Ben Coley is returning to old favourite Richie Ramsay for the Nexo Championship, played close to where the Scot was born.
Golf betting tips: Nexo Championship
2pts e.w. Matthew Jordan at 33/1 (BoyleSports, Betfred 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1.5pts e.w. Richie Ramsay at 45/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1.5pts e.w. Oliver Lindell at 45/1 (Betfred, bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Nathan Kimsey at 50/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7)
1pt e.w. Joakim Lagergren at 100/1 (Betfred 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Rafa Cabrera Bello at 140/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook
I’ll be honest: I first wrote the introduction to this preview a couple of weeks ago, citing a quote from Eric Trump about how Trump International would become ‘the greatest 36 holes on earth’ once its new course had been opened. Then the Trump clan came over, Eric’s dad hit a 290-yard drive that went 215, broke the odd rule as he is wont to do, and Eric gave an interview to the BBC in which he stated that ‘no-one’s been better for the game of golf than my father.’
It rather made my original intro feel outdated.
Perhaps that’s just me. Outdated. Left behind. Because while yes I rolled my eyes about the idea that this new establishment has usurped say Royal Melbourne, and yes a little bit of sick came up when Eric said what he said to the BBC’s Dan Roan, you should’ve seen me when I googled ‘Nexo’, the sponsors of this week’s new DP World Tour event. ‘Build your crypto portfolio from a single app’ they say. No thank you very much.
Regrettably, the Old Course in Aberdeen does look wonderful and I think it’ll prove a real test. The seniors were here just last week and again found it a bit of a slog; now, stretched out to 7,439 yards, it’s long for a links course with four par-fours over 450 yards, plus the closing par-five playing around 650. There is a driveable par-four so along with a full set of par-fives there are ample scoring opportunities, but there are a heck of a lot of hard holes on paper.
And then there’s the weather. On Monday it was whatever word you’re supposed to use when ‘windy’ doesn’t do it, with gusts of 70mph. That would mean the suspension of play but come the start of the tournament, we should hit that sweet spot where there’s a strong, persistent breeze (‘very windy’ says the DPWT site) to keep players honest without sending them back to the clubhouse. Sunday looks best for scoring – but we have to get there first.
Links golf is inherently volatile and a new course (this is the original, not the course you’d have seen talked about in the news last week) complicates matters, so after a short summer break there are simply things we can’t know. There is though one potential benefit we can maybe put to use, which is that while some in this field played The Renaissance followed by Royal Portrush in July, others went to Kentucky and California. The latter group have played almost no links golf all year long, with the KLM Open and Doha the only passable impressions.
We saw in the Open how well-prepared those who’d played the Scottish Open were, yet again dominating as they have over the last five years, and as places at The Renaissance were determined by Race to Dubai ranking, those who’ve enjoyed stronger seasons also now enjoy the benefit of links golf. Not all of them went on to Portrush, but even a couple of rounds in Scotland could prove a handy advantage. Proven links form in general simply has to be the way to go and this will take a lot of players well outside of their comfort zones.
RICHIE RAMSAY is going to be very much be within his and the Aberdonian will be relishing this opportunity to play links golf so close to home.
Ramsay has had that chance once before, in a Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen, but it came at precisely the wrong time as he had gone MC-MC-WD over the previous three weeks, no way to prepare for such a meaningful event.
More than a decade on, this second chance is one he’ll be desperate to take and it’s not like he’s without form in his homeland: second in the Dunhill Links, fifth in the Paul Lawrie Match Play, sixth in the Sottish Open, sixth in the Johnnie Walker Championship and 28th in the Hero Open mean he’s played well in everything at some stage.
Ramsay missed the cut in the Scottish Open last time but his iron play was good and that event, with its high-class field, ended up being perfect for powerhouses like the champion, Chris Gotterup, and the favourite for this, Marco Penge.
Penge is firmly on his way to the PGA Tour but his driver wasn’t a strength at Portrush and I suspect Ramsay might’ve coped better there, given that it was a traditional links test, more alike the one I expect we’ll get at Trump International in windy weather after Bo Van Pelt won the seniors’ event in three-under at the weekend.
Before The Renaissance, Ramsay had been 19th in Germany and the only time he’s bettered that result at Eichenried was when he finished 13th in 2022. A few weeks later, teeing up at a far more suitable course on the west coast of England, he showed all his seaside smarts by winning the Cazoo Classic.
Three years on and his preparation is similar, his iron play continues to fire, and if we rewind to the one comparable test thrown up by the DP World Tour lately, he was fourth in the KLM Open. Three Scots featured in the top six, one of them winning the title, and it was as close to links golf as we’ve seen away from the big events of last month.
