Hero Open: Forrest Can Repeat His Performance

• The DP World Tour returns over the border from England to Scotland
• Fairmont St Andrews is a modern course but has links attributes
• New Zealand’s Ryan Fox is the clear betting favorite at +1100

Hero 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.

Hero Open Picks

Grant Forrest took victory on this course last year and warmed up for his defense with third last week. Back the local Scot for the win at +2500 with Caesars Sportsbook.

Romain Langasque has two top 10s in his last four starts and can outscore Oliver Bekker. Back the Frenchman in their 72-hole match bet at -110 DraftKings Sportsbook.

Dan Huizing is a former winner of the St Andrews Links Trophy and was third at Hillside last week. Back the Dutchman for a Top 20 at +400 with bet365.

Picks made on 07/26/2022 at 11:24 AM EST

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After a seven-year wait for an Open Championship at the Old Course, St Andrews now stages its second event in three weeks.

There’s a slight difference of course.

This week’s event – the Hero Open – is played not at the scene of Cam Smith’s brilliant Claret Jug win but at Fairmont St Andrews.

And let’s just say it doesn’t quite have the same history.

The Torrance Course is a modern design situated about four miles from the Old Course. It was designed by Denis Griffiths and, as the name suggests, had input from former Ryder Cup player and captain Sam Torrance.

Originally opened in 2001, it’s one of the newer additions to this fabulous stretch of golfing coastline.

The good news for bettors is that the Torrance Course has twice played host to DP World Tour events.

Local Scot Grant Forrest took victory over England’s James Morrison in this event 12 months ago while Spain’s Adrian Otaegui shot a final-round 63 to win the Scottish Championship there in October 2020.

The venue has fairly generous fairways and most of it is set inland. The majority of the water in play is via a stream which meanders through the course over six holes.

The main thing to note is that it plays like a links course despite not having the weight of history behind it.

As for what’s needed for success, Strokes Gained: Approach has been the best indicator in the two previous DP World Tour events played there.

It must also be an advantage for form students that we were also on a links course last week when Scotland’s Richie Ramsay won the Cazoo Classic at Hillside, a track situated right next to Open venue Royal Birkdale.

Forrest Can Repeat

When looking for a player with good recent form on the links fuelled by strong approach play, Grant Forrest’s name pops up.

Which is all the more intriguing given that he just happens to be the defending champion.

The Scot shot 68-68-62-66 last year to finish at 24-under and become the first home player to win on his own Scottish turf since Paul Lawrie in 2012.

The former Scottish Amateur champion clearly has a great links pedigree and showed that again at Hillside last week when finishing tied third.

Forrest ranked 1st for Strokes Gained: Putting and 10th for SG: Approach, producing season-best results in both categories.

Also tied 19th in the 2020 Scottish Open and tied 27th in last October’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, a repeat performance in what is a weak field looks a realistic scenario.

Back Forrest for the win at +2500 with Caesars Sportsbook.

Langasque Can Outscore Bekker

England’s Richard Mansell edged out Frenchman Antoine Rozner to win last week’s 72-match bet.

This week I’m pro French and I’ll take Romain Langasque to get the better of South African Oliver Bekker.

Bekker was one of the DP World Tour’s form players for the first half of the season but he’s not looked as good in recent times.

A LIV defector, he took part and finished sixth in the breakaway tour’s rather non-competitive opening event in London and was then fined £100,000 for doing so after returning to the DP World Tour.

Has it unsettled him? It’s hard to know for sure but he closed 76-74-73 at Hillside last week to slip to 64th in the Cazoo Classic, losing 2.615 strokes on approach.

Langasque, meanwhile, had back-to-back top seven finishes in his final two starts in June and outscored Bekker at Hillside last week.

His recent SG: Approach numbers are superior and Langasque also owns a third place in the 2019 Scottish Open

Back Langasque to win their 72-holer at -110 with DraftKings Sportsbook.

Back Huizing for a Top 20

Matthew Baldwin landed last week’s top 20 bet at a juicy +450 and I’m tempted to play the Englishman again.

But part of his big appeal at Hillside was that he was a Southport local so knew the lay of the land far better than most.

Instead, I’ll turn to Dutchman Dan Huizing, who has some surprising form in the area.

Huizing won the St Andrew Links Trophy as an amateur in 2012 (Justin Rose is a former winner) and did so with a record score of 23-under.

Three of those rounds were at the Old Course with the other on the New Course so clearly he has some special memories of St Andrews.

To remind us of his links pedigree, Huizing finished tied third at Hillside last week, a result which gave him a second top 10 in five starts.

He looks a value play at +400 at bet365 to land a top 20.

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