Thomas Linard
Thomas Linard

Lyoness Open betting preview and tips


Thomas Linard is fancied to go well by David John at the Lyoness Open in Austria on the European Tour.

Recommended bets: 


1pt e.w. Thomas Linard at 150/1 (1/4 1,2,3,4,5) - up to delivering at this sort of level if continuing in current mood

1pt e.w. Mark Foster at 110/1 (1/4 1,2,3,4,5) - veteran with some solid recent form and can keep up the good work 

1pt e.w. Craig Lee at 150/1 (1/4 1,2,3,4,5) - looked on the brink of quitting but will be encouraged by an excellent finish last week over the border

Click here for our transparent tipping record.    

In an ideal world, Bernd Wiesberger would probably rather a different slot in the schedule for the Lyoness Open on home soil with the US Open just one week away.

It is reasonable to assume the Austrian’s roving eye will be on Erin Hills and a dash from central Europe to Wisconsin once all business has concluded at the Diamond Country Club. 

Other players in a pretty-low key field will be in similar position having qualified for the season’s second major but none of those are trading at a best price of 9/2 or have to carry the burden of local expectation. 

It all comes with the territory as world number 29 and the clear class and form pick against a field he should lap if producing his very best.

There should not be any real excuse in terms of freshness either having taken a week off since his T30 at the BMW PGA Championship so hopes will be high he can give the galleries what they want and repeat his title charge of 2012.

A decent weather forecast means Wiesberger won’t have to battle anything too extreme from Mother Nature although it never seems quite so straightforward going with the favourite despite obvious claims and such a gulf in class over the vast majority of his rivals. 

I would rather have him on my side at the current prices though ahead of market rival and another former winner Joost Luiten but my inclination is to cast the net a little wider. 

A player I have been monitoring for a little while is France’s Thomas Linard and this sort of level of opposition gives him a reasonable shout of bounding up the rankings via a decent week.

The 29-year-old had a full season on the European Tour in 2016 but lost his card and is now back playing the Challenge Tour until a chance like this turns up to get in a field for the bigger events.

He took advantage with a sound T12 recently at the Open de Portugal and has continued the good work as he arrives here after a T5 at the D+D Real Czech Challenge a couple of weeks ago.

Linard is far from the finished article so can be supported at a big price but he is worth a punt on the back of a good spell for French golf following Alex Levy’s win in China and the general positive mood as the country moves towards staging the Ryder Cup in 2018.

I am going to put my faith as well in a duo from the veteran British contingent as both Mark Foster and Craig Lee arrive in very decent nick.

Foster missed the cut in the Nordea Masters but this is much more his level and will not be far away if he can reproduce the best of the form he displayed in Portugal and then Sicily. 

It is probably going to be a tough battle once more in 2017 as Foster flits between the Challenge and main tours but he should be hugely encouraged by those recent efforts. 

His game seems to be operating at a reasonably high level as well currently considering his first two rounds at the Rocco Forte Open did not contain a bogey while a top 20 here last year is sound form to build on.

Foster’s best offering from last season came at a low-grade King’s Cup in Thailand and with the big boys elsewhere and those two top 10s, this is another good chance for Foster to strike while the iron is hot.

Lee is another journeyman who looked pretty jaded at the back end of 2016 as his European Tour card went out of the window.

The Scot took a break over the winter unable to get a spot in the usual starting events taking place in South Africa and used the time to do some major renovations on his house.

He didn’t seem entirely convinced in the spring by the prospect of a year of limited starts but has dusted off the clubs to very promising effect and delivered his best performance in ages when finishing runner-up last week at the Swiss Challenge.

His efforts included a 63 in round two to claim the halfway lead as the putter got really hot and admitted to producing some “phenomenal” golf over the first 36 holes. 

The final reckoning saw him finish two shots behind Joel Girrbach but he vaulted up to 14th place in the Road To Oman standings and more importantly, will have got some tangible feedback what he is doing on the course currently is positive.

This is another test of his progress as Lee hops over the border from Switzerland but he might just ride the hot hand to another good finish and further confirmation he has an immediate future in the sport.   

Posted at 1750 BST on 06/06/17.   

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