Ben Coley looks ahead to the Omega European Masters, one of the most popular events on the DP World Tour, with a range of big-priced selections.
Golf betting tips: European Masters
3pts e.w. Matt Wallace at 25/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
2pts e.w. Keita Nakajima at 40/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Martin Laird at 90/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. John Catlin at 110/1 (Betfred, bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Casey Jarvis at 180/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
1pt e.w. Manuel Elvira at 200/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)
Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook
Between publication of this preview and the beginning of the Omega European Masters, Keegan Bradley will have completed his Ryder Cup team with six captain’s picks, and it’s still not clear exactly who they will be. By contrast, following Sunday’s resolute performance from Rasmus Hojgaard, it’s been assumed that we know the European team, and that all 12 surnames will carry over from Rome.
There is one last chance to force Luke Donald into a change of plan and Alex Noren, twice a winner here previously, may now be in pole position to do that. Noren is a class act, a former Ryder Cup player and deadly putter whose vast experience would certainly have kept him in Donald’s mind throughout his double tenure. Win again and might Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry or even Matt Fitzpatrick be in danger?
Fitzpatrick is also a two-time Crans champion and favourite to make up for last week’s disappointing finish. One way or another, I still expect him to be on the team, and the sense is that Noren really can’t afford anything short of a win. In fact he laughed off the suggestion that he’s in the running and so did runner-up Nicolai Hojgaard, seemingly everyone in agreement that the team is all but set.
Perhaps then we should just crack on with this delightful little tournament but there is one other storyline to mention: this will be Mike Lorenzo Vera’s final DP World Tour starts before he retires. He’s chosen this event for his love of the course and for its poignancy, as his father passed away when he was playing here 10 years ago. Hopefully we see him make the weekend and perhaps even play really well.
Right, loose ends tied up, what of Crans? By now I’m sure most know plenty about one of the most recognisable courses on the DP World Tour, set high up in the Swiss Alps. It’s short and plays shorter, but with tiny, saucer-style greens, plenty of out-of-bounds threat and a blend of short and long holes, this revised par 70 is no pushover. Double-figures under-par ought to have you somewhere close to the lead.
What works here can vary but given how small the targets are, and that length doesn’t necessarily help a player all that often, quality iron players who can work wonders with a wedge are best suited to it. That description covers Miguel Angel Jimenez and Thomas Bjorn, just as it does some of the more recent champions and some of the most surprising, like David Lipsky and the neat and tidy Richie Ramsay. Once upon a time, the correlation between greens-in-regulation and winning was stronger here than anywhere.
Recent form has also been a strong pointer: 11 of the last 14 champions arrived following a top-10 finish, which is a remarkably high proportion. That includes all of the last six and it must be said, with the Belfry now preceding Crans, the chances of this run continuing appear to strengthen. Noren joins Rasmus Hojgaard as champion at both but Ramsay probably ought to be, if not him then Sebastian Soderberg, and both Thriston Lawrence and Matt Wallace have also contended at the Brabazon.
Kenya, Muthaiga in particular but Karen too, can also be instructive. Soderberg has won there, as has one of his play-off victims, Lorenzo Gagli. Both courses are tight and tree-lined, somewhat undulating, certainly old-school, and Nairobi is at altitude where the ball flies further. Greens are small and precision when hitting into them has often been decisive.
With Fanling in Hong Kong also a strong pointer, Aaron Rai was first on my shortlist. His iron play right now is the best in this field by far, he’s won at altitude in Kenya, and while he’s missed both cuts here, they were in 2018 and 2019. Crans really ought to suit such an accurate player whose only issue when mid-pack at the Belfry was a collection of very short missed putts.
There’s also the fact that for each of the past three years, Rai has come back from the PGA Tour, finished somewhere in midfield on his first DP World Tour outing, then contended on his second. Combine this with the sense that he’s here because he still believes he can muscle in on the Ryder Cup debate and the Englishman has a good chance if you’re willing to bet than he can turn bad putting into something slightly better than average.
