Andrew's Blot Play9 (HPT) Preview

Apologies for this column running late. I’d like to blame a US Open hangover or delays in the market being posted, but it is just usual, boring, real life. As well as the US Open last week, we saw the returning English Open, and The Vale put on a bit of a show, with John Catlin eventually triumphing in a very long playoff, eventually making birdie at the seventh extra hole after he and Kristian Krogh Johannessen combined for thirteen pars. I look forward to being back next year but I hope they select different holes for the playoff; 18 didn’t work and nine wasn’t great either. 

As to the golfers, Catlin is obviously hugely experienced around the world and brought some class to bear on the tournament, and I’m frustrated I didn’t consider his claims for longer, whilst Johannessen is returning from injury and is worth watching this year. Of my selections, although all made the cut only Will Enefer threatened to do anything, but dropped from third favourite on Friday night to a tie for 12^th. Shooting -2 over the 36 holes of the weekend would have been world class in Shinnecock Hills but didn’t get the job done here. The world’s most relentless golf tour does continue, though, so let’s go to Brittany.

The Tournament

The idiotically named Blot Play9 (they don’t – 18 a day, 72 in total, just like all the rest) is what used to be called the Open de Bretagne, which at least gave you a clue. We’re in Brittany, on the north-west coast of France, at Pleneuf. Covid is the only break in a run of Challenge Tour events here going back to 2007 and established players at this level will know it well. This is a fairly straightforward challenge to assess. We’re hard up against the English Channel on undulating heathland, on a links-like course that is very pretty, very short (par 70, 6,488 yards) and is all about accuracy into small greens. Previous winners include John Parry, Eddie Pepperell, and Andrea Pavan. Last year, James Morrison added his name to the list and the theme of links-experienced Brits going well here shouldn’t be ignored.

If the course has a defense, it is weather, and you can see that in the range of winning scores. Such is the exposure that it can play hard. However, this corner of Europe is currently sweltering through a second heatwave in a month, and I can testify that even fans aren’t making the damn air move. That’s set to continue, so I think we should be looking for confident putters who are able to go well in low-scoring competitions as the course record -18 (John Parry and Per Langfors, since you didn’t ask) must be under threat, and last year’s -6 winning score is unlikely to get you anywhere close. 59 watch? Maybe…

The Selections

It wasn’t easy to lower this down, with a number of the leading lights in the field (Catlin, Adam Wallin, MJ Daffue) are unlikely to be suited by this test but might be classy enough to win anyway. There were also a few who I ruled out because of current form even though I really rate them (Dom Clemons, Robin Sciot-Siegrist, Santiago Tarrio.) However, I was still left with a quartet of picks and couldn’t get down to my customary three. Such is life.

First of them is Deon Germishuys, who I think has the ideal game for this course. His course record is a great starting point, and he’s been 11^th and seventh on his last two visits. Moreover, his most recent win (last November) was at St. Francis Links in the prestigious South African PGA (also a links-esque tight coastal course.) He is comfortable shooting low scores, as he did at St. Francis but also in finishing second (-16) and sixth (-11) in two of his South African starts this season on this tour. He’s shown decent form recently with 23^rd in Italy and 44^th in Spain, whilst the English Open was not for him. This tidy ball striker has three times been a runner-up on the HPT, including in France, and can grab a maiden tour win this week.

I want to keep Alfie Plant onside this week, as the English veteran is a former champion here, in 2022. Curiously, his only other Challenge Tour win came in Provence, so there’s obviously something in the air that suits him. That this course works for him is less of a surprise – he was leading amateur at the 2017 Open and like most Brits has a real familiarity for this sort of golf. Since his win here he’s finished seventh, 26^th and 23^rd and (despite a missed cut at The Vale) arrives in decent form after a 21^st at the very similar Swiss Challenge on his penultimate start.

As a form pick, my eye was drawn to Calum Fyfe who is enjoying a very solid season so far as he fights for a first DPWT card – he was 29^th last year and is currently 21^st. Another who missed the cut at the English Open but went well previously, he was 13^th at Interwetten (short, accuracy-based) and is undoubtedly a links specialist, with a sixth at Royal Dornoch on a satellite tour in April, and a best HPT result of second at the Danish Golf last year on a windswept links-esque course. A regular on the Tartan Pro Tour, he’s won at Trump International and at Castletown Golf Links (on the Isle of Man) and has the typically Scottish links-centric amateur career. 

Finally, I couldn’t leave out Dan Erickson who is purely a price pick. This challenge is less certain to suit him (neither his hometown of Atlanta nor the area around the college campus of Texas A&M are ideal preparation) but he did play plenty of similar events in his time on the Sunshine Tour (doing well at courses like St Francis Links, Mandela Bay, and Wild Coast) and he was 31^st last year at the Nexo at Trump International. Yet another who saw his price shoot out as a result of missing a cut last week, his penultimate start was the Challenge de Espana where he was second. He putts well, is tidy from tee to green and has a better pedigree than most of these, and is one win away from essentially securing his card; I don’t understand why he isn’t half this price.

• Deon Germishuys, 66/1, 1pt e/w, 1/4 odds 5 places, Ladbrokes

• Alfie Plant, 80/1, 1pt e/w, 1/4 odds 5 places, Ladbrokes

• Calum Fyfe, 50/1, 1pt e/w, 1/4 odds 5 places, Ladbrokes

• Dan Erickson, 110/1, 1pt e/w, 1/5 odds 6 places, SportingIndex