Cazoo Open: Last Week Pepperell Stepped up With an Excellent Performance

• The DP World Tour stays in the UK and moves south to Wales
• Ryder Cup venue Celtic Manor Resort has been used regularly on the DP World Tour
• England’s Jordan Smith is the betting favorite at +1400

Cazoo Open Odds

The odds for this tournament are provided by Caesars Sportsbook. Click on the odds below to head to Caesars Sportsbook and place a bet.

Cazoo Open Picks

Eddie Pepperell looks back to his best again after finishing runner-up in Scotland last week. Back the Englishman for the win at +2800 with Caesars Sportsbook.

Last week’s Hero Open winner Sean Crocker will be on a high and can get the better of faltering Oliver Bekker in a 72-hole match bet at -115 with DraftKings Sportsbook.

Local man Oliver Farr finished tied 14th here last year and comes into his home event on the back of a top 10. Take the Welshman for a Top 20 at +450 DraftKings Sportsbook.

Picks made on 08/02/2022 at 10:24 AM EST

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The DP World Tour continues its six-week ‘British Isles Summer Swing’ with leg five – a trip to Wales for the Cazoo Open.

Or to give it its full name: the Cazoo Open supported by Gareth Bale 2022. Yes, once again, the golf-mad Real Madrid and Welsh footballer, who is a Global Ambassador for the R&A, puts his name to the tournament.

Celtic Manor is best known for staging the 2010 Ryder Cup when Europe edged out the US by a single point but the Twenty Ten Course – named in honor of that event – has become familiar territory for the rank and file of the DP World Tour in recent years.

During the worst grip of the Covid pandemic it put on back-to-back tournaments in 2020 while it was the scene of last year’s Cazoo Open won by Spaniard Nacho Elvira.

The Twenty Ten is a parkland track measuring 7,393 yards and playing to a par of 71.

It’s hosted this tournament (formerly known as the Wales Open) since 2008 although it wasn’t part of the schedule between 2014 and 2020 in case you wonder why some of the older players have a gap in their course form stats.

Water (the river Usk) comes into play on 10 holes and generally it’s long, flat and exposed although the final few holes are undulating.

The stats highlight the fact that it plays as a second-shot golf course. Driving hasn’t been a big factor down the years but hitting greens in regulation is a large part of the puzzle.

There’s also an interesting correlation with another Ryder Cup venue, Le Golf National, and Alex Noren, Graeme McDowell and Thongchai Jaidee have won on both courses

Pepperell the Pick

Eddie Pepperell dropped a hint that he was returning to form with a tied 11th in the Cazoo Classic at Hillside two weeks ago.

And he really stepped up on that effort with an excellent performance to finish runner-up at last week’s Hero Open at Fairmont St Andrews in Scotland.

Pepperell shot a closing 65 to post 21-under but American Sean Crocker showed guts down the stretch to pip him by a single stroke.

Looking at the numbers, Pepperell’s Strokes Gained: Approach stats were sensational; he picked up 10.039 strokes on the field in that category to rank 1st. He’d been 3rd for SG: Approach the previous week.

He’s only played here three times before but in the second of those the Englishman closed 63-67 on the weekend to finish fourth.

Let’s not forget, Pepperell finished tied third at the Players Championship in 2019 and sixth in the Open Championship in 2018.

That’s on a different level to anyone in the field so if he maintains that sharp uptick in form he’ll be hard to stop.

In which case the +2800 with Caesars Sportsbook looks a terrific bet.

Crocker Can Outscore Bekker

We landed another 72-hole match bet last week when Romain Langasque (tied 14th) easily got the better of Oliver Bekker (missed cut).

This week, I’m going to oppose South African Bekker again but this time with last week’s Hero Open winner, Sean Crocker.

A reminder that Bekker played the LIV Tour’s opening event in London and was then fined £100,000 for doing so after returning to the DP World Tour.

There’s no tangible proof it unsettled him but what can’t be refuted is a drop off in form which now shows four missed cuts in six starts either side of his LIV appearance.

He hasn’t played this week’s course either.

Crocker ranked 2nd for greens in regulation and 6th for SG: Approach when winning the Hero Open and just two starts earlier he’d made the top 15 in the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship.

There’s a slight doubt that Crocker may ‘breathe out’ after last week’s win but the flip side is that he’ll be oozing confidence after getting a first DP World Tour victory and could thrive once more.

In addition, he has some useful course form with tied 22nd and tied 37th in his two starts at Celtic Manor (both in 2020).

Back Crocker to win their 72-holer pick’em at -115 with DraftKings Sportsbook.

Back Farr for a Top 20

As a Welshman, Oliver Farr will have had the dates for this tournament circled in his diary for some time.

And the good news is that he’ll play his home event with a spring in his step after a tied 10th at Fairmont St Andrews last week.

Farr ranked 17th for SG: Approach there and putted nicely too.

And to prove that he can turn expectations and excitement into actual good golf, the 34-year-old posted tied 14th in this event last year, shooting a 65 in round three.

Farr looks a value play at +450 with DraftKings Sportsbook to land a top 20.

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