Finally, it’s worth saying that Ramsay was third in the Czech Republic when the DP World Tour returned from its post-Open break last year. That was on a big-hitters’ course and demonstrates that he was ready to go; I dare say he’s the type of player who needs the odd break and given where we are, I expect him to come out firing again.
Links conditions can make a mockery of everything written above, all the work Ramsay has done at home since the Scottish Open, any time he’s spent here that overs have not, and that we have to accept. But at 40/1 and bigger he’s must-bet material playing on his doorstep in these conditions.
The idea of taking less than 20/1 about anyone in this field given the forecast is borderline madness if you ask me, but there is one player shorter in the betting than Ramsay who I do want to have on-side and that’s MATTHEW JORDAN.
Born close to Hillside, where Ramsay won three summers ago and where Jordan himself had blitzed into the lead back in 2019 on just his 12th professional start, the Royal Liverpool member grew up on a diet of UK links golf and it’s helped him to two of his best performances: 10th place in the 2023 Open and 10th again in 2024.
Jordan also showed up well last month at Portrush, opening with a round of 68 to lie second and still a handy 17th at halfway, so along with two top-10s from three tries at Doha, 16th at Bernardus and four top-10s from just 15 starts in Scotland, we know full well that he’s extremely comfortable playing this version of the game.
And while his form hasn’t been spectacular since he contended five times in eight starts in the spring, bear in mind his last four appearances since withdrawing following a good start in Austria include two majors and another event headlined by Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and many more Ryder Cup players.
That means his only recent try at this sort of level was at Eichenried, the field there much stronger than this one, and 38th was a perfectly decent effort at a course where he too has never really been a factor. Indeed there are Ramsay parallels as the only other time Jordan has played it well, he produced two excellent top-20s in high-class fields on his next two starts.
Jordan’s amateur career saw him win big titles at Lytham and St Andrews and one of those Open top-10s came in foul conditions at Troon, so again he’s simply demonstrated a level of links skill that most of these have not. He also has a fabulous attitude, no doubt part of why he excels playing the purest and least predictable version of the game.
As such, he rates among the most likely contenders in this wide-open event, and a bet at 25/1 and upwards.
Sticking with those who played links golf last month I’ve thought long and hard about OLIVER LINDELL, who is perhaps a little raw as a DP World Tour rookie.
However, 28th in the Open was excellent, 14th in Doha at the beginning of the year further supports the idea that this kind of golf is suitable, and while 55th in the KLM Open, he was excellent for three rounds only to play abysmally in the other one.
That third round in the Netherlands is a worry but he’s performed in the wind on the HotelPlanner Tour, contending at Alcanada late last year and a couple of times at Royal Obidos in Portugal, and he has the right skill set as a supreme iron player whose touch around the greens is also a strength.
Composed under pressure.
Oliver Lindell holed two long putts in the Final Qualifying play-off at West Lancs last night. One to stay in and one to secure his spot at The 153rd Open. pic.twitter.com/wjjyRhCo9b
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 2, 2025
If anything, Lindell can struggle for consistency off the tee and that may well define his week, but buoyed by an impressive Open debut I’m expecting him to kick on. It was tempting to wait a week for Denmark but he’s a links winner as an amateur and if he plays like he did at Portrush won’t be far away.
Jacob Skov Olesen shared the first-round lead there but that was a freakish element to that round and while the 2024 Amateur champion said afterwards that he loves links golf, he didn’t sound thrilled with the overall state of his game and proceeded to tumble down the leaderboard.
Preference then is for NATHAN KIMSEY, who ended up just in front of the young Dane having played with and for a long time matched Bryson DeChambeau on Saturday, an experience which could serve him well.
Kimsey was in the end beaten by the two-time US Open winner but shot an excellent 68 of his own, after which he sounded pleased with how things are looking.
“I’ve had some good weeks,” he said. “It’s been a little inconsistent, but I’m adapting back to the travel and the full schedule again. I’ve been hitting the ball well for a while and very pleased to come here and kind of show as much.”
Kimsey is referring there to the injury which kept him out for almost all of 2024 and in actual fact, after returning in Dubai in January he didn’t come back out again until March, where he was 16th in the SA Open then 37th in Joburg to get things up and running.
Two more top-20s have followed along with just three missed cuts, two by the barest of margins, and I do like the fact that he produced by far his best golf in the KLM Open, where he ranked fourth in strokes-gained tee-to-green but didn’t hole his share.
