Last week was a great week for me, as I anticipated the early Thursday starters to have the best weather draw. If you didn’t stack early runners, you were toast. I focused my teams around Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia, who battled all weekend until Garcia prevailed Sunday afternoon. It was great to see him win, and Garcia seems like he’s in a great mindset for this season.
For this week’s European Tour preview, we head to Malaysia for the Maybank Championship. This event was won by Marcus Fraser last season, although it was at a different venue. Course history won’t play much of a role this week. Our field is headlined by Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Danny Willett, Bernd Wiesberger, Lee Westwood, and Thongchai Jaidee.
This week’s venue is the Palm Course at Saujana Golf and Country Club. It’s a short course, playing right around 7,100 yards as a par-72. It features heavy bunkering, clustered palm trees, and bermuda grass throughout. It’s a bit of a winding, undulating golf course, so players must deal with elevation changes and awkward stances throughout the fairways. Overall, I think there’s a definite bias towards accuracy, which is highlighted by the course specs and past winners. This course hosted European Tour events many years ago, with Thongchai Jaidee winning twice and Lee Westwood winning once, among others. They’re older players now, but have vast experience on this course. I’m going to lean very heavily on driving accuracy, greens in regulation, and scrambling this week.
Since this is a new venue, we don’t have much course history to draw upon. You can look at last year’s leaderboard to get a sense of who played well in Malaysia, but there isn’t much merit beyond that. Because this is a very short course that emphasizes accuracy, I’m looking towards a couple of courses for pointers. TPC Kuala Lumpur is a similar layout and length, but plays much easier. Himmerland Golf and Spa Resort – home of the Made in Denmark – is another short, scenic, undulating course that seems to match the hole distances that we will see this week at Saujana.
Key Stats:
- Driving Accuracy
- Scrambling
- Birdie or Better %
- Greens in Regulation %
Let’s look at my favorite plays this week:
The Favourites:
Rafa Cabrera-Bello – This guy has to win soon. He’s knocked on the door so many times recently, and boasts a 27-event cuts made streak. Rafa is a grinder, and a great ball-striker who should suit this track well. He has two top-5 finishes at the Malaysian Open, and has four top-10 finishes at the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur. He was on the bad end of the weather last week, but kept his streak alive.
Bernd Wiesberger – Like RCB, Wiesberger has been knocking on the door for another win. He’s been consistent, and should suit this tricky course well. In his last two events in Malaysia, Wiesberger has finished 2nd. He struggled a bit in the desert swing the past few weeks, but I’ll overlook that as we’re heading to a totally different course style this week.
Charl Schwartzel – Schwartzel loves the start of the European Tour season, as he has dominated in January and February of years past. He nearly won in South Africa again this winter, but a closing round 74 took him out of position. Although he hasn’t played this track before, he has a handful of top-6 finishes in the Malaysian Open. When Schwartzel is on, his iron play is some of the best in the world.
Lee Westwood – Westwood won here in 1997, which seems like a lifetime ago. Either way, he should have positive memories of the place, even though the course has changed since then. Westwood is the type of player who excels when iron play is emphasized, which we have here. My biggest concern is that Westwood’s putting hasn’t been good enough to contend recently. But he’s played well the past few weeks in the desert, even with the tough weather draw last week in Dubai.
Thongchai Jaidee – One of the home favorites every time the Tour comes back to Asia, Jaidee should have very fond memories of Saujana. He’s a two-time winner at this course, which seems to fit his mold. He’s a short but accurate hitter, who can make birdies in bunches and scramble with the best of them. He posted a 15th place finish last week, after two poor desert starts previously. Last year at this event, he was in great shape for two days, before withdrawing due to illness. Although it was at a different course, it shows how much Jaidee loves playing in this part of the world.
Anirban Lahiri – Like Thongchai Jaidee, Lahiri is a player I target during the Asian swing. He has a ton of experience playing these courses, and even got his first career win in Malaysia. He’s been playing more on the PGA Tour, and must travel this week which is a bit concerning. Lahiri is the type of player that can get hot in a hurry, though.
