Fantasy Golf: Volvo China Open Preview
Last updated:
This week, the European Tour travels to Topwin Golf and Country Club for the Volvo China Open – as Li Haotong hopes to become the first person to successfully defend their title at the event.
Last week’s champion Bernd Wiesberger heads up the field as the highest ranked player, and with a string of good results its no surprise he’s near the top of our fantasy golf picks this week.
Remember, you’ve got until midnight on Wednesday 26th April to change and submit your team!
And as always, the bonus of picking European Tour players is that they tend to have lower fantasy prices!
So who is playing this week?
Volvo China Open: Fantasy Picks
Thonchai Jaidee: Fantasy Price £12m
The eight-time European Tour winner has been flying under the radar in 2017, but he’s been in contention in each of his last three stroke-play events. Excluding the WGC Matchplay, he’s finished 15th-12th-8th in his last three events, and his consistency is sure to be rewarded soon.
Bernd Wiesberger: Fantasy Price £11.5m
Last week’s Shenzhen International winner is the top ranked players in this week’s field at World No. 30, and will be hoping to get back-to-back European Tour wins. Wiesberger hasn’t missed a cut this year and along with his win has had two other Top 5s in 2017 – so he is definitely a man on form this season.
Ross Fisher: Fantasy Price £10m
The World No. 45 finished T3 last week at the Shenzhen International and narrowly missed out on the play-off, but he’s undeniably one of the favourites heading in to this week. He also has two top 5 finishes at both of the World Golf Championships, with his worst start in four being T44 at the Masters.
Joost Luiten: Fantasy Price £10m
Luiten has been one of the most consistent players this season. He’s played in seven events coming in to the Volvo China Open, and with the excuse of a T39 finish at the WGC Dell Match Play, he has finished inside the T30 in all six other tournaments.
ThorBjorn Olesen: Fantasy Price £9m
A bit of a riskier fantasy golf choice, but Olesen looks to have finally found his form this season. He hasn’t missed a cut in 2017, but hadn’t had any top 10s either – until last week. Olesen finished T8 at the Shenzhen International, so his golf game looks poised and ready for a good week.
Dean Burmester: Fantasy Price £8.5m
The big-hitting South African made his big breakthrough victory at the Tshwane Open earlier this year, and for his seven tournaments in 2017 he’s an astonishing 67-under-par. He also hasn’t missed a cut this year, so appears a sure bet if you’re looking for consistency.
Jordan Smith: Fantasy Price £8.5m
The rookie heads to China for the first time with a solid 2017 campaign, having not missed a cut all year and looking for his breakthrough victory. He finished third in the South African Open, finished T6 in Qatar and has had three other top 25s this year already.
James Morrison: Fantasy Price £7.5m
The man with the momentum before the European Tour season’s mini break for the WGC and Masters. His best finish this season was T4 at the Joburg Open in February, but other than one missed cut, his worst result in eight was T29 at the Shenzhen last week.
Peter Uihlein: Fantasy Price £6.5m
Uihlein is another consistent player with a good record in 2017, and is a great bet with a low fantasy price tag. In eight starts he’s had two top 5s, a top 10 and hasn’t missed a single cut. He went off the boil in 2016 but with a worst finish this year of T55 at the World Super Six, Uihlein is targeting his first European Tour win since 2013.
Peter Hanson: Fantasy Price £6m
Hanson has had a bit of a mixed campaign this year, but if you’re short of fantasy money he’s a good one to go for. He’s a six time European Tour winner, and while of the four events he’s played this year he’s gone 8th-18th-cut-29th, his last round before this tournament was a three-under-par 69.
Volvo China Open: The Course
The Great Wall of China plays backdrop to the Topwin Golf and Country Club, which lies in the hills of Huairou on the North side of Bejing.
The par-72 course is 7,261 yards long and is a tough test for the players. Undulating greens and water hazards are the key defences of the course, which was designed in 2009 by Ian Woosnam.