Kimsey’s accurate driving was on display there and also helped him to rank sixth in strokes-gained off-the-tee at the Open, his work around the greens remains strong, and I doubt his putting funk will last. Historically, that club has been a strength, one that almost earned him a PGA Tour title two years ago.
That was in July’s Barbasol Championship and he’s typically been at his best through summer, while the fact that his sole visit to Doha ended in a top-10 finish rounds off the case for a rock-solid player who seems on the cusp of a big step forward. Conditions might help him to take it this week.
David Law is another Aberdonian and it could be an advantage to have played in Scotland on the HotelPlanner Tour last week, albeit inland. That may help him, Daniel Young, Eddie Pepperell and Filippo Celli, plus one or two others, and with this course almost 7,500 yards in length, the young and in-form Italian did make some appeal.
On balance though the experience of RAFA CABRERA BELLO has to be preferred, especially as I’m not convinced they’ll play from the tips all week given the forecast.
Cabrera Bello didn’t play in the Scottish Open or the Open, instead heading to the two opposite fields in the US where he struggled a tad. However, before this he’d made eight cuts in a row on the DP World Tour and this is the weakest field of the lot.
His best effort was when 13th in the KLM Open which, together with top-30 finishes in Italy, Austria and Germany, has moved him to within touching distance of keeping his card. That’s especially important for the Spaniard because, aged 41, he’s using his one-time career money exemption this season.
Scottish players Ewen Ferguson & Connor Syme have been confirmed for the Scottish Championship alongside Rafa Cabrera-Bello!
They are the first set of Scots to officially commit to the new event in August @DPWorldTour 🏴 pic.twitter.com/uoNmqhR3Gb
— Scotland Golf Watch (@ScotlandGolfW) June 25, 2025
It’s obviously a long time since his Ryder Cup peak but at his best, Cabrera Bello won a Scottish Open, finished fourth in an Open and in the Dunhill links, second in an Irish Open at Portrush plus fourth at both Lahinch and Royal County Down, so there aren’t many in this field with better links form books.
That makes some sense given his island upbringing and second, third, third and sixth also represents some of the best Doha form on offer, so it comes down to whether you believe that those two PGA Tour appearances represent a significant downturn in the form he’d shown prior to making the trip.
I’d be sceptical about that at the best of times but the course in Kentucky was really difficult, then they played at a fiddly one way above sea level in California, so as far as a form guide goes I doubt it’ll hold up all that well. Where the Europeans are concerned, it’s certainly nothing to dwell on; they were outclassed as a bunch but are back in calmer waters now.
Cabrera Bello is by no means certain to return to the form which saw him threaten the places in the Netherlands, but at three-figure prices that’s a chance worth taking.
Back up the market I thought Sam Bairstow was a big eye-catcher in the Barracuda. Derailed by a four-putt in round one after he’d made a dream start, he fought back with an excellent second round to miss the cut on the number and, a former runner-up in the Amateur Championship at Lytham, he may welcome this change in conditions.
He’d be the only other player towards the top of the market who made a shortlist which included Scandinavian duo Andrea Halvorsen and Hamish Brown at bigger prices. Brown has plenty to prove but is the son of a Scotsman whose best golf recently came in the KLM Open, while Halvorsen could benefit from a pipe-opener on the NGL.
They’re respected, Halvorsen especially given he’s contended a couple of times this year, but JOAKIM LAGERGREN is preferred.
The Swede finished runner-up at close to 200/1 when selected on these pages for the KLM Open, his putter not quite firing in the way it can and ultimately costing him the title, which instead went to Connor Syme.
Since then Lagergren has gone MC-MC-49 but the first of these was in the US Open, days after his runner-up finish, the second came by a narrow margin on a tight course in Italy, and he then played nicely enough on a parkland layout in Germany.
Couple of shots here or there from some massive winners on the DPWT this season and clear second is always frustrating, but good effort from Lagergren and Syme played great this weekend. Decent week to take into Oakmont, with hopefully a run at a place to come in Canada.
— Ben Coley (@BenColeyGolf) June 8, 2025
We know by now that Lagergren is much more comfortable under these conditions, which was essentially the case for backing him in the Netherlands along with some definite improvements off the tee, historically the department which has caused him the most problems.
A winner by the sea in Sicily, second in Doha, second, third and fourth in the Dunhill Links and second again in that KLM Open, he’s got so much form in the wind that he was always going to attract a bit of support for this having shown his hand a month or so ago.
However, anything north of 66/1 still has to be worth taking in this considerably weaker field, and there’s plenty of 100s around at the time of writing.
Posted at 1900 BST on 04/08/25
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