Andrew's English Open (HPT) Preview

With the golfing world’s attention firmly on the U.S. Open, the Korn Ferry Tour quite rightly takes a break. This marks the first week in a while when we haven’t had both satellite tours in play, and it will come as a relief to the KFT regulars after a tough week in the wind in Texas and with a critical stretch of events coming up. It’s no surprise that plenty skipped Amarillo, especially after playing 36 holes of US Open Qualifying on Monday. The winner, Zack Fischer, has certainly taken his sweet time to pick up a maiden victory and, barring a remarkable late career renaissance, this will go down as a surprise win. He’s currently on course for a PGA card, let’s see if he can make it.

Meanwhile, the HotelPlanner Tour rumbles on. Julian Perico nearly continued my tradition of picking players a week early, leading after 54 holes alongside Czechia veteran Filip Mruzek. Rather like Fischer, it feels like there’s a ceiling on Mruzek’s potential but he was a worthy winner and is another who could well grab a card. Behind him, Perico continues to shine at this level whilst, at a course that wasn’t ideal, Adam Wallin showed real promise once again. The two of them seem to be the players to take from this season, along with Pablo Ereno, who was last seen finishing top ten on the DPWT in the KLM Open.

We have a very different test this week, with a much longer course (more on that later) and a return of the English Open. This warrants attention, as it is being restored to the calendar with two years on the HPT before rejoining the DPWT in 2028. That’ll be the first time it has been hosted since Darren Clarke won his third English Open title at the Forest of Arden.

The Tournament

This year sees a new course, The Vale Golf Club, which is in Worcestershire. With free entry and plenty of big cities around this rural county, I’d expect to see significant crowds. They’ll be encouraged by the weather, which is nice throughout and particularly over the weekend. It’ll be breezy on Thursday and Friday but not enough to make a massive difference, though the current forecast suggests a possible advantage to the Thursday morning/Friday afternoon wave. Not enough to be overly concerned about.

With the weather not being the primary defense, that’ll be the length of the course. This is long, which is rare for the HotelPlanner Tour. I’m a defender of this circuit as everyone knows, but it is a valid criticism to say that the courses do tend towards the short, accuracy-driven test side of golf. This parkland course is noted for wide fairways, plenty of water hazards, and some serious length. It is a par-72 (members play to par-74) track that measures 7,538 yards and won’t have the advantage of altitude that we saw last week. The hilliers outer nine features two par-fours over 500 yards. 

This does present something of a problem in analyzing recent form, with last weeks par-69, 6,438 yard test hardly comparable. The last time we saw a course that favoured the bombers was probably the Challenge de Catalunya, and even that was fewer than 7,200 yards for the same par. If you're looking for other ways to analyze The Vale, I'd point you towards two EuroPro Tour events (badged as the Worcestershire Masters, which is easy to say unless you're American (woos-ta-sha)) - you can see some highlights here. It may not be as difficult as the raw length suggests.

It’s hard to know what to look for beyond driving power. Any indication of skill with medium and long irons is certainly worth attention – but with poor statistics, that can be hard to assess. I’ll be looking at par-five performance for anyone I consider, as this is a pretty good proxy. My suspicion, based on those highlights, is that this won’t be an excessively tough test so I’m looking for players who can putt well and score heavily when they have the chance. Recent form (adjusted for course type) is certainly a factor, too.

The Selections

There may very well be a reason, but Adam Wallin’s absence here after turning up in Austria last week at a glorified pitch and putt is a headscratcher for me, and he would have been a pick at just about any price. I was tempted to return to Julian Perico but his failure to secure wins from strong positions was enough to put me off at a short enough price. I was also frustrated to see a high number of invited entrants, which means that long-hitters Lauri Ruuska and Tiger Christensen are unlikely to make the field. If either do get a tee time, I may have a little additional action. Otherwise, all of my picks are quite short in the market for an event that I suspect may go by the formbook.

First of my picks is Pablo Ereno, which is a very straightforward pick but I think it is unavoidable. He’s powerful, playing great golf, and is simply a higher class of operator than most of his competition here. After a number of courses that are unusual or tricky in some way, this seems straightforward and his experience on wide open courses both at college in Los Angeles and in his native Spain can only help. He won the Catalunya event that I referred to as a useful barometer for this.

It'd be silly to have a preview like this and not pick Wilco Nienaber, who might be the longest driver in golf and is certainly the most effortlessly powerful player teeing it up this week in England. He’s not turned that power into many great results but he did notably well on two of the rare power challenges on his last season at the Challenge Tour in 2024 (second in the UAE Challenge and sixth in the Irish Challenge) and he’s shown some form recently, with a top ten in the South African Open and a recent top twenty at this level. Whilst it is certainly a frustration that his game hasn’t rounded out as much as we might have hoped, he has a great chance of shining here.

Finally, from among the home challengers I’d like to keep Will Enefer onside. He’s shown great form this year, winning in Cape Town, with three other top twenties including ninth at Catalunya. In previous years he’s shown some of his best form in the Irish Challenge, benefitting from local conditions but also enjoying the length (he was fifth at the very long Kileen Castle last year) so he’s certainly got the power as well as the form. From Telford, he’s only about an hour from home and will doubtless have plenty of support as he pushes for a second HPT win to wrap up his card for next season.

• Pablo Ereno, 16/1 win

• Will Enefer, 25/1 e/w

• Wilco Nienaber, 35/1 e/w

  All Bet365 (2pts win or 1pt e/w, 1/4 odds 5 places Fu)rther odds may come available. I'll also add Lauri Ruuska and/or Tiger Christensen if they are added to the event and betting before the start.