The last fortnight has suggested that there’s a big gap between the top and bottom of the DP World Tour, more so than the PGA Tour perhaps. First, Marco Penge and Rasmus Hojgaard were clear of third in Denmark, then it was Noren or Nicolai Hojgaard once Fitzpatrick had stepped aside at the Belfry, with only the promising Kazuma Kobori able to get amongst them while never looking the winner.
Bar Korobi, all these players were under 25/1, all favourite or close to it, and this follows on from last year when Wallace, Rasmus Hojgaard and Billy Horschel won from Crans to Wentworth. In 2023, the build-up to Rome saw Ludvig Aberg win at 16/1 in Crans, PGA Tour champion Vincent Norrman capture the Irish Open, then Ryan Fox win at Wentworth. So often in this grade, class is underlined.
That said, Cedric Gugler and Alfredo Garcia-Heredia made the top-five at enormous odds here last year and prior to that Connor Syme and Alex Bjork served it up to Aberg while inexperienced Alex Fitzpatrick bagged the first of two top-sixes. There’s a volatility about Crans which makes me uneasy so while Nicolai Hojgaard and Rai were close to selection, rather than split stakes win-only I’m sticking with bigger prices each-way.
Four of the last five champions were making their Crans debuts and KEITA NAKAJIMA could be the next in line.
This former world amateur number one looked a genuine star in the making when overcoming a lack of course knowledge at the tricky, borderline absurd DLF in India last year, where Wallace once beat Crans specialist Beef Johnston in a play-off. No doubt, there are some similarities in terms of what these course demand of players, especially precision with approach shots.
Nakajima prepared for that with an eye-catching display in Singapore and last week’s fourth at the Belfry feels like an even stronger clue, as he hit the ball well on his first start in over a month and finally got the putter to sing. With his short-game also sharp, it was a rounded display featuring very few mistakes outside of Friday, those rough nine holes keeping him from properly challenging in the end.
Already in his limited career, he’s been second and fourth on the DP World Tour the week after a top-10 finish, and as one of the most accurate players in the field I think he’ll like what he sees here in Switzerland. He’s also ninth of 10 when it comes to securing a PGA Tour card, his stated goal when winning in India, and this looks a great chance to climb higher up the Race to Dubai.
Adrien Saddier is one place ahead of Nakajima and the tidy Frenchman could threaten a second win, but his ceiling has probably been reached and to be honest, getting one of those cards could do him more harm than good. That’s not the case with Jordan Smith, so cruelly denied last year, and for those looking to bet in side markets, odds-against for a top-20 finish looks decent business.
In-form rookie Davis Bryant has been supported on the back of another high finish and no doubt he’s of interest, but we were on at much bigger odds in weaker company a month ago, when he did the business by placing, and he’s beginning to look short. That said, he’s accurate, he hits a lot of greens, and his Colorado upbringing means the altitude here will be more a help than a hindrance.
Bryant though is now the same sort of price as JOHN CATLIN and his more experienced compatriot is preferred.
A winner at Valderrama, Diamond Country Club and Galgorm Castle, Catlin is clearly best suited by shorter, technical, tree-lined courses such as this one, and in actual fact even what looks a poor record in Kenya rates a positive. Every time he’s played in Nairobi, Catlin has produced outstanding tee-to-green stats, but it just so happens the putter hasn’t cooperated.
That club has been pretty solid in two starts since the Open and while form figures of 57-MC hardly suggest he’s a winner in waiting, the first came under the kind of brutal links conditions he’s never really enjoyed, and the second saw him miss the cut on the number in Denmark. Big hitters dominated there, but his long-game remained in good nick.
Catlin has played well here before, too: 21st on debut when sixth with a round to go, then down the field after an awful weekend on his only subsequent visit, having shown plenty over the first two rounds including in a Friday 65. That first effort in particular underlines how suitable Crans should be, as he ranked third in strokes-gained tee-to-green and really ought to have hit the frame for those who backed him.
