The natives are out in force for this week’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. That means Ireland’s top two ranked golfers will tee it up at Mount Juliet Estate and they are tops on the opening odds board. Rory McIlroy, who won this event in 2016, is a huge favorite to win his national open with Shane Lowry a distant second. Lowry is also a former winner lifting the hardware in 2009. Mount Juliet last hosted an event in 2004 and hasn’t hosted the Irish Open since 1995. John Catlin looks to defend the title he won last year at Galgorm Castle and is positioned well down the odds board. BookMaker.eu has a complete list of betting odds when you’re ready to place a wager.
Odds to Win Dubai Duty Free Irish Open
Rory McIlroy +550
Shane Lowry +1200
Tommy Fleetwood +1600
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +1800
Martin Kaymer +2000
Robert MacIntyre +2500
Sam Horsfield +2800
Lucas Herbert +3300
Andy Sullivan +3500
Ryan Fox +3500
Antoine Rozner +4500
Dean Burmester +4500
Jason Scrivener +4500
Thomas Pieters +4500
Laurie Canter +5000
Thomas Detry +5000
Calum Hill +5500
Justin Harding +5500
Rasmus Hojgaard +5500
Joost Luiten +6000
Kurt Kitayama +6000
Marcus Armitage +6000
Thorbjorn Olesen +6000
Adrian Meronk +6600
Andrew Johnston +6600
Jordan Smith +6600
Mikko Korhonen +6600
Richard Bland +6600
Takumi Kanaya +6600
Victor Dubuisson +6600
Wilco Nienaber +6600
Adrian Otaegui +7000
Alexander Bjork +7000
Joachim B. Hansen +7500
Adria Arnaus +8000
Eddie Pepperell +8000
John Catlin +8000
Kalle Samooja +8000
Masahiro Kawamura +8000
Pablo Larrazabal +8000
Padraig Harrington +8000
Odds Analysis
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +1800
Spending time on the PGA Tour should only help Bezuidenhout when he returns to the Euro circuit. Guess what? He’s back on the ET this week after some strong showings in recent majors. Most recently Bezuidenhout finished T31 in the U.S. Open and T30 in the PGA Championship. He had a stellar run late last year with back-to-back tiles and four top-15s in a four-start stretch. He’s likely going to be better in a softer field and oddsmakers noticed touting him as one of four players with shorter than 20/1 odds.
Richard Bland +6600
It’s been quite a last few weeks for Bland, who won for the first time on the ET at the British Masters last month. He actually played well ahead of that and earned a podium finish immediately after his maiden with a T3 at HimmerLand. He was also a surprise at U.S. Open until faltering over the final 36 holes. Still, he’s a confident player heading into the week and he should feel at home on the parkland layout.
Thomas Detry +5000
His experience at the U.S. Open wasn’t quite what Detry expected, but it was a learning moment nonetheless. Detry missed the cut, but he can take solace in knowing that he came as close as he could to winning his first ET event the previous start. Detry finished as runner-up in the European Open, his third top-10 in his last nine starts on the Euro Tour. An additional week to prepare should also help. Detry has all the talent to be a consistent winner, he just needs that first one. Why not this week?
Calum Hill +5500
Hill is another player in search of his maiden ET win. He’s been consistently good for the past few months placing among the top-20 in six of his previous 11 starts with four of those resulting in a top-10. Last time out he was T17 in the BMW International Open following a T8 in the British Masters and T12 in the Canary Island Championship. Hill has shown an improved short game to bolster his overall attack and he’s used to winning with three titles on the Challenge Tour before moving up. This is a field and a course that appears to be to his liking.
Thomas Pieters +4500
He hasn’t enjoyed much success in the Irish Open over the years, but playing at a new venue that better fits his game should be a blessing for Pieters. He hasn’t played a lot this year but he is 5 for 5 on the Euro Tour with four finishes inside the top-30 making him a favorable pick in alternate markets as well. He rebounded from a MC at the U.S. Open last month to finish T29 in the BMW International Open and should be able to attack the greens with his stellar iron play.
Course: Mount Juliet Hotel and Golf Course – 7,250 yards, Par 72
After 17 years Mount Juliet makes its long awaited return to the European Tour schedule hosting the first of seven straight events in the British Isles. Back in 2002 and 2004 the venue hosted the WGC American Express Championship with the Irish Open contested on the track from 1993-1995. A parkland course situated on a rolling estate, the course has lush tree-lined fairways and plenty of sand. Water is another defense that comes into play on nearly half the holes. Overall, though, it isn’t a difficult track. Tiger Woods shot -24 here in 2002 and Ernie Els was -18 in 2004. The weather could also help scoring. Conditions are expected to be calm and sunny, though that could change quickly in these parts.
TV Coverage: Golf Channel
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