Turkish Airlines Open: In-form favourite Puig a confident selection

---

Turkish Airlines Open tournament history

The Turkish Airlines Open was first played in 2013 and it was an ever present on the DP World Tour for seven years.

The first three editions, and the 2019 renewal, were all staged at the Montgomerie Maxx but the three editions between 2016 and 2018, and last year's renewal, which was the first in six years, were all staged at the Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort but we're off to a brand-new venue this time around - the National Golf Club in Balek.

---

Venue

National GC, Belek, Antalya, Turkey.

---

Course details

Par 72, 7,287 yards

Designed by David Feherty and David Jones and opened in 1992, the National Golf Club is standard par 72 with two par threes and two par fives on the front nine, and two of each on the back.

It's parkland course with narrow Bermuda fairways framed by mature trees.

Water is in play on half the holes and the Bermuda greens are well guarded by sand and fairly small.

The National Golf Club is featuring on the DP World Tour for the first time, but it hosted the Ladies Turkey Open four times between 2011 and 2014 and it was also used just once on what's now called the HotelPlanner Tour in May 2014 when Oliver Farr won the first of his three titles by two strokes with a two-under-par total.

---

Weather Forecast

---

TV coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 11:00 on Thursday.

---

First eight tournament winners

2013 - Victor Dubuisson -24
2014 - Brooks Koepka -17
2015 - Victor Dubuisson -22
2016 - Thorbjørn Olesen -20
2017 - Justin Rose -18
2018 - Justin Rose -17 (playoff)
2019 - Tyrrell Hatton -20 (playoff)
2025 - Martin Couvra -17

---

Will accuracy off the tee prove crucial?

With narrow fairways, framed by trees, this looks like a venue for precision over power off the tee.

Oliver Farr, who birdied the 72^nd hole to reach two-under-par for the week, was the only man to better par throughout the week so it's clearly a tough test and this is what he had to say at the halfway stage. 

"If you're slightly off you can be punished. I hit two bad shots today and I had two bogeys from them.

"Other than that I was really in control and I holed some good putts so five under is a score I'm really happy with out there.

"I think the greens yesterday afternoon were very baked out and firm so I found it hard to control the shots. My chipping was quite good yesterday to shoot level but today I had a lot of wedge approach shots, which was nice, and I controlled them really well." 

---

Volvo China Open should provide clues

Those that have played the Volvo China Open should have a nice advantage over those arriving in Turkey without a warmup event.

Last week's tournament was the first standard DP World Tour event in three weeks and like this week's venue, the Enhance Anting Golf Club is a Bermuda grass layout.

Anyone that showed a bit of form last week on the Bermuda greens, that's accurate off the tee, might be worth chancing. 

---

Is there an identikit winner?

This tournament was part of the now defunct but prestigious Fall Series, before graduating to become a Rolex Series event, so it's nowhere near as significant a tournament as it once was, when the cream tended to rise to the top.

In the first seven renewals, before the six-year hiatus, there were only five different winners and all five were straight out of the top drawer.

When Justin Rose won the event for the second time in 2018, the victory took him to the top of the world rankings.

All five had played Ryder Cups and two of them are now major champions.

Both Victor Dubuisson, who won the event twice, and Brooks Koepka, who won in-between Victor's two victories, won their first DP World Tour events in this tournament and it's interesting to reflect on how their journeys have varied since.

Dubuisson finally called it a day after he was sick of golf getting in the way of his fishing, whereas Koepka went on to win five majors!

Last year's winner, Martin Couvra, was also winning for the first time but he had a lofty reputation, and he went off at odds of around 55.054/1, after being well-backed before the off.

---

Tough set up may offer a chance for the chasers

It's almost impossible to gauge how this event will pan out but if the scoring is again tough, as it was on the HotelPlanner Tour 12 years ago, it may offer up a chance for an off the pace winner.

When the scoring's good and everyone's going low, it's very hard to make up ground on the frontrunners but the top eight all shot rounds in the 70s in round four last time.

Trying to draw conclusions form a tournament staged 12 years ago on a lesser Tour is arguably a futile exercise and the course may well play completely different this time around but for the record, after he'd led by a stroke at halfway, the winner, Farr, shot 77 on Saturday to drop into a tie for seventh and three off the lead.

Having looked like he may have blown his chance to win for the first time, Farr went on to win by two after he shot 70 on Sunday.

---

In-form favourite impossible to ignore

In what is a weak renewal, the Australian PGA Championship winner, David Puig, looks a very fair price at around 12/113.00.

We've already seen three men win twice this season on the DP World Tour and Puig, the winner of the opening event on the schedule back in November, is in fair enough form to emulate Jayden Shapher, Patrick Reed and Casey Jarvis by doubling up here in Turkey.

Since winning Down Under at the end of November, Puig has finished third and seventh in the prestigious events in Dubai and he's on a great run of form on the LIV Golf circuit, culminating in a second-place finish behind Jon Rahm in Mexico two weeks ago.

I was happy to chance him at 12.523/2 on the Betfair Exchange and, as highlighted in the Cadillac Championship preview, I've also doubled him up with Cam Young each-way.

Adrian Otagui was matched at just 1.152/13 to win the Volvo China Open before his poor finish on Sunday, and he'll need to lift himself after such a big disappointment but he too looks fractionally over-priced at odds in excess of 50/151.00.

The 33-year-old has already won five times on the DP World Tour and with victories at both Rinkven and Valderrama, he's demonstrated his liking for a tree-lined layout.

Otaegui has current form figures reading 6-6-3-61-2 and he won the Belgium Knockout at Rinkven back in May 2018 after finishing second in the China Open so if he can bounce back quickly after Sunday's disappointment, he's a big price.

---

Bookmark Betting.Betfair for golf betting tips every week

---