC Highlands and I'm hoping last year's winner, Bubba Watson, can follow them in.

Although one of the shortest stops on the US PGA circuit at just 6844 yards, big-hitters have a decent record, with five of the last ten winners ranking in the top five for Driving Distance. And it really doesn't seem to matter where you hit it off the tee - none of the last seven winners ranked in the top 20 for Driving Accuracy.

Bubba was 14th in 2009 and 6th in '08. He's now a multiple winner on Tour and I thought [24.0] was more than fair.

The other key trend is the age of the contenders at TPC Highlands. Bubba's victory last year came via a play-off where he nudged out the veteran pair of Corey Pavin and Scott Verplank. The year before, Kenny Perry edged out another vet in Paul Goydos and Peter Jacobsen, 2003, Woody Austin, 2004, and Brad Faxon, 2005, were all winners in their 40s.

Given they've all been in reasonable form of late, Verplank. Goydos, and Pavin have all been backed on the strength of the event form detailed above and I've also backed one other old-timer in the 'Lumpy' shape of Tim Herron. He's a regular at this event and he was 2nd in 2004. Lumpy will fancy his chances a bit this year having finished 3rd at the St Jude Classic on his last outing.

And finally, Chad Campbell doesn't fit the veteran criteria and he isn't long off the tee either, but he does have course form. His 5th placed finish last year was the highlight of 2010 for Chad and it came at a time when he was woefully out of form. He was a pick last week when he missed the cut after a terrible start but he played OK on the Friday and he appears to me as though he's just on the cusp of coming into form. He's a very speculative pick but his price reflects that.

Selections:

Bubba Watson @ [24.0]
Scott Verplank @ [80.0]
Paul Goydos @ [100.0]
Chad Campbell @ [110.0]
Tim Herron @ [180.0]
Corey Pavin @ [330.0]

I'll be back on Friday with the Live Golf Blog.

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