After the excitement of Sergio Garcia’s overdue triumph at the Masters, the European Tour stages its first regular event for a month with the Hassan II Trophy at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam this week.
Jeunghun Wang won his maiden European Tour title in Morocco last year by beating Spain’s Nacho Elvira in a play-off, the 21-year-old making a birdie on the 18th to force extra holes and then repeating the trick twice in the play-off.
He immediately followed that up with victory in Mauritius and claimed his third win in Qatar earlier this season, but has largely struggled to find his best form in bigger events in the United States in 2017.
That includes missing the cut on his Masters debut last week, but he still returns to Rabat as the highest-ranked (48th) player in a field which contains only five other members of the world’s top 100.
Whether the journey from Augusta will have a detrimental effect remains to be seen, but Wang’s short-game skills will be needed once more on a long, tight layout. He appeals in the Hassan II Trophy betting as the 20/1 fourth favourite behind Dean Burmester, Brandon Stone and Joost Luiten.
Burmester won the Tshwane Open on his last start and his length off the tee should be an advantage, but that victory came five weeks ago and at 16/1 a watching brief is advised.
Rustiness is also a concern with our second Hassan II Trophy selection Matteo Manassero, who has been out of action since finishing third in India, the week after Burmester’s victory in South Africa. However, Manassero was tied 22nd in Morocco last year and is available at a generous 40/1 to get what promised to be a glittering career firmly back on track.
To find players who have been in more competitive action recently we need to look to the Challenge Tour, whose season-opening Kenya Open was staged from March 23-26.
The top two in Kenya, Aaron Rai and Adrien Saddier, are both competing in Morocco and can take advantage of a relatively weak field to continue their good form at prices of 66/1 and 125/1 respectively.
Rai was seventh in the Joburg Open on the European Tour earlier this season, while runner-up Saddier was 16th in Morocco last year after dropping down the field with a closing 77.
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