Eighth in Austria at the start of summer, he then hit it well but missed the cut by one in the Netherlands in a performance similar to that of the Nexo Championship, again on a links-like course. A top-30 in Italy, this time under more favourable conditions, was followed by 14th in a decent Asian Tour event, and then came another narrow failure to make the weekend in the Open which I’m happy to excuse.
All in all he doesn’t look far away and at a course where we know he can score, Catlin can get involved alongside those classy, form players at the head of the betting. Unlike some of those at similar odds, he’s spent plenty of time over the past few years competing with players of this sort of calibre, and he can beat them when he’s firing.
So has MARTIN LAIRD and I quite like what we’ve seen from the veteran lately.
Granted, he doesn’t quite tick the recent top-10 box but 11th on the PGA Tour two starts ago was a strong effort after a slow start and it’s not long since he finished second on the Korn Ferry Tour, which while weaker than this is nonetheless a hard circuit to win on.
Laird might’ve appeared to produce a disappointing display when touching down in Europe for the Nexo Championship, but 42nd under links conditions was also fine. As he said himself, when it’s that brutal you can play well and not be rewarded, which was very much the case given that he ranked 16th in strokes-gained off-the-tee and eighth in strokes-gained approach.
And it’s worth saying here that while Laird is a Scotsman, his entire professional golfing career has been spent in the USA. He hits the ball high and but for the flag next to his name, you’d never look at his skills and experience and conclude that links golf is for him. I’d say his effort in Aberdeen was perfectly encouraging in the circumstances.
With his iron play consistently close to the standard of the very best in this field, and having sounded on really good terms with himself in a recent interview with The Scotsman, we’re left to wonder whether Crans is a suitable test and on that, there’s plenty to be positive about.
As many will know, Laird not only went to college in Colorado, but has twice won high up in Nevada, and has a phenomenal record in the Barracuda Championship, played first there and more recently over the border in California. Ten starts spanning more than 15 years show results of 4-2-6-7-15-7-3-20-21-11, the latter coming just four weeks ago, and this is more proof of how comfortable he is at altitude.
Crans is different to Montreux and Tahoe Mountain in other ways but at the very least we can be confident that his high-class iron play shouldn’t be derailed by the calculations everyone has to make, so with debutants dominating in recent years, this veteran, playing a free roll in anticipation of a full Korn Ferry Tour campaign next year, could thrive once more.
And it should be said that there are enough players who’ve won or gone close at Crans, such as Andres Romero, Matthias Schwab, Erik van Rooyen and Noren, who’ve won or nearly won the Barracuda. Altitude form so often transfers; Laird has as much as anyone in this field, so chance him rolling back the years.
Jarvis ready to rock
Like Laird, CASEY JARVIS has missed a lot of cuts on the number this year and the talented youngster from South Africa is playing considerably better than his results suggest.
We can see that in simple ways, such as the fact that he’s well above-average in strokes-gained total and scoring average, and we can see it more granular ones: dropping five shots over the final three holes of round two in Denmark to miss the cut by one, then bogeying the 36th hole to do the same at the Belfry.
It’s been an enormously frustrating season but Jarvis’s ball-striking is in excellent shape right now and having been 13th three starts back, his best result since a pair of top-20s including at Muthaiga, it wouldn’t surprise me at all were he to kick on over the closing few months.
That’s what happened last year, when he defied a run of missed cuts to be eighth on his Crans debut, ranking first in strokes-gained off-the-tee and taking to these greens. Jarvis started off with a modest 70 but shot 64 in round two to climb to 10th, fared well in difficult Saturday conditions, and played well again on Sunday.
He’s been making too many mistakes lately but stacks of birdies and I don’t mind that combination at such a volatile, risk-reward golf course, especially when it comes to a youngster with loads of experience playing at altitude. That includes a win in Austria at another fiddly, strange little course, and it includes his upbringing in Boksburg, 1600m above sea level.
