While it is the PGA Tour that gets most of the focus in the golfing world, it’s not the only game in town. Many of the players that you see playing in North America actually split their time between the PGA and the European Tour. If you haven’t spent any time watching the European players in action, you are missing out, but you have an opportunity to play catchup this weekend, as the Celtic Classic will be played between now and Sunday in Newport, Wales. The Celtic Manor Resort is a shorter course, but it is one that requires accuracy. Let’s take a look at some of the favorites for this event this weekend so you can make your bets against their European Tour odds.
Celtic Classic 2020 | European Tour Betting
Andy Sullivan
In the PGA Tour, players compete for the FedEx Cup, but in the European Tour, it’s all about the Race to Dubai (R2D). Right now, Sullivan is ranked #18 in the R2D standings, but you can bet that he will be looking at this event as an opportunity to make a move up the rankings. He is in as the favorite and will be looking to add to his 4 career European Tour titles. On of those wins came last weekend at the British Championship, and when you also consider that he tied for 4th at the British Masters recently, you see that this is a player in fine form.
Joost Luiten
The Dutchman may be in as one of the favorites here, but if he is to win, he is going to need to show better form than he has of late. Luiten actually made the trip across the pond to play in the PGA Championship last weekend, but he ended up finishing a rather distant 51st. Over his last 5 events, his bet finish has been a T6 at the Euram Bank open last month. Still, this is a player who has racked up 6 wins in his European Tour career, so perhaps he cannot be written off completely.
Thomas Detry
Sometimes, you need to look beyond the final standings at tournaments to get a better idea of the current form of a player. That is the case with Thomas Detry, as his recent form is better than it might appear. He has had a couple of top 10 finishes in his last 5 events, including a second at the Hero Open a couple of weeks ago, but he has also shot 12 under par rounds out of the last 18 that he has played. That is a very decent level of consistency, and with the scores expected to be low in this course over the weekend, it may just put him near the top.
Thomas Pieters
The Belgian has not played on the European Tour since March, and while you might expect there to be some rust in his return, that is not proving to be the case. At time of writing, the first round had actually begun, and it was Pieters sitting on top of the leaderboard. Whether he can stay there remains to be seen, but the layoff may just have him fresh enough to stay the course.