David Lipsky – Lipsky is one of the most consistent players on Tour, and this course seems to suit him well on paper. In fact, he’s one of my sleepers to take the title this week. Lipsky finished 5th at the Hong Kong Open to start his season, and has since made a few cuts in a row in the desert swing. He’s posted a top-3 finish in Malaysia, and seems to suit narrower golf courses well. He contended last year at the Made in Denmark, which is one of my correlation courses for Saujana.
Peter Uihlein – It’s been a great bounce back year so far for Uihlein, who battled injuries over the past couple of seasons. He’s posted 16th and 9th place finishes in Malaysia, and has shown great form to start this year. Uihlein finished 5th in Dubai after a 7th place finish in South Africa. If he can keep his tee shots out of the water, Uihlein could contend again this week.
Marcus Fraser – Australians seem to play well in Asia, and Fraser is no exception. He’s the defending champion of this event, albeit at a different venue. Fraser is a scrambling wizard, and that short game is what sealed his victory a year ago. He hasn’t played much on Tour recently, but he did post a 3rd place finish at the Victorian PGA Championship on his home soil. Fraser is a bit boom-or-bust, but this is the type of track and part of the world to roll him out.
Gregory Bourdy – Bourdy is always a cash game play for me, but rarely a GPP option. His recent form has been mediocre, with no top-10 finishes in nearly six months. He’s making cuts, but he’s not a birdie maker, which is bad for our formats. He does love playing in Malaysia, though, and fits the mold of the player I’m targeting this week. He has a 2nd place finish on his record in the 2011 and 2013 Malaysian Opens.
Raphael Jacquelin – Jaquelin is another player who fits my mold this week. He’s very consistent, but not a long hitter, and should keep himself out of trouble most of the week. He’s one of the few players who has seen this course before, albeit in 2009. He was plodding along before posting a final round 62 to finish inside the top-20. That ought to bring back some positive memories. He showed some decent form last week in Dubai.
Jorge Campillo – Campillo had a solid showing at this event a year ago, finishing inside the top-5. He’s gone very overlooked recently, but has been extremely solid. Campillo started this season with a 10th place finish in Hong Kong, and has been hot in the desert as well. He finished 23rd last week in Dubai and has shot several low rounds over the past few weeks. Campillo has shown that he has the game to contend.
Pablo Larrazabal – Mr. Malaysia loves playing in this part of the world. The Spaniard has posted a top-30 every time he’s played in the country. His record includes a handful of top-10 finishes, including one at last year’s event. He started this season with an 8th place finish in Hong Kong and finished 2nd in Abu Dhabi. You can overlook his MC last week in Dubai because he was on the wrong end of the weather draw.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat – BarnRat posted two top-10 finishes in the desert before having the bad end of the weather draw last week in Dubai. Overall, he’s been playing great, and should have very fond memories of playing in front of his fans. BarnRat seems to be in a good place in life, and is embracing his growing fame. He’s a great putter and has shown the ability to win against the best players Europe has to offer. In Malaysia, he’s posted six top-5 finishes, has won the Malaysian Open, and has posted a 3rd place finish at TPC Kuala Lumpur. Sign me up.
David Horsey – Horsey is another player I like to target on these short, narrow courses that favor accuracy. He’s a past winner at Himmerland, one of the comparison courses I’m using this week. Horsey is very accurate, and went on quite a tear at the end of last season. Although his form has dropped off a bit, this course should suit him extremely well.
K.T. Kim – Kim has been one of Asia’s best players for many, many years, and has shown the ability to transfer his game to the United States. He’s made cuts in majors, contending in WGC’s, but hasn’t seemed to show the strong finishing kick he has at home. He won 5 times last season in Japan, and has made the President’s Cup team in the past. Either he or Young-Han Song would be my pick for best Japanese player that the world doesn’t know.
Julien Quesne – Quesne hasn’t played well during the desert swing, but he’s not the type of bomber we expected to succeed there. Put him on a shorter, tree-lined course that favors accuracy, and his best game comes out. We’ve seen him play well in Malaysia in the past: he’s never missed a cut, finished 5th in the 2014 Malaysian Open, and finished 4th at this event a year ago.
Good luck this week!
Ryan