Jarvis is undoubtedly a risky one but he’s often played well on tree-lined courses and could emulate Alex Fitzpatrick by producing successive top-10s on his first two visits to Crans.
Wallace set to defend title
The latter is the player I’ve spent most time weighing up this week. That’s because his blend of a near-faultless course record and a best-of-the-year eighth last week was always going to squeeze the price, and having been on at bigger odds in weaker company a couple of times, it’s been a difficult decision.
Ultimately, selecting him would further push that price down towards Nakajima’s and with no value left I’m compelled to change plan and opt for MATT WALLACE instead.
Wallace has actually never had the chance to defend a title at the same golf course and this is an opportunity he’ll relish, having gained deserved compensation last year for his 2022 play-off defeat to Lawrence.
The responsibility of doing so shouldn’t be an issue, either, and he was close to doubling up in the BMW International Open, where having won in 2018 he went down the last few holes at a different venue a year later with every chance of going in again.
It’s been a year since we were last here in Crans Montana, Switzerland. A year of dedication to my craft, all in the hope of trying to get a spot in Europe’s Ryder Cup team. I’m coming back with such a heavy heart but one full of pride and gratitude towards my team. pic.twitter.com/LRyDKSB0Jr
— Matt Wallace (@mattsjwallace) August 25, 2025
With a win and a second from his last three visits to the Swiss Alps, all aided by his brilliant short-game and love for the creative challenge Crans provides, his form here is excellent and he returns with his long-game largely firing, albeit with two bad Sundays to overcome.
Those destructive final rounds do mask some generally good play since he was third in a PGA Tour event last month and having been on him at a standout 20/1 for this last year, when for a long time he looked like he would win by a distance, bigger odds for this return are in the end too difficult to turn down.
Wallace has plenty of upside from a win perspective and I do wonder whether his apparent acceptance that the European Ryder Cup dream died last week might free him up to turn three rounds of encouragement into four, and add to the sense of what might’ve been.
Spanish trio Angel Hidalgo, Angel Ayora and MANUEL ELVIRA complete my shortlist and the latter is preferred.
Ayora is a youngster going places and his long-game is in excellent shape. I thought this week and last might see him play well and he’s halfway there after a tie for 13th in the British Masters, where he was very solid throughout the weekend. There could be more to come.
But at a much bigger price, Elvira has been completely missed and he’s an outsider I could see going really well.
Hopefully, the younger of the two Elvira brothers can get some pointers from course specialist Nacho, whose game is in a mess at the moment, though we certainly shouldn’t assume Manuel isn’t made for this just because he missed the cut on debut. That came at an awful time and was his sixth missed cut in a run of nine, his game even worse than Nacho’s is now.
Fast forward 12 months and he’s been one of the most persistent eye-catchers since the DP World Tour landed in Europe. First came 11th in the Soudal Open, at a course a little like this one, then a narrow missed cut was followed by seventh and 19th, before another missed cut preceded third place in the ISCO Championship.
That was a mighty effort against a big experience handicap out on the PGA Tour and while unable to back it up in the Barracuda, that hangover can be forgiven. His return performance at the Belfry, where he ranked second in strokes-gained tee-to-green, tells us much more about the state of his game and I suspect if you asked him, he’d say he feels as good as ever right now.
Having been 54-hole leader at Muthaiga as a rookie, where he eventually settled for fourth, Elvira might just have the ideal game for Crans and it’s not difficult to swallow a rotten putting week given that he’s ranked fourth and eighth with that club in recent starts.
That he’s yet to win anything of note underlines the scale of the challenge when it comes to beating some Ryder Cup hopefuls, but compatriot Garcia-Heredia almost did it last year and Elvira can contend at huge odds if his long-game is in the sort of shape we saw just a few days ago.
Posted at 1200 BST on 26/08/25
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